Louis Darquier (19 December 1897 – 29 August 1980), better known under his assumed name Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, was Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy Régime.

Biography

A veteran of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Darquier had been active in

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

and

antisemitic 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. Ant ...

politics in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the 1930s, being a member, at various times, of

Action Française Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

Croix-de-Feu , logo = Croix de Feu.svg , logo_size = 200px , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = François de La Rocque , foundation = 11 November 1927 , dissolution = 10 January 1936 , successor = F ...

and

Jeunesses Patriotes The ''Jeunesses Patriotes'' ("Young Patriots", JP) were a far-right league of France, recruited mostly from university students and financed by industrialists founded in 1924 by Pierre Taittinger. Taittinger took inspiration for the group's creat ...

. On 6 February 1934 he was injured at the Place de la Concorde riot, and, according to

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

, writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2006, "parlayed (his) new status as a 'man of 6 February' into a leadership role." (The NYT article was based on the publication by Carmen Callil of her highly praised book on Darquier called 'Bad Faith'.) During this period Darquier began collaborating with the noted

publisher Ulrich Fleischhauer's ''Welt-Dienst'' (World-Service or ''Service Mondial'') organization based in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. Darquier's extreme views were well-publicized. In 1937, he said, at a public meeting, "We must, with all urgency, resolve the Jewish problem, whether by expulsion, or massacre." A British report in 1942 called him "one of the most notorious anti-semites in France". At

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's behest, he was appointed to head Vichy's

Commissariat-General for Jewish Affairs The Commissariat-General for Jewish Affairs (french: Commissariat général aux questions juives; C.G.Q.J.) was a special administration established in March 1941 by the collaborationist Vichy government of France in order to introduce anti-Jewi ...

in May 1942, succeeding Xavier Vallat, whom the SS in France found too moderate. Darquier's ascent to this post immediately preceded the first mass deportations of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s from France to concentration camps. He was fired in February 1944 when, in Nicholas Fraser's words, "his greed and incompetence could no longer be countenanced." His successor was Charles du Paty de Clam. Louis Darquier de Pellepoix c1931

He was sentenced to

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

'' in 1947 by the French High Court of Justice for

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

. However, he had by then fled to Spain, where the Fascist regime of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

protected him. In 1978, a French journalist from ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' magazine interviewed him. Among other things, Darquier declared that in

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

s were not used to kill humans, but only

lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a resul ...

, and that allegations of killings by this method were lies by the Jews. When ''L'Express'' published the interview, it caused an immediate scandal. The

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

of Darquier was requested, but was refused by Spain. The incident raised awareness of the persecution of French Jews during the Holocaust. The English psychiatrist Anne Darquier was his daughter by his

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

wife, Myrtle Jones. She was abandoned by her parents as a child in the 1930s when she was left with a London nanny.Fraser, pp. 88–90.

References

Cited sources

* Fraser, Nicholas (2006
"Toujours Vichy: a reckoning with disgrace,"
''Harper's,'' pp. 86–94. Review of two books, including Callil, ''Bad Faith''.

Biography

See also

References

Cited sources

Further reading