Gabriel Péri
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Gabriel Péri (French pronunciation: [ɡabʁiɛl peʁi]; 9 February 1902 — 15 December 1941) was a prominent French communist journalist and politician who served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1932 to 1940 for Seine-et-Oise. A member of the French Resistance in World War II, he was executed in German-occupied France at Fort Mont-Valérien. He was deemed Mort pour la France.
Early life
[edit]Péri was born in Toulon to a Corsican family. Forced to give up his studies at an early age, the First World War and Russian Revolution had a profound effect on him and his involvement in revolutionary politics. He immersed himself in political activities, and wrote for newspapers in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille.[1]
Career and execution
[edit]At the age of 22, Péri became departmental manager of foreign politics at l'Humanité. He was elected deputy to the French National Assembly for Argenteuil in 1932 and re-elected in 1936.
In the National Assembly, Péri distinguished himself as an expert in the field of diplomatic and international relations and was a strident antifascist. He denounced both Benito Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia and France's non-intervention during the Spanish Civil War. Péri was also a prominent opponent of the Nazi regime in Germany.
On 21 January 1940, however, after the German-Soviet Pact, he was stripped of his mandate to the National Assembly, and on 3 April, he was sentenced to five years in military prison, fined and stripped of his civic and political rights for reconstituting a legally-dissolved organization.[2] He went into hiding as a result.
The Fall of France in 1940 resulted in the German occupation of northern France. Arrested by the French police on 18 May 1941, Péri was jailed at Fort Mont-Valérien, which was under the control of the German forces. He was executed there on 15 December with a group of 70 men. Albert Camus learned of Péri's execution while he was staying in Lyon,[3] an event that he later said crystallised his own revolt against the Germans.
Legacy
[edit]Many French schools and streets have been named after Péri, as well as a Paris metro station and another in Lyon. Paul Éluard and Louis Aragon wrote poems in his honor (titled "Gabriel Péri" and "Ballade de Celui Qui Chanta Dans les Supplices" ["Ballad to He who Sings While Being Tortured"], respectively).
References
[edit]- ^ Mignard, Margaux. "Gabriel Péri – 1902 - 1941". Lysias Partners Société d'Avocats. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ "Condamnation des ex-députés communistes". Le Matin. April 4, 1940. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ Foley, John (2014-12-05). Albert Camus: From the Absurd to Revolt. Routledge. p. 186 citation 51. ISBN 9781317492719.
51 The passage quoted concludes with the following: "And, to be precise, I recall the day when the waves of revolt within me reached their climax. It was a morning, in Lyon, and I had just read in the newspaper of the execution of Gabriel Péri" (first reply to d'Astier, "Où est la mystification?", June 1948, E: 355-6). Gabriel Peri was a leader of the French Communist Party, executed by the Nazis in December 1941. Cf. Tarrou's account of the death penalty in TP.
External links
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(in French)
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