Marie Louis Emmanuel 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. During World War II he was an official for Vichy France. Faÿ had first-hand knowledge of the United States and had studied at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. He translated into French an excerpt of Gertrude Stein'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), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

's administration. He also published studies of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

and

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

. Faÿ was a friend of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas and the American composer Virgil Thomson, 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, 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, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. At the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was a professor at the Collège de France. During the French Occupation, he replaced Julien Cain as general administrator of the Bibliothèque Nationale and director of the anti-Masonic service of the Vichy Government. 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 Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain (; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as Marshal Pétain (, ), was a French marshal who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Collaboration with Nazi Ger ...

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 or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

, Faÿ, who was suspected to be a Gestapo agent for much of the occupation, protected Gertrude Stein 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'' 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 in 1959. Appointed to an instructorship at the Institut de la Langue française in Fribourg, 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, 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 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 ou les Fredaines de Figaro'' * 1974 : ''

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

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''

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 People of Vichy France 20th-century French historians Escapees from French detention French conspiracy theorists French escapees French male non-fiction writers French prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment French traditionalist Catholics Traditionalist Catholic conspiracy theorists 20th-century French male writers Anti-Masonry in France Harvard University alumni People convicted of indignité nationale Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by France Critics of Freemasonry