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Author eyes Darquier, villain of Vichy France:Posted By: Janine Delacroix By Mike Collett-White LONDON (Reuters) - Others were more guilty of France's collusion with the Nazis during World War Two and its part in the Holocaust.But by focusing on Louis Darquier, an overlooked villain of the Vichy regime who acted as Commissioner for Jewish Affairs, biographer Carmen Callil says she used the "underbelly of history" to expose the truth. "I would say that what's different about my book is that nobody has given any attention to this man and his milieu, which really is the essence of the shame of Vichy," Callil, until now best known as a publisher, said in a weekend interview. "My point is you learn much more from the underbelly of history. I think it teaches you how it really all happens." Darquier's rise to power in the years running up to the war mirrored growing anti-Semitism in France. Born in 1897, Darquier was quick to adopt a nationalist anti-Semitism that came from deep suspicion of all foreigners, and by 1936 he was receiving messages of gratitude as well as funding from Nazi Germany. When shot in the thigh during demonstrations in 1934, he quickly set up The Association of the Wounded and Victims of 6 February -- a cynical ploy to make money that was typical of a man who begged, borrowed and stole his way through life. In fact, money was Darquier's main motivation in persecuting Jews before and during the war -- he was more interested in their cash than their extermination. "YOU CAN'T FORGIVE HIM" In "Bad Faith," Callil draws the distinction between the Nazis' desire to exterminate an entire race and hatred of Jews among Vichy officials like Darquier. In her postscript, she says Darquier used anti-Semitism to make his way in the world and "to aggrandise his small self." But she is adamant he should not be excused. "You can't forgive him," she said. "I think he was a grossly socially dysfunctional human being. That's the only forgiveness one can find for him." The monocled Darquier re-invented his past, gave himself the title Baron, added "de Pellepoix" to his surname and beat his wife Myrtle, all of which contributed to his being "beneath French contempt" in subsequent histories of Vichy France. When it dawned on Darquier that he might be answerable for what he had demanded for so many years -- the murder of Jews -- he turned pale, "appalled at accepting such a responsibility." Yet he almost certainly knew the fate of thousands of extra Jews he promised to round up for the Germans in 1942. In the end the Vichy state deported 75-76,000 Jews. Of 70,000 sent to Auschwitz only 2,500 survivors returned to France. Australian-born Callil, 67, first became interested in Darquier in 1972 when she saw a documentary in which she noticed that he shared the unusual surname of her psychiatrist. Anne Darquier, Callil's psychiatrist for seven years after the author attempted suicide, was found dead in 1970. Although she did not kill herself, Callil called Anne's death "slow suicide." It eventually led to the discovery of the identity of Anne's father, who lived freely in Spain until his death in 1980. In 1978, Louis Darquier gave an infamous interview to "L'Express" in which he called the Holocaust a "Jewish invention" and said the reason for the gas chambers at Auschwitz was to get rid of lice, not to exterminate people. While the l'Express interviewer somewhat unfairly labeled him the "French Eichmann," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, chief organiser of the Holocaust, Darquier's interview helped France face up to its past. "It became public," Callil said. "After the 1978 'Darquier Affair' they actually turned and tried for crimes against humanity Papon, Touvier, Barbie and Bousquet," Callil added, referring to other leading Vichy functionaries. "It's the only good thing Darquier ever achieved." Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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