François Tanguy-Prigent (October 11, 1909 - January 20, 1970) was a French politician and resistance fighter. (The name Prigent first appears in Redon in 869, from "Prit" "beautiful" and Gent "race - line").

Born in the small town of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt

Saint-Jean-du-Doigt

Saint-Jean-du-Doigt is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-Population:Inhabitants of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt are called in French Jeannais.-References:** -External links:*...

, in the Finistère

Finistère

Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...

 département of Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Tanguy-Prigent becomes politically active at age 16. At age eighteen he publishes his first political articles. In 1934 he is elected "conseiller général" for the Lanmeur

Lanmeur

Lanmeur is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.A hamlet in the commune called Kerouac has been established as the source of the name of the American writer Jack Kerouac. A street in Lanmeur has been named rue Jack Kerouac, and in March 2010 a first Jack...

 Canton. Not having reached the age of twenty-five, he is disqualified for being too young, but is re-elected in 1935.

In 1936, Tanguy-Prigent is elected to the National Assembly

French National Assembly

The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....

. In May 1940, though he is exempt from duty, Tanguy-Prigent asks to join the front with the 31st regiment (Dragons Portés) and is lightly wounded at the "Bataille de France"

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

.

At the German victory, he returnes to Paris and on July 10, 1940 votes against

The Vichy 80

The Vichy 80 were a group of elected French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted against the constitutional change that dissolved the Third Republic and established an authoritarian regime known as Vichy France....

 the establishment of the German-controlled Vichy government. He is arrested by the Germans in September 1940. Released on the 23rd, Tanguy-Prigent opposes by any legal means the policies of Vichy. At the same time he joins the Resistance

French Resistance

The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

, notably in “Libération Nord” under the resistance name of "Jacques Le Ru". He narrowly escapes arrests in the summer of 1943 and is forced to go into hiding together with his wife. He also directs the “Resistance Paysanne”. For many months he participates in putting in place the structure of 'l'Armée secrète" (the secret Army) for the 19 departments of the North West of France. In the summer of 1944, he personally joins combat with the FFI

French Forces of the Interior

The French Forces of the Interior refers to French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as France's status changed from that of an occupied nation...

 to liberate the Morlaix

Morlaix

Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...

 region.

Upon Liberation, General de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

 appoints Tanguy-Prigent, who is not yet 35 years of age, to head the Ministry of Agriculture.

Tanguy-Prigent dies in 1970 in Morlaix

Morlaix

Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...

.

http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/biographies/IVRepublique/tanguy-prigent-francois-11101909.asp