Jean Bichelonne (24 December 1904 – 22 December 1944) was a French businessman and member 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 ...

that governed France during

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 opposin ...

following the occupation of France by

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 ...

Early life

Jean Bichelonne was born on December 24, 1904, in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. He graduated from the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

Career

Bichelonne gained an early reputation for his brilliant organisational skill as well as his photographic memory.Richard F. Kuisel, ''Capitalism and the state in modern France: renovation and economic management in the twentieth century'', CUP Archive, 1983, p. 132 In 1937, he became member of the cabinet of the minister for public works, Henri Queuille. In 1939, he became chief of staff to

Raoul Dautry Raoul Dautry (16 September 1880 – 21 August 1951) was a French engineer, business leader and politician. He was born on 16 September 1880 at Montluçon in the department of Allier; he died on 21 August 1951 at Lourmarin in the department of Vauc ...

, then Defence Minister. He was a member of the French delegation in the armistice commission (the

Armistice of 22 June 1940 The Armistice of 22 June 1940 was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne, France, by officials of Nazi Germany and the Third French Republic. It did not come into effect until after midnight on 25 June. Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel ...

was a de facto surrender). Following the establishment of Vichy, Bichelonne was, in September 1940, appointed head of the ''Office central de repartition des produits industriels'', a body that determined how raw materials would be proportioned between the newly established

corporatist Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...

bodies in charge of each industrial sector. Along with the likes of

Jacques Barnaud Jacques Barnaud (born 24 February 1893 in Antibes – died 15 April 1962 in Paris) was a French banker, businessman and member of the collaborationist Vichy regime during the Second World War. A graduate of the École Polytechnique, Barnaud wor ...

François Lehideux François Lehideux (30 January 1904 – 21 June 1998) was a French industrialist and member of the Vichy government. Car industry In 1929 Lehideux married the daughter of Fernand Renault, and soon became a leading figure in the Renault car compa ...

and

Pierre Pucheu Pierre Firmin Pucheu (27 June 1899 – 20 March 1944) was a French industrialist, fascist and member of the Vichy government. He became after his marriage the son-in-law of the Belgian architect Paul Saintenoy. Early years The son of a tailor ...

, Bichelonne was a member of a group of technocrats who held important positions in the early days of the Vichy regime. Like Pucheu he was devotee of

Saint-Simonianism Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...

, the belief in industrialisation as the motor of progress in society, a belief that was not shared by the rural traditionalist

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 World ...

. In the government of

Pierre Laval Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occu ...

the Ministry of Industry was headed by Jean Bichelonne with

Henri Lafond Henri Lafond (20 August 1894 – 6 March 1963) was a French mining engineer and businessman who headed or sat on the board of numerous large companies and was involved in various industrial associations and committees both before and after World W ...

as General Secretary for Energy and René Norguet (1888–1968) as General Secretary for Industrial Production. Lafond's Energy secretariat included sections for mines, steel, gas/electricity and fuel. As Minister of Industrial Production, Bichelonne faced the problem of demands for slave labour from the Nazi Labour Deployment Minister

Fritz Sauckel Ernst Friedrich Christoph "Fritz" Sauckel (27 October 1894 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician, ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Thuringia from 1927 and the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (''Arbeitseinsatz'') from March 1942 unti ...

, and the impact it was having on French industry. He managed to overcome this difficulty by securing an agreement with

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he ...

in September 1943 to the effect that the entire French industrial sector would be ''Sperrbetrieben'', making it effectively off limits to Sauckel. Signature Bichelonne

Bichelonne was one of the cabinet members taken under SS guard from Vichy to

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Territo ...

on the night of 17–18 August 1944 as the Nazis desperately sought to maintain the collaborationist government by any means necessary.Littlejohn, ''The Patriotic Traitors'', p. 276 Moved to the

Sigmaringen enclave The Sigmaringen enclave was the exiled remnant of France's Nazi-sympathizing Vichy government which fled to Germany during the Liberation of France near the end of World War II in order to avoid capture by the advancing Allied forces. ...

, Bichelonne fell ill and was sent to the SS hospital at Hohenlychen.

Death

Bichelonne died on 22 December 1944. It was officially recorded that he died of a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain p ...

, but unsubstantiated rumours suggested that he may have been

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

.Henry Rousso, ''Pétain et la fin de la collaboration, Sigmaringen 1944-1945'', Éditions Complexe, 1999, p. 441 These rumors are made reference to by

in his book titled

Inside The Third Reich ''Inside the Third Reich'' (german: Erinnerungen, "Memories") is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Adolf Hitler's main architect before this period. It is considered to be one of the m ...

whereby Speer was hospitalized and later on diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. Coincidentally, the same doctor who would treat Bichelonne treated Speer and happened to maintain a close friendship with Heinrich Himmler. https://books.google.com/books?id=XLSa_RIDHMUC

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bichelonne, Jean 1904 births 1944 deaths French collaborators with Nazi Germany French Ministers of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones Businesspeople from Bordeaux Deaths from pulmonary embolism Politicians from Bordeaux École Polytechnique alumni