Pierre Laval

Lore & Background

A socialist early in his life, Laval became a lawyer in 1909 and was famous for his defence of strikers, trade unionists and leftists from government prosecution. In 1914, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), and he remained committed to his pacifist convictions during the First World War. After his defeat in the 1919 election, Laval left the SFIO and became mayor of Aubervilliers. In 1924 he returned to the Chamber as an independent, and was elected to the Senate three years later. He also held a series of governmental positions, including Minister of Public Works, Minister of Justice and Minister of Labour. In 1931, Laval became prime minister, but his government fell only a year later. Laval joined the conservative government of Gaston Doumergue in 1934 and served as Minister of the Colonies and then Foreign Minister. In 1935, Laval again became prime minister. Seeking to contain Nazi Germany, he pursued foreign policies favourable to Italy and the Soviet Union, but his handling of the Abyssinia Crisis, which was widely denounced as appeasement of Benito Mussolini, prompted his resignation in 1936. After France's defeat by the blitzkrieg invasion of Nazi Germany, Laval, by this time a well-known Fascist sympathizer, served in prominent roles in Philippe Pétain's Vichy France, first as the vice-president of the Council of Ministers from July 1940 to December 1940 and later as the head of government from April 1942 to August 1944. After the Liberation of France in 1944, Laval was imprisoned by the Germans. In April 1945, he fled to Spain but was soon extradited to France, where he was arrested by the French government. Laval was found guilty of plotting against the security of the state and of collaboration with the Nazis and was sentenced to death. After a thwarted suicide attempt, Laval was executed by firing squad in October 1945.

Reader's Guide

Pierre Jean Marie Laval was born on 28 June 1883 in Châteldon, near Vichy in the northern part of Auvergne, the son of Gilbert Laval and Claudine Tournaire. His father worked as a café proprietor and postman. The family was comfortably off compared to the rest of the village: the café also served as a hostel and a butcher's shop, and Gilbert Laval owned a vineyard and horses. The last name 'Laval' was widespread in the region at that time. The family branch was commonly named Laval-Tournaire, and his father had himself called 'Baptiste Moulin'. Laval was educated at the village school in Châteldon. At age 15, he was sent to the lycée Saint-Louis in Paris where he obtained his baccalauréat in July 1901. He then continued his studies in Southwestern France, in Bordeaux and Bayonne, where he learnt Spanish and met Pierre Cathala. Returning to Lyon, he spent the next year reading for a degree in zoology and served as a supervisor in various collèges and lycées of Lyon, Saint-Étienne and Autun to pay for his studies. Laval joined the socialist Central Revolutionary Committee in 1903, while he was living in Saint-Étienne. During this period, Laval became familiar with the left-wing doctrines of Georges Sorel and Hubert Lagardelle. In 1903, he was called up for military service and, after serving in the ranks, was discharged for varicose veins. Laval returned to Paris in 1907 at the age of 24. Abandoning natural science studies, Laval eventually turned to law and became in 1909 a 'lawyer of the poor people', who was near syndicalists of the CGT. The years before the First World War were characterised by labour unrest, and Laval defended strikers, trade unionists and left-wing agitators against government attempts to prosecute them. Laval married Jeanne Claussat in 1909, the daughter of the Socialist politician Dr Joseph Claussat. Their only child, a daughter named Josée, was born in 1911. In 1914, Laval was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the second electoral district of Saint-Denis. At nearly 31, he was the youngest member of the Chamber. Laval remained true to his pacifist convictions during the war. In December 1915, Jean Longuet proposed to Socialist parliamentarians that they communicate with socialists of other states in the hope of pressing governments into a negotiated peace. Laval signed on, but the motion was defeated. On 30 January 1917, in the Nat

Did You Know?

• Laval was a chain smoker, noted to have smoked 80 'tabac brun' each day.
• Laval's daughter Josée married René de Chambrun, whose uncle Nicholas Longworth III married Alice Roosevelt, daughter of US President Theodore Roosevelt.
• Laval was listed in the Carnet B, a compilation of potentially subversive elements, but was not apprehended.
• Laval's brother Jean died in 1915.