Jean Luchaire

Jean Luchaire (21 July 1901 - 22 February 1946) was a French journalist and politician who founded the weekly "Notre Temps" in 1927 and the Collaborationist evening daily "Les Nouveaux Temps" in 1940. Luchaire supported the Vichy regime's "Révolution nationale".

Born in Siena, Italy, he was a grand nephew of historian Achille Luchaire. In 1927 he founded the weekly "Notre Temps", which supported Aristide Briand's pacifist policies. The newspaper had as main collaborators Bertrand de Jouvenel, André Weil-Curiel, Jacques Chabannes, Pierre Brossolette and Pierre Mendès France.

Jean Luchaire first met with Otto Abetz, who would become Nazi Germany's ambassador in Paris during World War II, in 1930. He became the President of the "Association de la presse parisienne" (Association of the Parisian Press) in 1941 and presided the "Corporation nationale de la presse française" (National Corporation of French Press).

In 1944 Luchaire called on the Germans to "exterminate" the French Resistance. He was Minister of Interior in the shadowy Vichy government-in-exile, set up by the Germans in Sigmaringen in 1944-5. He fled to Italy in 1945 but was arrested and returned to France, where he was tried and executed.

Corinne Luchaire was his daughter and a film actress. In 1945 she was sentenced to ten years of dégradation nationale. She died of tuberculosis soon after.

References

*cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,794899,00.html |title=Men of Good Will |date=1949-08-01 |work=Time
* [http://politiquepourtous.xooit.fr/t432-Jean-LUCHAIRE.htm Politique Pour Tous :: Jean LUCHAIRE]