Bernard Faÿ (; 3 April 1893 – 31 December 1978) was a French historian of Franco-American relations, an anti-Masonic polemicist who believed in a worldwide Jewish-Freemason conspiracy (see:

Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy is an anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic conspiracy theory involving an alleged secret coalition of Jews and Freemasons. These theories were popular on the far-right, particularly in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ger ...

) and during World War II a

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

official. Faÿ had first-hand knowledge of the United States and had studied at Harvard. He translated into French an excerpt of

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

's ''The Making of Americans'' and wrote his view of the United States as it was at the beginning of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

's administration. He also published studies of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

. Faÿ was a friend of Stein, Alice B. Toklas and the American composer

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclass ...

, who owed to Faÿ his access to French intellectual circles since Faÿ knew most of the people in musical and literary Paris. He was active in compiling files on and attacking and imprisoning Freemasons during the Vichy regime from 1940 to 1944. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He escaped after five years and resumed teaching history in Switzerland, at Fribourg, Ouchy and Lutry, where he taught European History, American History and Cultural History.

Life

Fay was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. At the beginning of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was a professor at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

. During the French Occupation, he replaced

Julien Cain Julien Cain (10 May 1887 – 9 October 1974) was the general administrator of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (then called the Bibliothèque nationale) before the Occupation of France by Nazi Germany. In August 1937, Cain was one o ...

as general administrator of the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

and director of the anti-Masonic service of the

Vichy Government Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

. During his tenure of his office, his secretary, Gueydan de Roussel, was in charge of preparing the card indexes, containing 60,000 names drawn from archives seized from Freemason and other secret societies (Marshal

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

was convinced that the indexes were at the heart of all France's troubles). Lists of names of Freemasons were released to the official gazette of the Vichy government for publication, and many Catholic papers copied these lists to induce public opprobrium. Faÿ edited and published during the four years of the Occupation the monthly review '' Les Documents maçonniques'' ("Masonic Documents"), which published historical studies of Freemasonry, essays on the role of Freemasonry in society and frank anti-Masonic propaganda. During Faÿ's tenure with the Vichy regime, 989 Freemasons were sent to concentration camps, where 549 were shot. In addition, about 3,000 lost their jobs. All Freemasons were required by law to declare themselves to authorities.Pakalert Press Nov. 13, 2013
In 1943 Faÿ produced the film ''Forces Occultes'', directed by Jean Mamy, which depicts a worldwide Jewish-Freemason conspiracy. Despite his

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, Faÿ, who was suspected to be a Gestapo agent for much of the occupation, protected

and Alice B. Toklas. Following the liberation, Stein wrote a letter on Faÿ's behalf when he was tried as a collaborator. In 1946 a French court condemned him to ''

dégradation nationale The ''dégradation nationale'' ("National demotion") was a sentence introduced in France after the Liberation of France. It was applied during the '' épuration légale'' ("legal purge") which followed the fall of the Vichy regime. The ''dégra ...

'' and forced labor for life, but he managed to escape to Switzerland in 1951, funding to facilitate his prison breakout coming from Alice B. Toklas. Faÿ was pardoned by French President

René Coty Jules Gustave René Coty (; 20 March 188222 November 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic. Early life and politics René Coty was born in Le Havre and studied at th ...

in 1959. Appointed to an instructorship at the Institut de la Langue française in

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () ...

, Switzerland, he was later forced to resign in the face of student protests. He taught French literature to American junior-year-abroad students in the 1960s at the Villa des Fougères in Fribourg, run by the Dominican sisters of Rosary College (now Dominican University) in River Forest, Illinois. During the 1960s, he also taught at a girls' high school, Le Grand Verger, in Lutry, Switzerland, a short distance east of Lausanne on the northern border of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman). There he instructed American and other national girls in American history. His method consisted of notecard lectures and knowledge he carried in his head. He particularly shone in his art history class in which he taught from illustrated postcards of paintings, drawings and sculptures, as well as anecdotes derived from personal association with many expatriate artists in Paris from the preceding decades. In the European educational tradition, he demanded precise and voluminous feedback of his lecture material in tests. (ref on Le Grand Verger entry by former student, Janine Dawn Lieberman, 1962.) In 1969, Faÿ is credited with being one of those who convinced Archbishop

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...

, the retired Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, to start a new seminary in Fribourg for traditional Catholics disquieted by the changes wrought by the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

in the formation of priests.

Works

History and literary history

* 1925 : ''Bibliographie critique des ouvrages français relatifs aux États-Unis (1770–1800)'' * 1925 : ''L'esprit révolutionnaire en France et aux États-Unis à la fin du XVIIIe siècle'' * 1925 : ''Panorama de la littérature contemporaine'' * 1926 : ''L'Empire américain et sa démocratie en 1926'' * 1927 : ''Faites vos jeux'' * 1928 : ''Vue cavalière de la littérature américaine contemporaine'' * 1929 : ''Benjamin Franklin, bourgeois d'Amérique'' * 1930 : ''Le Comte Arthur de Gobineau et la Grèce'' * 1930 : ''Essai sur la poésie'' * 1932 : ''George Washington, gentilhomme'' * 1932 : ''La Gloire du Comte Arthur de Gobineau'' * 1935 : ''La Franc-maçonnerie et la révolution intellectuelle du XVIIIe siècle'' * 1937 : ''Les forces de l'Espagne : voyage à Salamanque'' * 1939 : ''Civilisation américaine'' * 1939 : ''L'Homme, mesure de l'histoire. La recherche du temps'' * 1943 : ''L'Agonie de l'Empereur (récit historique)'' * 1952 : ''De la prison de ce monde, journal, prières et pensées (1944–1952)'' * 1959 : ''La grande révolution'' * 1961 : ''L'École de l'imprécation ou Les Prophètes catholiques du dernier siècle (1850–1950)'' * 1961 : ''Louis XVI ou la fin d'un monde'' * 1962 : ''L'aventure coloniale'' * 1965 : ''Naissance d'un monstre, l'opinion publique'' * 1966 : ''Les Précieux'' * 1969 : ''La Guerre des trois fous, Hitler, Staline, Roosevelt'' * 1970 : ''L'Église de Judas?'' * 1970 : ''

Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist, ...

ou les Fredaines de Figaro'' * 1974 : ''

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

ou le Rêve de la vie'' * 1978 : '' Rivarol et la Révolution'' ;Prefaces * ''Le duc de Montmorency-Luxembourg, premier baron chrétien de France, fondateur du Grand Orient : sa vie et ses archives'' de Paul Filleul

Pseudonyms

Bernard Faÿ used the pen name Elphège du Croquet de l'EsqSource BnF
/ref> for the work: * "Pensées, maximes et apophtègmes choisis des moralistes français et étrangers à l'usage de la jeunesse studieuse" (1954) for ''Du conquistador'' in 1957, with a preface by Bernard Faÿ.

Translations

* 1933 : Co-translation and preface for the French edition of Gertrude Stein's '' The Making of Americans: Being a History of a Family's Progress'' * 1934 : Translation for the French edition of Gertrude Stein's ''

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas ''The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas'' is a book by Gertrude Stein, written in October and November 1932 and published in 1933. It employs the form of an autobiography authored by Alice B. Toklas, her life partner. In 1998, Modern Library r ...

Works in English

''Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times,''
Little, Brown, and Company, 1929.
''The American Experiment,''
Harcourt, Brace and company, 1929.
''George Washington: Republican Aristocrat,''
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931.
''Roosevelt and His America,''
Little, Brown & Company, 1933.
''The Two Franklins: Fathers of American Democracy,''
Little, Brown, and company, 1933. *''Louis XVI; or, The End of a World'', translated by Patrick O'Brien, Henry Regnery Company, 1967.

Articles

* ''"France and American Opinion,"'' The Living Age, 22 July 1922. * ''"The Intellectual Tastes of the American Public,"'' The Living Age, 27 January 1923. * ''"The Modern Writers of French Prose,"'' The Living Age, 31 January 1925. * ''"Tendencies and Groups in France,"'' The Saturday Review, 31 January 1925. * ''"French Literature and the Peasant,"'' The Living Age, 1 December 1926. * ''"Julian Green, Francophile,"'' The Saturday Review, 18 June 1927. * ''"France Dissected,"''] The Forum, July 1927. * ''"Take Your Choice,"'' The Forum, October 1927. * ''"His Excellency Mr. Franklin,"'' The Forum, March 1928. * ''"Protestant America,"'' The Living Age, August 1928. * ''"Catholic America,"'' The Living Age, September 1928. * ''"A Lucky Man,"'' The Saturday Review, 19 October 1929. * ''"Revolution as an Art,"'' The Saturday Review, 22 March 1930. * ''"Can America Rescue England?,"'' The Living Age, 15 May 1930. * ''"The French Nation,"'' The Saturday Review, 14 June 1930. * ''"In Our Stars,"'' The Forum, January 1933. * ''"A Rose Is a Rose",'' The Saturday Review, 2 September 1933. * ''"A Scotchman's View of Our Democracy,"'' The Saturday Review, 7 October 1933. * ''"French Freaks for English Readers,"'' The Saturday Review, 7 December 1935. * ''"The Rise and Fall of Symbolism,"'' The Saturday Review, 11 January 1936.

Notes

External links

a negative view. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fay, Bernard 1893 births 1978 deaths Writers from Paris Anti-Masonry French collaborators with Nazi Germany Harvard University alumni French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French historians Vichy France French conspiracy theorists French traditionalist Catholics Traditionalist Catholic conspiracy theorists 20th-century French male writers