Simon Pierre Sabiani (1888 in

Casamaccioli Casamaccioli is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Corse department The following is a list of the 236 communes of the Haute-Corse department of France. ...

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

, France – 1956 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

) was a French businessman and politician. He served as a member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

from 1928 to 1936.

Early life

Simon Pierre Sabiani was born in 1888 in

, France. He had four brothers and one sister. He moved to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. Sabiani served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

within the XVth corps of the 112th regiment of line infantry. He was nicknamed the "

Pierre Bayard Pierre Bayard (born 1954) is currently professor of Literature at the University of Paris 8 and psychoanalyst. He is the author of many creative essays such as ''Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?'' (2002), ''How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read'' (2 ...

Corse" (Corsican war hero) and awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

for his service.

Career

Sabiani joined the

SFIO The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...

in 1919, and for a while the PCF. In 1923, he founded the "Parti d’action socialiste", (Socialist action party). In 1925, he was elected to the General Council of

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and large ...

. Among his friends and "electoral agents" were the French mafiosi

Paul Carbone Paul Bonnaventure Carbone (1 February 1894 – 16 December 1943) was a Corsican criminal involved in the Marseille underworld from the 1920s until his death in 1943. He was known as the ''Emperor of Marseille''. Associated with François Spirit ...

François Spirito François Spirito, born Lydio Spirito (1898 – 9 October 1967) was an Italian-born French gangster. He was one of the leaders of the French Connection, and inspired the film ''Borsalino (film), Borsalino'', which featured Alain Delon and Jean-Pau ...

, as well as Antoine Guerini, who had helped him get into the mayor´s office of Marseille in 1929. From 1928 to 1936, he served as a member of the

, representing Bouches-du-Rhône, succeeded by

François Billoux François Billoux (21 May 1903 – 14 January 1978) was a French communist politician. Biography Billoux was born in Saint-Romain-la-Motte. He was a member of the Central Committee of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1926, and a member of ...

. From 1929 to 1935 he served as an advisor to the Deputy Mayor of

.Marie-Helene Porri
''De Mémé à Jean-Noël Guérini''
Mon Petit Editeur, 2012, p. 15Mary Dewhurst Lewis ''The Boundaries of the Republic: Migrant Rights and the Limits of Universalism in France, 1918-1940'', Stanford University Press, 2007, p. 9

/ref> In 1936, he joined the

Parti Populaire Français The French Popular Party (french: Parti populaire français) was a French fascist and anti-semitic political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II. It is generally regarded as the most collaborationist party of France. ...

(PPF) led by

Jacques Doriot Jacques Doriot (; 26 September 1898 – 22 February 1945) was a French politician, initially communist, later fascist, before and during World War II. In 1936, after his exclusion from the Communist Party, he founded the French Popular Party (P ...

, where he became a member of the political bureau, heading the local PPF section. On 4 July 1936 he addressed a right-wing faction during a demonstration in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

which turned violent. 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 ...

, he was the general secretary of the Marseille Bureau of the

Légion des Volontaires Français The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (french: Légion des volontaires français contre le bolchévisme, LVF) was a unit of the German Army during World War II consisting of collaborationist volunteers from France. Officially desi ...

, a collaborator of the

Vichy regime 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 ...

. On 5 August 1942 he was arrested alongside Paul Carbone in Marseille over the possible murder of two women and the shooting of five more people during the Bastille Day march a month earlier. Meanwhile, he acted as an informant to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

throughout the war. Shortly after the war, members of the

French resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

put him on a list of collaborators they wanted to kill. However, he went missing. He exiled himself to

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen (district), Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowne ...

, in Southern

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 betwe ...

, then

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and finally to

under the name of ''Pedro Multedo''. However, he returned to Corsica clandestinely to visit his mother when she turned almost one hundred years old.

Death

Sabiani died in 1956 in Barcelona, Spain. He was buried in the family chapel of Casamacciuli.

Works

* Simon Sabiani, ''La Vérité sur l'attentat de Marseille'', Grandes Conférences des Ambassadeurs, 1934 * Simon Sabiani, ''Colère du peuple'', Les Œuvres Françaises, 1936 (préface de

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabiani, Simon 1888 births 1956 deaths People from Haute-Corse Businesspeople from Marseille French military personnel of World War I French Popular Party politicians Corsican collaborators with Nazi Germany Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Politicians from Marseille

Early life

Career

Death

Works

Further reading

References