Paul Touvier

Paul Touvier (April 3, 1915 - July 17, 1996) was a French Nazi collaborator. In 1994, he was convicted of crimes against humanity for his actions under Vichy France.

Early life

He was born in Saint-Vincent-sur-Jabron, Alpes de Haute-Provence, in south-eastern France. As a teenager, Touvier was known for chasing girls, which caused his father, a devout Catholic who was sympathetic to the ideas of Marshall Pétain, to push his son into joining the "Milice", the militia of the Vichy regime. Touvier's father reportedly hoped that a little military discipline would "make a man" out of his son.

Wartime

Touvier was eventually appointed head of the intelligence department in the Chambéry Milice under the direction of Klaus Barbie and in January 1944 became second regional head.

Aftermath

After the liberation of France by the Allied forces, Touvier went into hiding and escaped being executed without trial, like many other suspected collaborators. On September 10, 1946, he was sentenced to death in absentia by the French courts for treason and collusion with the Nazis. He was arrested in 1947, but escaped.

Fugitive

By 1966, implementation of his death sentence was barred based on a 20-year statute of limitations. Following this, attorneys for Touvier filed an application for a pardon, requesting for the lifting of the life-time ban on leaving the country and the confiscation of goods linked to his death penalty. In 1971, French President Georges Pompidou granted him the pardon. Pompidou's pardon caused a public outcry that escalated when it was revealed that most of the property Touvier claimed as his own had allegedly been property seized from deported Jews.

On July 3, 1973, a complaint against Touvier was filed in the Lyon Court by Georges Glaeser, charging him with crimes against humanity. Glaeser explicitly accused Touvier of ordering the assassination of seven Jewish hostages at Rillieux-la-Pape, near Lyon, on 29 June 1944. This was in retaliation for the murder of Philippe Henriot, the Vichy Government's Secretary of State for Information and Propaganda, the previous evening. After being indicted, Touvier disappeared again. Years of legal maneuvering ensued through his lawyers until a warrant was issued for his arrest on November 27, 1981.

Arrest and trial

It was not until 1989 that Touvier was found hiding in the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) Priory in Nice. The SSPX stated at the time that Touvier had been allowed to live in the Priory as "an act of charity to a homeless man."

After his arrest, further allegations appeared in print, stating that he had been aided for years by the Catholic Church hierarchy in Lyon and later by members of the Traditionalist Catholic movement. He was defended by the monarchist lawyer Jacques Tremollet de Villers, who later became president of the Traditionalist Catholic organization, La Cité Catholique.

In conjunction with the charges attached to the massacre at Rillieux-la-Pape, Touvier was also alleged to have played an important part in the execution of a prominent human rights leader and his wife, as well as being involved in several deportations of other Jews. During the two years following Touvier's arrest, 20 additional accusations were made in the media.

Paul Touvier was granted provisional release in July 1991, but his trial for complicity in crimes against humanity only began on March 17, 1994. He expressed remorse for his actions, saying that he thought of the seven Jewish victims of Rillieux-la-Pape every day. A Traditionalist Catholic priest of the Society of Saint Pius X sat beside him at the defense table, acting as his spiritual advisor. On April 20, a nine-person jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. An appeal, in 1995, was rejected by the Court.

Death

On July 17, 1996, Paul Touvier died of prostate cancer in Fresnes prison, near Paris. A Tridentine Requiem Mass was offered for the repose of his soul by Father Philippe Laguérie at St Nicolas du Chardonnet, the Society of St. Pius X chapel, in Paris.

In popular culture

Irish-Canadian novelist Brian Moore's 1995 book The Statement is loosely based on Touvier's life story. It was later adapted into a 2003 film, directed by Norman Jewison. Michael Caine appeared as Pierre Brossard, a character inspired by Touvier.

The 1989 efforts by French authorities to find and arrest Touvier are documented in an episode of the History Television series Nazi Hunters, first broadcast November 1st, 2010.

External links

• The New York Times: L'Affaire Touvier: Opening Old Wounds
• Analysis of Touvier's involvement with the singer Jacques Brel

• Simon Kitson, (University of Portsmouth French History Interview series)

Bousquet, Touvier and Papon: Three Vichy personalities

Resources

Brian Busby, Character Parts: Who's Really Who in CanLit (2003) - ISBN 0-676-97579-8

See also

• Maurice Papon