Pierre Pucheu
Pierre Firmin Pucheu (27 June 1899 – 20 March 1944) was a French industrialist and politician who served as Minister of the Interior under the Vichy regime from July 1941 to April 1942.[1]
Early life
Born to a tailor in southwest France, Pucheu won a scholarship to the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he met Robert Brasillach and Jean‑Paul Sartre. Although he had initially aspired to be a writer, he became fascinated by capitalism and entered the steel industry, eventually heading the major steel monopoly Cartel d'Acier.[2]
His political interest was sparked by the riots of 6 February 1934. He joined the Croix‑de‑Feu and later the Parti Populaire Français of Jacques Doriot, leaving in 1938 due to Doriot’s financial ties to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.[3]
Vichy France
After France’s defeat, industrial backers of Le Temps pressured for his appointment as Minister of Industrial Production in 1941, and later that year he became Minister of the Interior.[4] He earned a reputation for harsh repression, ordering communist militants arrested and executed in retaliation for the killing of a German soldier in the Paris Métro on 21 August 1941.[5]
In 1941 he also established the Police for Jewish Affairs and personally oversaw its operation.[6] He created an anti‑Freemasonry service and the Amicales de France as propaganda arms for the regime.[7] Although personally hostile to communists and Jews, Pucheu aimed to reshape France’s economy along German lines rather than fully embrace occupation ideology, and was replaced in April 1942 at German insistence.[8]
Final years
After his dismissal, Pucheu fled to Vichy‑controlled Algeria in 1943. Following the Allied and Free French takeover, he was arrested in Casablanca and extradited to France for trial.[9] In 1944 Charles de Gaulle insisted on his execution to deter collaboration; Pucheu was among the first Vichy officials shot under de Gaulle's orders.[10]
References
- ↑ “L'épuration”. Historia, no. 41, 1975.
- ↑ Webster, Paul (2001). Petain's Crime: The Complete Story of French Collaboration in the Holocaust, p. 117.
- ↑ Webster, p. 127; Curtis, Michael (2004). Verdict on Vichy, p. 79.
- ↑ Webster, p. 126.
- ↑ Kupferman, Fred. Le procès de Vichy, p. 31.
- ↑ Webster, p. 119.
- ↑ Littlejohn, David (1972). The Patriotic Traitors, p. 231.
- ↑ Webster, p. 126.
- ↑ Curtis, p. 80.
- ↑ La Vanguardia Española, 15 March 1944; Curtis, p. 345.
Bibliography
- Curtis, Michael (2004). Verdict on Vichy. Phoenix Press.
- Littlejohn, David (1972). The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-Occupied Europe, 1940-45. William Heinemann Ltd. ISBN 043442725X.
- Webster, Paul (2001). Petain's Crime: The Complete Story of French Collaboration in the Holocaust. Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 1566632498.