Maurice Bardèche
Encyclopedia
Maurice Bardèche was a French essayist, literary and art critic, journalist, and one of the leading exponents of Neo-Fascism
in post-World War II
Europe. Bardèche was also the brother-in-law
of the Collaborationist Robert Brasillach
, executed after the Liberation.
in the Cher department on 1 October 1907. A product of the educational opportunities of the Third Republic
, Bardèche had received a scholarship
, and completed hypokhâgne
at the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand
in Paris. There, he met Thierry Maulnier
and his future brother-in-law Robert Brasillach
, establishing lifelong connections. In 1928, he entered the École normale supérieure
(ENS), where he met with the philosopher Simone Weil
(whom he nicknamed the "Red Virgin", after Louise Michel
), Claude Jamet, Jacques Soustelle
, Roger Vailland
and Georges Pompidou
, future President of France. He was received at the Agrégation
(literary section) in 1932, and started teaching at the Sorbonne University. A year later, he described himself as "a snail withdrawn into its shell".
He was heavily influenced by the nationalist intellectual
Maurice Barrès
and the leader of the monarchist Action française
(AF), Charles Maurras
.
Bardèche initially came to prominence as an associate of Brasillach and Maulnier, writing in their journals (1933, 1934, 1935), essentially as a literary chroniquer. During the Spanish Civil War
(1936–1939), he traveled several times to the country and wrote with Brasillach a History of the Spanish War, in which he called for the violent defense of "order" and of Francoism in front of "paralysing democracy
, one like malaria
." Seduced by José Antonio Primo de Rivera
's Falange
, his support of Fascism
may be dated to this period. Bardèche also co-authored with Brasillach a History of Cinema (1935), a work that influenced cinema history for years.
Bardèche completed his thesis on Balzac
in 1940, titled La formation de l’art du roman chez Balzac jusqu’à la publication du Père Goriot, from which he would publish a biography, Balzac romancier. He continued to teach at the Sorbonne, moving to the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille
from 1942-4. He then became recognized for his critical works.
Bardèche began to write for the fascist journal Je suis partout
in 1938. During the German occupation, he didn't take a position. After the execution of Brasillach he claimed that the Resistance's "excesses," the bombing of Dresden
and post-Liberation atrocities were war crimes.
but quickly released, while his brother-in-law, Robert Brasillach
, was executed. He denounced Brasillach's death as "criminal". Bardèche was expelled from the National Education
, proscribed from giving courses in the public education system. He then founded his own literary publishing house, Les Sept Couleurs
(The Seven Colours), and also founded a right-wing journal titled Défense de l'Occident in 1952, dedicating himself to rehabilitating Brasillach's works and ideology.
He wrote a Lettre à François Mauriac
in 1947, in which he attacked the épuration légale
(legal purge) of Vichy supporters, defended Collaborationism
and criticized Resistance members
whom he called "rebels against legality". His 1948 follow-up, Nuremberg ou la Terre Promise, which was an attack on the Nuremberg Trials
and one of the earliest expression of Holocaust denial
, saw him sentenced to a year's imprisonment for apology of war crimes, while the book was censored
. This feat saw him become recognized as one of the leading thinkers of Neo-Fascism
. However, Bardèche never served his prison term, as his sentence was commuted by President René Coty
, and he was only imprisoned for a few weeks in Fresnes
.
He was a founder of the European Social Movement
(MSE) in 1951 and became its vice-president, which brought him together with leaders such as Oswald Mosley
, Karl-Heinz Priester
and Per Engdahl
. He continued publishing his journal Défense de l'Occident from 1952–1982, in which ideas of a European nationalism
were espoused.
In 1952, he wrote another negationist book, basing it on Paul Rassinier
's arguments.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, Bardèche made no secret of his fascism and famously wrote in the introduction to his 1961 work Qu'est-ce que le fascisme? "I am a fascist writer". He was particularly attracted to the Italian Social Republic
and sought to use that model as the basis for a more contemporary ideology
that he termed fascisme amélioré ("improved fascism"). Bardèche also became a leading Holocaust denier and wrote extensively on the subject in his later life.
He died in Paris in 1998. He was described as "a prophet of a European renaissance for which he had long hoped" by Jean-Marie Le Pen
http://www.offbeat-paris.org/20arr.htm, leader of the National Front party.
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post–World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. The term neo-fascist may apply to groups that express a specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism or any other fascist leader/state...
in post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Europe. Bardèche was also the brother-in-law
Brother-in-law
A brother-in-law is the brother of one's spouse, the husband of one's sibling, or the husband of one's spouse's sibling.-See also:*Affinity *Sister-in-law*Brothers in Law , a 1955 British comedy novel...
of the Collaborationist Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach was a French author and journalist. Brasillach is best known as the editor of Je suis partout, a nationalist newspaper which came to advocate various fascist movements and supported Jacques Doriot...
, executed after the Liberation.
Academic career
Bardèche was born in a modest family of Dun-sur-AuronDun-sur-Auron
Dun-sur-Auron is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre region of France.-Geography:A farming area comprising a small town and a couple of hamlets situated by the banks of both the Auron River and the canal de Berry some east of Bourges at the junction of the D10, D14, D28, D34 and the...
in the Cher department on 1 October 1907. A product of the educational opportunities of the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
, Bardèche had received a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
, and completed hypokhâgne
Khâgne
The literary and humanities CPGE constitutes a type classe prépa, the two-year cycle of classes taken after the baccalauréat...
at the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand
Lycée Louis-le-Grand
The Lycée Louis-le-Grand is a public secondary school located in Paris, widely regarded as one of the most rigorous in France. Formerly known as the Collège de Clermont, it was named in king Louis XIV of France's honor after he visited the school and offered his patronage.It offers both a...
in Paris. There, he met Thierry Maulnier
Thierry Maulnier
Thierry Maulnier was a French journalist, essayist, dramatist, and literary critic.-Before 1940:...
and his future brother-in-law Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach was a French author and journalist. Brasillach is best known as the editor of Je suis partout, a nationalist newspaper which came to advocate various fascist movements and supported Jacques Doriot...
, establishing lifelong connections. In 1928, he entered the École normale supérieure
École normale supérieure
An école normale supérieure or ENS is a type of publicly funded higher education in France. A portion of the student body who are French civil servants are called Normaliens....
(ENS), where he met with the philosopher Simone Weil
Simone Weil
Simone Weil , was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist.-Biography:Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. She grew up in comfortable circumstances, and her father was a doctor. Her only sibling was...
(whom he nicknamed the "Red Virgin", after Louise Michel
Louise Michel
Louise Michel was a French anarchist, school teacher and medical worker. She often used the pseudonym Clémence and was also known as the red virgin of Montmartre...
), Claude Jamet, Jacques Soustelle
Jacques Soustelle
Jacques Soustelle was an important and early figure of the Free French Forces and an anthropologist specializing in pre-Columbian civilizations. He became vice-director of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris in 1938. He was elected to the Académie française in 1983.- Biography :Jacques Soustelle was...
, Roger Vailland
Roger Vailland
Roger Vailland was a French novelist, essayist, and screenwriter.Vailland's novels include Drôle de jeu , Les mauvais coups , Un jeune homme seul , 325 000 francs , and La loi , winner of the Prix Goncourt...
and Georges Pompidou
Georges Pompidou
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 1962 to 1968, holding the longest tenure in this position, and later President of the French Republic from 1969 until his death in 1974.-Biography:...
, future President of France. He was received at the Agrégation
Agrégation
In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...
(literary section) in 1932, and started teaching at the Sorbonne University. A year later, he described himself as "a snail withdrawn into its shell".
He was heavily influenced by the nationalist intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
Maurice Barrès
Maurice Barrès
Maurice Barrès was a French novelist, journalist, and socialist politician and agitator known for his nationalist and antisemitic views....
and the leader of the monarchist 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...
(AF), Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
.
Bardèche initially came to prominence as an associate of Brasillach and Maulnier, writing in their journals (1933, 1934, 1935), essentially as a literary chroniquer. During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
(1936–1939), he traveled several times to the country and wrote with Brasillach a History of the Spanish War, in which he called for the violent defense of "order" and of Francoism in front of "paralysing democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, one like malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
." Seduced by José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella , was a Spanish lawyer, nobleman, politician, and founder of the Falange Española...
's Falange
Falange
The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain. The word means phalanx formation in Spanish....
, his support of Fascism
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...
may be dated to this period. Bardèche also co-authored with Brasillach a History of Cinema (1935), a work that influenced cinema history for years.
Bardèche completed his thesis on Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
in 1940, titled La formation de l’art du roman chez Balzac jusqu’à la publication du Père Goriot, from which he would publish a biography, Balzac romancier. He continued to teach at the Sorbonne, moving to the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille
Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille
The Université Lille 1 is a French university located on a dedicated main campus in Villeneuve d'Ascq with 20,000 full-time students plus 14,500 students in continuing education...
from 1942-4. He then became recognized for his critical works.
Bardèche began to write for the fascist journal Je suis partout
Je suis partout
Je suis partout was a French newspaper founded by Jean Fayard, first published on 29 November 1930. It was placed under the direction of Pierre Gaxotte until 1939...
in 1938. During the German occupation, he didn't take a position. After the execution of Brasillach he claimed that the Resistance's "excesses," the bombing of Dresden
Bombing of Dresden in World War II
The Bombing of Dresden was a military bombing by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force and as part of the Allied forces between 13 February and 15 February 1945 in the Second World War...
and post-Liberation atrocities were war crimes.
After World War II
After the Liberation, he was briefly arrested for CollaborationismCollaborationism
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,...
but quickly released, while his brother-in-law, Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach
Robert Brasillach was a French author and journalist. Brasillach is best known as the editor of Je suis partout, a nationalist newspaper which came to advocate various fascist movements and supported Jacques Doriot...
, was executed. He denounced Brasillach's death as "criminal". Bardèche was expelled from the National Education
Education in France
The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:* the primary education ;* secondary education ;...
, proscribed from giving courses in the public education system. He then founded his own literary publishing house, Les Sept Couleurs
Les Sept Couleurs
Les Sept Couleurs is a French publishing house of the extreme right founded by Maurice Bardèche in 1948.- History :The name of the company is reference to the work by Robert Brasillach, Les Sept couleurs, which was the first to be published by this SARL....
(The Seven Colours), and also founded a right-wing journal titled Défense de l'Occident in 1952, dedicating himself to rehabilitating Brasillach's works and ideology.
He wrote a Lettre à François Mauriac
François Mauriac
François Mauriac was a French author; member of the Académie française ; laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature . He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur .-Biography:...
in 1947, in which he attacked the épuration légale
Épuration légale
The Épuration légale was the wave of official trials that followed the Liberation of France and the fall of the Vichy Regime...
(legal purge) of Vichy supporters, defended Collaborationism
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,...
and criticized Resistance members
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...
whom he called "rebels against legality". His 1948 follow-up, Nuremberg ou la Terre Promise, which was an attack on the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
and one of the earliest expression of Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
, saw him sentenced to a year's imprisonment for apology of war crimes, while the book was censored
Censorship in France
France has a long history of governmental censorship, particularly in the 16th to 18th centuries, but today freedom of press is guaranteed by the French Constitution and instances of governmental censorship are relatively limited and isolated....
. This feat saw him become recognized as one of the leading thinkers of Neo-Fascism
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post–World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. The term neo-fascist may apply to groups that express a specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism or any other fascist leader/state...
. However, Bardèche never served his prison term, as his sentence was commuted by President René Coty
René Coty
René Jules Gustave Coty was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president under the French Fourth Republic.-Early life and politics:...
, and he was only imprisoned for a few weeks in Fresnes
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris...
.
He was a founder of the European Social Movement
European Social Movement
The European Social Movement was a neo-fascist Europe-wide alliance set up in 1951 to promote Pan-European nationalism.The ESM had its origins in the emergence of the Italian Social Movement , which established contacts with like-minded smaller groups in Europe during the late 1940s, setting up...
(MSE) in 1951 and became its vice-president, which brought him together with leaders such as Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, Karl-Heinz Priester
Karl-Heinz Priester
Karl-Heinz Priester was a German far right political activist. Although he played only a minor role in Nazi Germany he became a leading figure on the extreme right in Europe after the Second World War.-Under the Nazis:...
and Per Engdahl
Per Engdahl
Per Claes Sven Edvard Engdahl was a leading Swedish far right politician. He was the leader of Sveriges Fascistiska Kamporganisation, SFKO during the 1920's.-Career:...
. He continued publishing his journal Défense de l'Occident from 1952–1982, in which ideas of a European nationalism
Pan-European nationalism
The idea that Europe should be united politically has been present in European culture since the Middle Ages, and inspired several proposals for some form of confederation. With the growth of nationalism in the 19th century, several pan-national ideas of Europe developed, some of them based on...
were espoused.
In 1952, he wrote another negationist book, basing it on Paul Rassinier
Paul Rassinier
Paul Rassinier was a French pacifist, political activist, and author. He was also an anti-Nazi French Resistance fighter, and a prisoner of the German concentration camps at Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora. A journalist and editor, he wrote hundreds of articles on political and economic subjects...
's arguments.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, Bardèche made no secret of his fascism and famously wrote in the introduction to his 1961 work Qu'est-ce que le fascisme? "I am a fascist writer". He was particularly attracted to the Italian Social Republic
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
and sought to use that model as the basis for a more contemporary ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
that he termed fascisme amélioré ("improved fascism"). Bardèche also became a leading Holocaust denier and wrote extensively on the subject in his later life.
He died in Paris in 1998. He was described as "a prophet of a European renaissance for which he had long hoped" by Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...
http://www.offbeat-paris.org/20arr.htm, leader of the National Front party.
External links
- Holocaust denial Interview with Deborah LipstadtDeborah LipstadtDeborah Esther Lipstadt, Ph.D. is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust and The Eichmann Trial. She is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University...