Claude Bourdet

Claude Bourdet , born the October 9th 1909 in Paris and dead the March 20th 1996 in Paris.

Alias Lorraine , in the resistance.

Resisting, off-set, Companion of the Release, writer, Journalist, polemist and political militant French

A humanistic Christian of left combatant all totalitarianisms.

Photograph of Claude Bourdet, companion of the release

Biography of an antifascist

Its family

Descendant of Georges Pléville Pelley, Minister for the navy and the colonies of the Directory, Claude Bourdet inherited the revolutionary brutality of its ancestor, whom the very preserving Adolphe Thiers denounced, in its Histoire of the Revolution, the Consulate and the Empire . However the revolutionary militant will not become minister and will fight for the end of colonialism. As much of extremists of left, he is a son of middle-class man. His father Edouard Bourdet, Administrator of the Comédie-Française and dramatic author and his mother the writer Catherine Pozzi, are neither of the proletarians, nor really politically engaged with the extreme-left.

A young operations manager of the Popular front

Moreover, Claude Bourdet makes studies in Switzerland. He leaves the federal Polytechnic school of Zurich with a diploma for the occupation of engineer in technical physics in 1933. He makes his military service, during which he is second lieutenant in an artillery regiment of Mountain. As of 1936, he is operations manager with the ministry for the economy in the government of Popular front. They is at that time that it Marie and has three children.

Resistance and deportation

Claude Bourdet is mobilized in 1939 as lieutenant in artillery. He knows the difficult hours of the Débâcle. Become industrial, it enters resistance to the autumn 1940. It is quickly very active in the movements of resistance. It takes part in the foundation of Combat with Henri Frenay, of which he will be member of the management committee then representing in 1943 at the time of the departure of Frenay to London then with Algiers. It takes care starting from 1942 of creation and the development of the service of coring of the public administrations of which he will be the national leader. Claude Bourdet represents Combat with the National council of Resistance.

In 1944, it is arrested by the Gestapo, is imprisoned with Fresnes, then with the Camp of Royallieu to Compiegne and from there off-set in several Concentration camps (Neuengamme, Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald).

A Companion of the Release fighting against colonialism

With the Release, the war made it evolve to the extreme-left and a nonStalinist socialism. It quite to the contrary takes part Comité of action of the independent lefts, which does not have any inclination for Stalinism. Accuser Claude Bourdet to have supported the Stalinist dictatorship in its worst demonstrations is completely unfounded.

Its return of the camps to spring 1945, it joins Hector de Galard before founding with the summer 1946 with the other old ones of Socialisme and freedom (Yves Dechézelles, Henri Frenay, Marceau Pivert) the newspaper October. They are then impregnated by a certain number of topics (pacifism, anticolonialism) around the search for a democratic passage to socialism and formation of a new pole on the left preserving the spirit of socialist resistance while refusing communist control.

Claude Bourdet continuous to write in Combat, but it returns in conflict with the new owner of the newspaper, Henri Smadja, which supports the gaullists. It leaves the newspaper in 1950.

With Gilles Trip hammer and Roger Stephan, Claude Bourdet founds in 1950 the Observer which becomes the Observer Today (1953) then France-Observer (1954). Claude Bourdet defends there the union of all the lefts and social justice. He supports also the anti-colonial fight, denounces repression with Madagascar and the Torture in Algérie.

Claude Bourdet is one of the elected officials of the Union of the socialist left to the Conseil of Paris, city council man of XIIIe district of 1959 to 1971.

In 1961, Claude Bourdet inveighs and denounces the prefect of police Maurice Papon in connection with the exactions and massacres made in Paris the October 17th, 1961 by the police force against the Algerian demonstrators of FLN.

A revolutionary militant

Claude Bourdet is one of the founders of the Socialist party unified in April 1960.

Member of association France-Palestine, it engages so that justice is returned to the despoiled Palestinian people.

Also, its political militancy, considered to be excessive by its enemies, involve-you it of the tensions which lead in 1963 to a major rupture within the team of France-Observer with the departure of Claude Bourdet.

Claude Bourdet continuous to publish articles in Christian Testimony , Political Hebdo or Politis and takes part in the special issues of the Nouvel Observateur .

The death of large resistant

Claude Bourdet died on March 20th, 1996, at 87 years. In the large court of the Invalid , after the religious ceremony, the military honors are returned to him. France pays homage to large resistant, with the Compagnon of the Release.

Claude Bourdet is Commandeur of the Legion of honor.

A place Claude Bourdet of XIIIe bears since January 20th, 2003 its name

Notes and references of the article

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