- Georges Suarez
Georges Suarez (1890-1944) was a French
writer ,essayist andjournalist . Initially a pacifist, then acollaborator (he had been editor of "Aujourd'hui", a French newspaper controlled by theThird Reich after the resignation of the writerHenri Jeanson ), he was also the biographer of Pétain and other figures of the "Troisième République". He was the first journalist sentenced to death during the "Épuration légale ".Biography
Suarez was trained as a
jurist . He fought in thefirst world war , and afterwards became a correspondent for the "agence Havas " news agency inVienna . During this period, he worked with several newspapers including "Le Temps" and "L'Écho de Paris ".In the 1920s, Suarez started writing several works in collaboration with
Joseph Kessel , who remained loyal to Suarez until his death. Suarez, who was then a member of "l'Action française ", joined with Kessel in producing an interview withCharles Maurras .Up until the 1930s, Suarez displayed a lively interest in the
politics of the "Troisième République"; he was particularly interested inGeorges Clemenceau andAristide Briand , to whom he devoted long monographs of anecdotes.Like many of his contemporaries, Suarez adopted an ambiguous political stance over the course of time. Switching back and forth between the left (he was interested in the "
Cartel des gauches " left-wing alliance) and the right (he followed theStavisky Affair and the riot at the "Palais Bourbon " in 1934), Suarez preserved acentrist ,pacifist andgermanophile stance.Suarez often met with journalists close to
Jean Luchaire 's daily newspaper "Notre temps ", which supported Briand's politics of peace with Germany. He was also close toBertrand de Jouvenel and theCercle du grand pavois , and toFernand de Brinon of the "Association France-Allemagne ". His written work became gradually more hostile to the "Troisième République", which he blamed for France's socio-economic ills of the 1930s.In 1935, along with
Drieu La Rochelle ,Paul Marion andPierre Pucheu , he strongly criticised the republican government, publicly lamenting their inability to solve the economic crisis, and calling for a newtechnocracy (they used the term "synarchy ") which would be capable, according to them, of dispensing with the problems posed by capitalism. Like many of his associates, Suarez became close to the "Parti populaire français " (PPF) ofJacques Doriot , and, after the French defeat of 1940,collaborationist circles.He published articles in favour of "synarchism" and "technocratism" such as had been theorised by
Georges Lefranc ,Georges Albertini andBertrand de Jouvenel , and under the occupation he condemned the "corruption" and the "conspiracies" of the "Troisième République", writing in newspapers like "Libération " and "Aujourd'hui". Suarez' radical positions led him to support theRiom trials of theVichy regime , trials set up in order to bring to justice those political figures of the Troisième République allegedly responsible for France's defeat of 1940.From 1940, Suarez became one of the first biographers of Marshal Philippe Pétain; In 1941 Suarez devoted a further work to him with the provocative title "Pétain ou la démocratie? Il faut choisir (Pétain or democracy? You have to choose)".
In 1944, despite his collaborationist involvement, Suarez wrote in vain to
Doctor Illers , the superintendent of theCompiègne camp, to ask for the freedom of his friendRobert Desnos , a supporter of therésistance .Suarez was sentenced to death in 1945; he was shot on the 9th of November.
Works
* (with Joseph Kessel), "Le Onze mai", Paris, Éditions NRF, 1924.
* (with Joseph Kessel), "Au camp des vaincus, ou la Critique du 11 mai", Paris, Éd. NRF, 1924.
* (with Joseph Kessel), "Chez M. Paul Faure et M. Charles Maurras", [?] , 1926.
* "De Poincaré à Poincaré", Paris, [?] , 1928.
* "Peu d'hommes, trop d'idées ! Et Un entretien avec Charles Maurras par J. Kessel", Paris, De France, 1928 [rééd. Déterna, 2000] .
* "Une nuit chez Cromwell. Précédé d'un important récit historique de Raymond Poincaré", Paris, Éditions de France, 1930
* "La Belgique Vivante", préf. André Tardieu, [?] , Éditions Rex, [1932] .
* "La vie orgueilleuse de Clémenceau". t. 1 "Clémenceau. Dans la mêlée", Paris, J. Tallandier, 1932.
* "La vie orgueilleuse de Clémenceau". t. 2 "Clémenceau. Dans l’action", Paris, J. Tallandier, 1932.
* "Les Hommes malades de la paix", Paris, Grasset, 1933.
* "Profils de rechange", Paris, Excelsior, 1933.
* "La Grande peur du 6 février au Palais-Bourbon", Paris, Grasset, 1934.
* "Les Heures héroïques du Cartel", Paris, Grasset, 1934.
* "Soixante années d'histoire française. Clemenceau", Paris, Éditions de France, 1934.
* "Pour un parti central", Paris, Denoël et Steele, 1936.
* "Nos seigneurs et maîtres", Paris, Éditions de France, 1937.
* "Briand : sa vie, son œuvre, avec son journal et de nombreux documents inédits", 6. vol. Paris, Plon, 1938-1952.
* "Les Accords franco-britanniques économiques et financiers. L’Empire français et la guerre", Paris, Odef, 1940.
* « Préface » à Pierre Dehillotte, "Gestapo : l'organisation, les chefs, les agents, l'action de la Gestapo à l'étranger", Paris, Payot, 1940.
* "Le maréchal Pétain", Paris, Plon, 1940 [rééd. Déterna, 1999] .
* "Pétain ou la démocratie ? Il faut choisir", Paris, Grasset, 1941.
* (et Guy Laborde), "Agonie de la paix (1935-1939)", Paris, Plon, 1942.
* "Espagne, pont de l'Europe", Paris, Éditions France-Empire, 1944.
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