ROUILLAC
333
-
[The Second World War]
See original version (French)
333
-
[The Second World War]
See original version (French)
Estimate €20 - €30
Voluntary lot
Description
[The Second World War]
The succession of Marshal Pétain and the political crisis of November 1943
Typewritten copy of Constitutional Act No. 4 sextiès (version of 12 November 1943) and the draft radio address prepared by Marshal Pétain, 1 page, folio. A document reportedly entrusted clandestinely at the time by Pétain to Vice-Admiral Jean Fernet. According to his widow’s statement: ‘The Marshal had entrusted this fourth copy to my husband, fearing what might become of the other three, which had been officially handed over to the Minister of Justice, his solicitor and ?...’
The Vichy regime, established by a vote of the National Assembly on 10 July 1940, was founded on a charismatic legitimacy embodied by Pétain. However, the question of the ‘Old King’s’ succession (he was 84 in 1940 and 87 in 1943) posed an insoluble legal problem. As it was no longer a parliamentary republic, the mechanism for automatic succession no longer existed.
By November 1943, the Act of 4 Quinquies, which provided for succession, had become a political liability. If Pétain were to die, Laval would become Head of State. Yet Laval was the most hated man in France, irrevocably compromised by his ties to the occupying forces, and utterly unacceptable to the Allies who had gained a foothold in North Africa. On 13 November 1943, Philippe Pétain sought to push through a new constitutional act, Act No. 4 sextiès of 12 November 1943, via a pre-recorded radio address, which stipulated that, in the event of the Head of State’s death, power would no longer be entrusted to Pierre Laval but to the National Assembly.
+ typescript, extract from the Official Journal of 20 February 1943, Act No. 122 of 19 February 1943 establishing the National Council
This text is a political bombshell. It denies the legitimacy of the authoritarian ‘National Revolution’ in order to return to republican legitimacy. It makes the National Assembly the sole legal repository of power, thereby delegitimising in advance any puppet government the Germans might install (Déat, Doriot).
Laval knew that the Germans would never accept this text. Rather than openly opposing the Marshal (which would put him at odds with public opinion), he suggested, ‘as a courtesy’, that the German Consul-General, Roland Krug von Nidda, be informed. The German reaction was immediate. The consul received a formal order to prevent the text from being circulated. This led to an internal political crisis. Marshal Pétain, humiliated, went on strike. By declaring himself “unable to carry out his duties”, Pétain attempted to create a legal vacuum. Without his signature, Laval’s decrees were not constitutionally valid. The Marshal ceased to chair the Council of Ministers. He shut himself away in his apartments. From that point on, the Germans issued an ultimatum to which Pétain yielded, agreeing to resume his duties whilst imposing a new entourage upon him: the “Ultras” of the Parisian collaborationist movement, who were directly subservient to the Nazis: Marcel Déat, Philippe Henriot and Joseph Darnand. Dr Ménétrel, his adviser, saw his influence diminished (although he remained a doctor), whilst Colonel Groussard and others were dismissed or arrested.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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