The Trial of Pierre Laval by J. Kenneth Brody

Author:J. Kenneth Brody [Brody, J. Kenneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Military, World War II
ISBN: 9781351297745
Google: EpsuDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-07-28T04:59:41+00:00

14

The Trial, October 6, 19451

When the Court re-opened on October 6, the presiding judge had a question for Pierre Laval. “You said, and you have said it repeatedly, that you had no understanding with the Marshal, that you had many difficulties with him. You said that he was more powerful than Louis XIV.”

He brushed aside Laval’s attempt to speak. “There’s a little problem of psychology, which perhaps you can help us solve. How can it be that if he was more powerful than Louis XIV, and couldn’t get along with his prime minister, that he would have kept you on for three years. What’s the explanation? You said you had no understanding with him, but you stayed with him. Why did you stay?”2

“That’s easy enough to explain,” Laval replied. But first, he wanted to read the document he had been unable to find yesterday. It was the letter he had sent to the Garde des Sceaux on September 22. He had as yet no reply.

He put on his eyeglasses and tested the proper length at which to hold the letter and at the same time fix his eye from time to time on the jury and on the audience. The moment was critical. This was an opportunity to tell the jury, the audience, the press, and he must have hoped, the public, how justice had been denied to him. He began to read.

Monsieur le Garde des Sceaux

“I have the honor to call to your attention the abnormal conditions under which the pretrial examination of my case has been carried out.”

“I am accused of a plot against the security of the state and of treason, the gravest and most abominable crimes that can be charged.”

“The indictment refers to acts I committed before the war and during the Occupation.”

“I have no doubts of a justice founded on truth. But it seems to me the examining magistrates were hardly searching for the truth.”

He explained how his examination had been cut short because the trial date had been set.

“That is why I appeal to you not to be deprived of the right to defend myself.”

“I have exercised the highest functions, I have been involved in the direction of the country’s policies for many years. My trial is about governmental activity during almost all of the Occupation, that period when France suffered so cruelly.”

“How could one imagine a trial, which concerns not only a man but a policy, that wasn’t preceded by a complete investigation?”

“I can make important declarations to show them I had no responsibility for the misfortunes that beset our unhappy country.”

“If you will not listen to me today, how will history tomorrow discover the truth?”

He now catalogued all those critical issues, issues which in many cases formed the basis of the charges against him and on which he had never been examined. These included his negotiations with the German government, his meeting with Hitler at Montoire, the German requisitions of French manpower and food, the Milice, his forced departure from Paris on August 17, 1944, and his captivity in Germany.

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