Louis Darquier de Pellepoix
Encyclopedia
Louis Darquier, better known under his assumed name Louis Darquier de Pellepoix (December 19, 1897, Cahors
– August 29, 1980, near Málaga
, Spain
) was Commissioner for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy Régime.
A veteran of World War I
, Darquier had been active in Fascist
and antisemitic politics in France
in the 1930s, being a member, at various times, of Action Française
, Croix-de-Feu
and Jeunesses Patriotes
. On February 6, 1934, he was injured at the Place de la Concorde riot
, and, according to the Janet Maslin
, writing in The New York Times
in 2006, "parlayed (his) new status as a 'man of 6 February' into a leadership role." During this period he began collaborating with the noted antisemitic publisher Ulrich Fleischhauer
's Welt-Dienst (World-Service or Service Mondial) organization based in Erfurt
, Germany
.
Darquier's extreme views were well-publicized. In 1937, he said, at a public meeting, "We must, with all urgency, resolve the Jewish problem, whether by expulsion, or massacre." A British report in 1942 called him "one of the most notorious anti-semites in France". At Nazi Germany
's behest, he was appointed to head Vichy's Commissariat General aux Questions Juives (Office for Jewish Affairs) in May 1942, succeeding Xavier Vallat
, whom the SS
in France found too moderate. Darquier's ascendancy to this post immediately preceded the first mass deportations of Jews from France to concentration camps. He was fired in February 1944 when, in Nicholas Fraser's words, "his greed and incompetence could no longer be countenanced."
He was sentenced to death in absentia
in 1947 by the French High Court of Justice for collaboration
. However, he had fled to Spain, where members of the authoritarian regime of Francisco Franco
, specifically General Antonio Barroso y Sánchez-Guerra
, protected him.
In 1978, a French journalist interviewed him. Among other things, Darquier declared that in Auschwitz
, gas chamber
s were not used to kill humans, but only lice, and that allegations of killings by this method were lies by the Jews. The interview was printed in L'Express
and started off an instantaneous scandal. The extradition
of Darquier was considered, but was refused by Spain.
The English psychiatrist Anne Darquier
was his daughter by his Australian wife, Myrtle Jones. She was abandoned by her parents as a child in the 1930s when she was left with a London nanny.
Cahors
Cahors is the capital of the Lot department in south-western France.Its site is dramatic being contained on three sides within an udder shaped twist in the river Lot known as a 'presqu'île' or peninsula...
– August 29, 1980, near Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) was Commissioner for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy Régime.
A veteran of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Darquier had been active in Fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and antisemitic politics in 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...
in the 1930s, being a member, at various times, of Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, Croix-de-Feu
Croix-de-Feu
Croix-de-Feu was a French far right league of the Interwar period, led by Colonel François de la Rocque . After it was dissolved, as were all other far right leagues during the Popular Front period , de la Rocque replaced it with the Parti social français .- Beginnings :The Croix-de-Feu were...
and Jeunesses Patriotes
Jeunesses Patriotes
The Jeunesses Patriotes were a Fascist-inspired street brawlers group of France, recruited mostly from university students and financed by industrialists founded in 1924 by Pierre Taittinger...
. On February 6, 1934, he was injured at the Place de la Concorde riot
6 February 1934 crisis
The 6 February 1934 crisis refers to an anti-parliamentarist street demonstration in Paris organized by far-right leagues that culminated in a riot on the Place de la Concorde, near the seat of the French National Assembly...
, and, according to the Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
, writing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in 2006, "parlayed (his) new status as a 'man of 6 February' into a leadership role." During this period he began collaborating with the noted antisemitic publisher Ulrich Fleischhauer
Ulrich Fleischhauer
thumb|Ulrich Fleischhauer Ulrich Fleischhauer was a leading antisemitic publisher of books and news articles reporting on an alleged Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory and supposed "nefarious plots" by clandestine Jewish interests to dominate the world.His career was at first grounded in the Imperial...
's Welt-Dienst (World-Service or Service Mondial) organization based in Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Darquier's extreme views were well-publicized. In 1937, he said, at a public meeting, "We must, with all urgency, resolve the Jewish problem, whether by expulsion, or massacre." A British report in 1942 called him "one of the most notorious anti-semites in France". At Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's behest, he was appointed to head Vichy's Commissariat General aux Questions Juives (Office for Jewish Affairs) in May 1942, succeeding Xavier Vallat
Xavier Vallat
Xavier Vallat , French politician, was Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in the wartime Vichy collaborationist government, and was sentenced after World War II to ten years in prison for his part in the persecution of French Jews.- Until World War II :Vallat was born in the department of...
, whom the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
in France found too moderate. Darquier's ascendancy to this post immediately preceded the first mass deportations of Jews from France to concentration camps. He was fired in February 1944 when, in Nicholas Fraser's words, "his greed and incompetence could no longer be countenanced."
He was sentenced to death in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
in 1947 by the French High Court of Justice for collaboration
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
. However, he had fled to Spain, where members of the authoritarian regime of Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, specifically General Antonio Barroso y Sánchez-Guerra
Antonio Barroso y Sánchez-Guerra
Antonio Barroso y Sánchez-Guerra , a general, was a senior member of the Francisco Franco regime in Spain. He was Minister of the Army between 25 February 1957 and 10 July 1962....
, protected him.
In 1978, a French journalist interviewed him. Among other things, Darquier declared that in Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
s were not used to kill humans, but only lice, and that allegations of killings by this method were lies by the Jews. The interview was printed in L'Express
L'Express (France)
L'Express is a French weekly news magazine. When founded in 1953 during the First Indochina War, it was modelled on the US magazine TIME.-History:...
and started off an instantaneous scandal. The extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
of Darquier was considered, but was refused by Spain.
The English psychiatrist Anne Darquier
Anne Darquier
Anne Darquier , a psychiatrist, was the daughter of the French fascist Louis Darquier de Pellepoix and his Tasmanian wife, Myrtle Jones....
was his daughter by his Australian wife, Myrtle Jones. She was abandoned by her parents as a child in the 1930s when she was left with a London nanny.
Further reading
- Carmen CallilCarmen CallilCarmen Thérèse Callil is a publisher, writer and critic. She founded Virago Press in 1973.-Life:Callil was born in Melbourne Australia, but has lived in London since 1960. Her mother Lorraine Clare Allen, widowed in her early forties, raised four children of whom Carmen was the third...
, Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family, Fatherland, and Vichy France, Jonathan Cape: 2006. ISBN 0-224-07810-0. Also Alfred A. Knopf 2006: ISBN 0-375-41131-3. Callil began her research via Anne Darquier.