Laval, Pierre

(1883-1945)

   political figure

   A member of the Vichy government of German-occupied France and a leader in the collaboration effort, Pierre Laval was born in Châteldon, Puy-de-Dôme and educated in law at Paris. In 1914, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Aubervil-liers, a suburb of Paris. He served in World War I and was reelected to the chamber in 1924. A year later, he was appointed minister of public works in the cabinet of paul painlevé and subsequently held many cabinet posts. From 1931 to 1932, Laval was premier and foreign minister. He served as minister of labor (1932), then again as foreign minister (1934-35) and, in that capacity, arranged a mutual military assistance pact with the Soviet Union. In June 1935, again as premier and foreign minister, he sponsored, with Sir Samuel Hoare, the British secretary for foreign affairs, the Hoare-Laval Treaty, which called for Ethiopia to cede large areas of its territory to Fascist italy. The treaty, however, aroused great public indignation and was repudiated in both Paris and London. Hoare was forced to resign and the Laval government fell in January 1936. After France's defeat by Germany in 1940, Laval returned to power as vice premier in the vichy government. He also became the chief aide to the president, Marshal Philippe pétain. In this capacity, Laval had the Parlement revise the constitution (which put an end to the third republic), and engaged France in a policy of collaboration with Nazi Germany, preparing the meeting between Pétain and German chancellor Hitler in 1940. Laval's attitude aroused the hostility of the other ministers, and he was replaced by Admiral François darlan (1941) and arrested. He was released a short time afterward, however, at the insistence of the Germans, who brought him back into the government as minister of the interior, information, and foreign affairs. He declared his desire for a German victory and aided the Nazi cause by sending French laborers to work in Germany as part of the STO (Service du travail obligatoire), and by sending French and foreign Jews there also to their likely death in concentration or extermination camps. Laval also supported the Mil-ice as a force against the resistance. After the Liberation of France, he fled to Austria, where he was arrested. Returned to France, he was found guilty of plotting against the state and of collaboration and was executed.