Maurice Papon
Maurice Papon (Gretz-Armainvilliers, September 3, 1910 – Pontault-Combault, February 17, 2007) was a French politician and senior civil servant who held various positions in the French administration between 1931 and 1981. His career included roles as Secretary General of the Prefecture of Gironde (Bordeaux), Prefect of Constantine in Algeria, Chief of Police of Paris during the 1961 Paris Massacre, and Budget Minister in Raymond Barre's government from 1978 to 1981. In that same year, 1981, the newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné revealed documented evidence of Papon's collaboration with the Nazis while he served in the Vichy regime and his involvement in the persecution of Jews during World War II. As a result, he was prosecuted and convicted as a war criminal in 1998.
Biography
Maurice Papon was born in the town of Gretz-Armainvilliers, in the Seine-et-Marne department, in 1910. He began his political career in 1931, at the age of 21, after studying Law and Humanities. He held various posts under successive French governments, including the Vichy regime during the German occupation. During this period, as Secretary General of the Prefecture of Gironde (Bordeaux), he was responsible for the deportation of 1,645 French Jews, most of whom perished in Nazi concentration camps. He exceeded the demands of the German authorities by including hundreds of children.
After the Liberation of France, Papon portrayed himself as a Gaullist, which allowed him to retain his position and avoid purges. From 1949 to 1954, he served as Prefect in Algeria, during which time torture was widely used in the dirty war against Algerian independence activists. Upon returning to France, he became Prefect of Paris.
On October 17, 1961, as Chief of Police, Papon led the violent repression of Algerian demonstrators, an event that may have caused around 300 deaths. Many bodies were thrown into the Seine River and surfaced weeks later in surrounding towns. Nevertheless, he managed to cover up the massacre with the complicity of Charles de Gaulle.
In the late 1960s, Papon was elected as a Member of Parliament. Between 1978 and 1981, he served as Budget Minister. From 1981 to 1983, he was mayor of Saint-Amand-Montrond.
In 1981, the newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné published documents bearing his signature that revealed his involvement in the Holocaust. In 1998, after 17 years of legal proceedings, Papon was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to ten years in prison. He exhausted all avenues of appeal and consistently proclaimed his innocence. He attempted to flee to Switzerland but was captured and served three years in prison. He was released in 2002 at the age of 92 due to health reasons.
On February 8, 2007, Papon was hospitalized in Pontault-Combault for surgery to treat heart failure scheduled for February 13. The operation could not be performed successfully, and he died on February 17, 2007, at nearly 97 years old.
External Links
- Maurice Papon hospitalized February 12, 2007
- Maurice Papon dies, convicted for crimes against humanity under Nazism February 18, 2007