Émile Laurens was a French politician born on 29 January 1884 in

Réquista Réquista (; , primarily ''Ric Estar'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Aveyron Departments of France, department in southern France. Geography Location Climate History Toponymy In Occitan language, Occitan, the commune is called ' ...

(

Aveyron Aveyron (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron (river), Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyro ...

) and died on 16 June 1940 in

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

(

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region of France. It is named after two rivers which run through it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher (river), Cher in its southern p ...

). He was recognized as having died for France. He replaced the former and future Prime Minister

Camille Chautemps Camille Chautemps (; 1 February 1885 – 1 July 1963) was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic, three times President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister). He was the father-in-law of U.S. politician and statesman Howar ...

as the

Radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

deputy for

after a a 1935 by-election where he narrowly beat the militant agrarian leader

Henry Dorgères Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainment ...

in the

second round of voting The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

He served as

Under-Secretary of State Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is a ...

to the Prime Minister's Office from 18 January 1938 to 13 March 1938 in the Fourth Chautemps Government.National Assembly biography of Émile Laurens
In February 1940, Maurice Olivier, then

mayor of Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of th ...

, resigned for health reasons, and Émile Laurens was appointed as his replacement. On 16 June 1940 He was fatally wounded during

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

when the German army bombarded the Town Hall in the Foix district in Blois, where he resided with his family. A

street name A street name is an identifying name given to a street or road. In toponymic terminology, names of streets and roads are referred to as odonyms or hodonyms (from Ancient Greek 'road', and 'name', i.e., the Doric Greek, Doric and Aeolic Gre ...

in the center of

commemorates Laurens today, located west of ''Place de la Résistance''.

References

Radical Party (France) politicians Members of Parliament for Loir-et-Cher French Third Republic Members of the 15th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Mayors of places in Centre-Val de Loire 1884 births People from Aveyron 1940 deaths People from Blois Government ministers of France {{France-politician-stub