The Epinay Congress was the third national congress of the French Socialist Party ( Parti socialiste or PS ), which took place on 11, 12 and 13 June 1971, in the town of Épinay-sur-Seine , in the northern suburbs of Paris . During this congress, not only did the party admit the Convention of Republican Institutions ( Convention des institutions républicaines or CIR , a federation of left-wing republican groups led by François Mitterrand ) into its ranks, but the party leadership was also won by Mitterrand and his supporters. For the observers and the French Socialists themselves, the Epinay Congress was the real founding act of the current PS. It was also the turning point in Mitterrand's grand political plan, which led to the ascendancy of the French Left over the next quarter-century, and eventually, in 1981, to Mitterrand's election to the Presidency of France for two consecutive 7-year terms.
76-616: After the catastrophic results of the 1968 legislative election and of the 1969 presidential election , the secretary general of the French Section of the Workers' International (socialist party, SFIO) Guy Mollet resigned. The party merged with several centre-left clubs. The leader of one of these groups, Alain Savary , was elected first secretary of the new Socialist Party (PS). Supported by Mollet's circle, he tried to convince
152-463: A Fifth Republic . He justified his opposition by the circumstances of de Gaulle's comeback: the 13 May 1958 quasi-putsch and military pressure. In September 1958, determinedly opposed to Charles de Gaulle, François Mitterrand made an appeal to vote "no" in the referendum over the Constitution , which was nevertheless adopted on 4 October 1958. This defeated coalition of the "No" was composed of
228-666: A Lysander plane on 15 November 1943 (piloted by then- Squadron Leader Lewis Hodges ). He promoted his movement to the British and American Authorities, but he was sent to Algiers , where he met de Gaulle, by then the uncontested leader of the Free French. The two men clashed, de Gaulle refused to jeopardize the Resistance by including a movement that gathered information from POWs. Later Mitterrand refused to merge his group with other POW movements if de Gaulle's nephew Cailliau
304-508: A fake attempt on his life. Prosecution was initiated against François Mitterrand but was later dropped. Nonetheless, the Observatory Affair cast a lasting shadow over Mitterrand's reputation. Years later in 1965, when François Mitterrand emerged as the challenger to de Gaulle in the second round of the presidential elections, de Gaulle was urged by an aide to use the Observatory Affair to discredit his opponent. "No, and don't insist"
380-614: A flat in Vichy , where they hoped to arrest François Morland, a member of the resistance. "Morland" was François Mitterrand's cover name. He also used Purgon, Monnier, Laroche, Captain François, Arnaud et Albre as cover names. The man they arrested was Pol Pilven , a member of the resistance who was to survive the war in a concentration camp. François Mitterrand was in Paris at the time. Warned by his friends, Mitterrand escaped to London aboard
456-865: A formal member of the French Social Party , which was the successor to the Croix de Feu and may be considered the first French right-wing mass party. However, he did write news articles in the L'Echo de Paris newspaper, which was close to the Social Party. He participated in the demonstrations against the " invasion métèque " in February 1935 and then in those against law teacher Gaston Jèze , who had been nominated as juridical counsellor of Ethiopia 's Negus , in January 1936. When Mitterrand's involvement in these conservative nationalist movements
532-456: A left-wing opponent to Charles de Gaulle in publishing Le Coup d'État permanent (The permanent coup, 1964), which criticized de Gaulle's personal power, the weaknesses of Parliament and of the government, the President's exclusive control of foreign affairs, and defence, etc. In 1965, Mitterrand was the first left-wing politician who saw the presidential election by universal suffrage as
608-569: A member of the ORA, moreover he set up his own RNPG network with Pinot in February and he obtained funding for his own network. In March, François Mitterrand met Henri Frenay , who encouraged the resistance in France to support François Mitterrand over Michel Cailliau. 28 May 1943, when François Mitterrand met with Gaullist Philippe Dechartre [ fr ] , is generally taken as the date François Mitterrand split with Vichy. According to Dechartre,
684-468: A politically isolated figure, he outmanoeuvered rivals to become the left's standard bearer in the 1965 and 1974 presidential elections, before being elected president in the 1981 presidential election . He was re-elected in 1988 and remained in office until 1995. Mitterrand invited the Communist Party into his first government, which was a controversial decision at the time. In any event,
760-533: A second visit to London in February 1944, Mitterrand took part in the liberation of Paris in August; he took over the headquarters of Commissariat général aux prisonniers de guerre (general office for POW, the ministry he was working for), immediately he took up the vacant post of secretary general of POWs. When de Gaulle entered Paris following the Liberation , he was introduced to various men who were to be part of
836-541: A socialist background and worked for various left-wing causes. They married on 24 October 1944 and had three sons: Pascal (10 June – 17 September 1945), Jean-Christophe , born in 1946, and Gilbert, born on 4 February 1949. He also had two children as results of extra-marital affairs: an acknowledged daughter, Mazarine (born 1974), with his mistress Anne Pingeot , and an unacknowledged son, Hravn Forsne (born 1988), with Swedish journalist Chris Forsne [ sv ] . François Mitterrand's nephew Frédéric Mitterrand
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#1732779542030912-539: A total of 194. The Communists remained the largest left-wing group with 22.5% of votes. The governing coalition won with its majority reduced by only one seat (247 seats out of 487). In Paris, the Left (FGDS, PSU, PCF) managed to win more votes in the first round than the two governing parties (46% against 42.6%) while the Democratic Centre of Duhamel got 7% of votes. But with 38% of votes, de Gaulle's Union for
988-676: A true spy network in the POW camps which gave us information, often decisive, about what was going on behind the German borders." On 10 July François Mitterrand and Piatzook (a militant communist) interrupted a public meeting in the Salle Wagram in Paris. The meeting was about allowing French POWs to go home if they were replaced by young French men forced to go and work in Germany (in French this
1064-462: A way to defeat the opposition leadership. Not a member of any specific political party, his candidacy for presidency was accepted by all left-wing parties (the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), French Communist Party (PCF), Radical-Socialist Party (PR) and Unified Socialist Party (PSU)). He ended the cordon sanitaire of the PCF which the party had been subject to since 1947. For
1140-719: The Bloc National in 1919 . Mitterrand was accused of being responsible for this huge legislative defeat and the FGDS split. In 1969, François Mitterrand could not run for the Presidency: Guy Mollet refused to give him the support of the SFIO. The left wing was eliminated in the first round, with the Socialist candidate Gaston Defferre winning a humiliating 5.1 percent of the total vote. Georges Pompidou faced
1216-536: The Comité d'entraide aux prisonniers rapatriés de l'Allier (Mutual Assistance Committee for Repatriated POWs of the Allier Department). By the end of 1942, François Mitterrand met Pierre Guillain de Bénouville , an old friend from his days with La Cagoule . Bénouville was a member of the resistance groups Combat and Noyautage des administrations publiques (NAP). In late 1942, the non-occupied zone
1292-677: The Fifth Republic . They were held in the aftermath of the a general strike in May 1968 . On 30 May 1968, in a radio speech, President Charles de Gaulle , who had been out of the public eye for three days (he was in Baden-Baden , Germany), announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and called legislative elections to restore order. While the workers returned to their jobs, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou campaigned for
1368-718: The June 1946 legislative election , he led the list of the Rally of the Republican Lefts ( Rassemblement des gauches républicaines , RGR) in the Western suburb of Paris, but he was not elected. The RGR was an electoral entity composed of the Radical Party , the centrist Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance ( Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance , UDSR) and several conservative groupings. It opposed
1444-621: The Maastricht Treaty , and he accepted German reunification . Less than eight months after leaving office, he died from the prostate cancer he had successfully concealed for most of his presidency. Beyond making the French Left electable, Mitterrand presided over the rise of the Socialist Party to dominance of the left, and the decline of the once-dominant Communist Party. François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand
1520-631: The Order of the Francisque (the honorific distinction of the Vichy Regime). Debate rages in France as to the significance of this. When François Mitterrand's Vichy past was exposed in the 1950s, he at first denied having received the Francisque (some sources say he was designated for the award, but never received the medal because he went into hiding before the ceremony took place). Socialist Resistance leader Jean Pierre-Bloch says that Mitterrand
1596-673: The Unified Socialist Party protested against the passivity of the left-wing parties. The Gaullist Union for the Defence of the Republic became the first party in the French Republic's history to obtain an absolute parliamentary majority. The FGDS disintegrated. However, the relation between the two heads of the executive power had deteriorated during the crisis. One month later, Georges Pompidou resigned and
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#17327795420301672-617: The unoccupied zone controlled by the French. With help from a friend of his mother he got a job as a mid-level functionary of the Vichy government , looking after the interests of POWs. This was very unusual for an escaped prisoner, and he later claimed to have served as a spy for the Free French Forces . Mitterrand worked from January to April 1942 for the Légion française des combattants et des volontaires de la révolution nationale (Legion of French combatants and volunteers of
1748-664: The École Libre des Sciences Politiques until 1937, where he obtained his diploma in July of that year. François Mitterrand took membership for about a year in the Volontaires nationaux (National Volunteers), an organisation related to François de la Rocque 's far-right league, the Croix de Feu ; the league had just participated in the 6 February 1934 riots which led to the fall of the second Cartel des Gauches (Left-Wing Coalition). Contrary to some reports, Mitterrand never became
1824-517: The "Observatory Affair". The incident brought him a great deal of publicity, initially boosting his political ambitions. Some of Mitterrand's critics claimed, however, that he had staged the incident himself, resulting in a backlash against him. He later said he had earlier been warned by right-wing deputy Robert Pesquet that he was the target of an Algérie française death squad and accused Prime Minister Michel Debré of being its instigator. Before his death, Pesquet claimed that Mitterrand had set up
1900-580: The "defence of the Republic" in the face of the "communist threat" and called for the "silent majority" to make themselves heard. The Left was divided. The Communists reproached the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS) leader François Mitterrand for not having consulted it before he announced his candidacy in the next presidential election, and for the formation of a provisional government led by Pierre Mendès-France . The Far-Left and
1976-455: The CIR of François Mitterrand). In the legislative election of March 1967 , the system where all candidates who failed to pass a 10% threshold in the first round were eliminated from the second round favoured the pro-Gaullist majority, which faced a split opposition (PCF, FGDS and centrists of Jacques Duhamel ). Nevertheless, the parties of the left managed to gain 63 seats more than previously for
2052-542: The Château de Montmaur which formed the base of his future network for the resistance. From September, he made contact with Free French Forces , but clashed with Michel Cailliau [ fr ] , General Charles de Gaulle 's nephew (and de Gaulle's candidate to head-up all POW-related resistance organizations). On 15 October 1942, François Mitterrand and Marcel Barrois (a member of the resistance deported in 1944) met Marshal Philippe Pétain along with other members of
2128-468: The Communist Party in order to replace it as main left-wing party became obvious when he said, during the congress: François Mitterrand was elected as First Secretary. 1968 French legislative election Georges Pompidou UDR Maurice Couve de Murville UDR Early legislative elections were held in France on 23 and 30 June 1968, to elect the fourth National Assembly of
2204-465: The Communists were boxed in as junior partners and, rather than taking advantage, saw their support erode. They left the cabinet in 1984. Early in his first term, he followed a radical left-wing economic agenda, including nationalisation of key firms and the introduction of the 39-hour work week. He likewise pushed a socially liberal agenda with reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty , and
2280-571: The European Movement. As Overseas Minister (1950–1951), Mitterrand opposed the colonial lobby to propose a reform program. He connected with the left when he resigned from the cabinet after the arrest of Morocco 's sultan (1953). As leader of the progressive wing of the UDSR, he took the head of the party in 1953, replacing the conservative René Pleven . In June 1953, Mitterrand attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II . Seated next to
2356-658: The Fifth Republic remained the leading French party. During the May 1968 governmental crisis, François Mitterrand held a press conference to announce his candidacy if a new presidential election was held. But after the Gaullist demonstration on the Champs-Élysées , de Gaulle dissolved the Assembly and called for a legislative election instead. In this election , the right wing won its largest majority since
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2432-426: The French representative at the liberation of the camps at Kaufering and Dachau . By chance Mitterrand discovered his friend and member of his network, Robert Antelme , suffering from typhus . Antelme was restricted to the camp to prevent the spread of disease, but François Mitterrand arranged for his "escape" and sent him back to France for treatment. After the war Mitterrand quickly moved back into politics. At
2508-468: The PCF and some left-wing republican politicians (such as Pierre Mendès-France and François Mitterrand). This attitude may have been a factor in Mitterrand's losing his seat in the 1958 elections , beginning a long "crossing of the desert" (this term is usually applied to de Gaulle's decline in influence for a similar period). Indeed, in the second round of the legislative election, François Mitterrand
2584-419: The SFIO leader Guy Mollet , Mitterrand's candidacy prevented Gaston Defferre , his rival in the SFIO, from running for the presidency. Furthermore, François Mitterrand was a lone figure, so he did not appear as a danger to the left-wing parties' staff members. De Gaulle was expected to win in the first round, but Mitterrand received 31.7% of the vote, denying De Gaulle a first-round victory. François Mitterrand
2660-462: The Vichy Regime). From spring 1942, he met other escaped POWs Jean Roussel [ fr ] , Max Varenne, and Dr. Guy Fric [ fr ] , under whose influence he became involved with the resistance. In April, François Mitterrand and Fric caused a major disturbance in a public meeting held by the collaborator Georges Claude . From mid-1942, he sent false papers to POWs in Germany and on 12 June and 15 August 1942, he joined meetings at
2736-504: The alliance with centrist parties was tolerated in some local assemblies. Mitterrand and the CIR, which joined the PS in Epinay, advocated immediate negotiations with the PCF in order to write a common election programme. Indeed, Mittterrand was candidate of the Left, supported by Socialists and Communists, in the 1965 presidential election . The will to overthrow Savary and Mollet's group from
2812-636: The authority of their leaders [who] obeyed the demands of the Nazis" – in the Holocaust . Chirac added that the "criminal madness of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French State". President Emmanuel Macron was even more specific as to the State's responsibility for the 1942 Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 13,000 Jews for deportation to concentration camps. It was indeed "France that organized
2888-563: The cabinet as War Veterans Minister. He held various offices in the Fourth Republic as a Deputy and as a Minister (holding eleven different portfolios in total), including as a mayor of Château-Chinon from 1959 to 1981. In May 1948, Mitterrand participated in the Congress of The Hague , together with Konrad Adenauer , Winston Churchill , Harold Macmillan , Paul-Henri Spaak , Albert Coppé and Altiero Spinelli . It originated
2964-427: The death penalty in 1981 led the British writer Anthony Daniels (writing under his pseudonym of Theodore Dalrymple ) to accuse François Mitterrand of being an unprincipled opportunist, a cynical politician who proudly confirmed death sentences of FLN rebels in the 1950s when it was popular and who only came to champion abolishing the death penalty when this was popular with the French people. As Minister of Justice, he
3040-538: The elderly Princess Marie Bonaparte , he reported having spent much of the ceremony being psychoanalyzed by her. As Interior Minister in Pierre Mendès-France 's cabinet (1954–1955), Mitterrand had to direct the response to the Algerian War of Independence . He claimed: " Algeria is France ." He was suspected of being the informer of the Communist Party in the cabinet. This rumour was spread by
3116-576: The end of a government monopoly in radio and television broadcasting. He was also a strong promoter of French culture and implemented a range of costly " Grands Projets ". In 1985, he was faced with a major controversy after ordering the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior , a Greenpeace vessel docked in Auckland . Later in 1991, he became the first French President to appoint a female prime minister, Édith Cresson . During his presidency, Mitterrand
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3192-538: The former Paris police prefect, who had been dismissed by him. The suspicions were dismissed by subsequent investigations. The UDSR joined the Republican Front , a centre-left coalition, which won the 1956 legislative election . As Justice Minister (1956–1957), François Mitterrand allowed the expansion of martial law in the Algerian conflict. Unlike other ministers (including Mendès-France), who criticised
3268-523: The internal opponents of his will of change. However, these opponents were themselves divided about the strategy of the party. The right-wing, led by Pierre Mauroy and Gaston Defferre , was composed of some local elects who made alliances with the centrist parties, whereas the left-wing CERES faction led by Jean-Pierre Chevènement wanted to accelerate the process of an alliance with the French Communist Party (PCF). The Communists were
3344-407: The largest party of the French left at the time and advocated the unity of the French left around a Common Programme . Savary found a compromise between the PS factions: it was agreed to begin an "ideological dialogue" with the PCF. This dialogue was seen as a paving of the way towards an eventual electoral coalition with the Communists. The general principle of the "Union of the Left" was adopted, but
3420-563: The lead. In his memoirs, he says that he had started this organisation while he was still officially working for the Vichy Regime. From 27 November 1943, Mitterrand worked for the Bureau central de renseignements et d'action . In December 1943 François Mitterrand ordered the execution of Henri Marlin (who was about to order attacks on the " Maquis ") by Jacques Paris and Jean Munier, who later hid out with François Mitterrand's father. After
3496-411: The leadership of the party permitted the birth of a broad coalition between the Mitterrand, Defferre, Mauroy and Chevènement factions. It united against the proposition of Savary to change the ballot system for the election of the leading committee (the "parliament" of the party). Then, it elected Mitterrand to the first secretaryship with 51.3% of the vote against 48.7% for Savary and Mollet. This Congress
3572-461: The majority, was thus elected for another term, but this defeat was regarded as honourable, for no one was really expected to defeat de Gaulle. François Mitterrand took the lead of a centre-left alliance: the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left ( Fédération de la gauche démocrate et socialiste , FGDS). It was composed of the SFIO, the Radicals and several left-wing republican clubs (such
3648-495: The meeting on 28 May 1943 was set up because "there were three movements [of Résistance :] […] the Gaullist, the communist, and one from support centers […] hence I was assigned the mission to prepare what would be called afterwards the merger [of the three movements]." During 1943, the RNPG gradually changed from providing false papers to information-gathering for France libre . Pierre de Bénouville said, "François Mitterrand created
3724-555: The national revolution) as a civil servant on a temporary contract. François Mitterrand worked under Jean-Paul Favre de Thierrens who was a spy for the British secret service. He then moved to the Commissariat au reclassement des prisonniers de guerre (Service for the Reorientation of POWs). During this period, François Mitterrand was aware of Thierrens's activities and may have helped in his disinformation campaign . At
3800-586: The national-royalist movement Action française . His friendship with Dayan caused Mitterrand to begin to question some of his nationalist ideas. Finishing his law studies, he was sent in September 1939 to the Maginot line near Montmédy , with the rank of Sergeant-chief (infantry sergeant). He became engaged to Marie-Louise Terrasse (future actress and television presenter Catherine Langeais ) in May 1940, when she
3876-594: The policy of the " Three-parties alliance" (Communists, Socialists and Christian Democrats). In the November 1946 legislative election , he succeeded in winning a seat as deputy from the Nièvre département . To be elected, he had to win a seat at the expense of the French Communist Party (PCF). As leader of the RGR list, he led a very anti-communist campaign. He became a member of the UDSR party. In January 1947, he joined
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#17327795420303952-431: The presidency under the Fifth Republic . Due to family influences, Mitterrand started his political life on the Catholic nationalist right. He served under the Vichy regime during its earlier years. Subsequently he joined the Resistance , moved to the left, and held ministerial office several times under the Fourth Republic . Mitterrand opposed Charles de Gaulle 's establishment of the Fifth Republic. Although at times
4028-432: The provisional government. Among them was François Mitterrand, when they came face to face, de Gaulle is said to have muttered: "You again!" He dismissed François Mitterrand 2 weeks later. In October 1944, Mitterrand and Jacques Foccart developed a plan to liberate the POW and concentration camps. This was called operation Vicarage . On the orders of de Gaulle, in April 1945 François Mitterrand accompanied General Lewis as
4104-409: The rallying of left-wing forces at the national level, including the PCF, in order to challenge Gaullist domination. Two years later, he became the president (chairman) of the General Council of Nièvre. While the opposition to De Gaulle organized in clubs, he founded his own group, the Convention of Republican Institutions ( Convention des institutions républicaines , CIR). He reinforced his position as
4180-416: The repressive policy in Algeria, he remained in Guy Mollet 's cabinet until its end. As Minister of Justice, he had a role in 45 executions of the Algerian natives, recommending President René Coty to reject clemency in 80% of the cases, an action he later came to regret. François Mitterrand's role in confirming the death sentences of FLN rebels convicted by French courts of terrorism and later in abolishing
4256-441: The roundup of Jews who were then deported to death camps during the war was solely the work of "Vichy France", an entity distinct from France: "The Republic had nothing to do with this. I do not believe France is responsible." This position was rejected by President Jacques Chirac in 1995 who stated that it was time that France faced up to its past. He acknowledged the role of the state – "4,500 policemen and gendarmes, French, under
4332-502: The roundup, the deportation, and thus, for almost all, death." It was done by "French police collaborating with the Nazis", he said on 16 July 2017. "It is convenient to see the Vichy regime as born of nothingness, returned to nothingness. Yes, it’s convenient, but it is false. We cannot build pride upon a lie." Mitterrand built up a resistance network, composed mainly of former POWs. The POWs National Rally ( Rassemblement national des prisonniers de guerre [ fr ] , RNPG)
4408-431: The same time, he published an article detailing his time as a POW in the magazine France, revue de l'État nouveau (the magazine was published as propaganda by the Vichy Regime). François Mitterrand has been called a " Vichysto-résistant " (an expression used by the historian Jean-Pierre Azéma to describe people who supported Marshal Philippe Pétain , the head of the Vichy Regime, before 1943, but subsequently rejected
4484-412: Was 16, but she broke it off in January 1942. Following an observation of Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II, François Mitterrand became an agnostic . François Mitterrand's actions during World War II were the cause of much controversy in France during the 1980s and 1990s. Mitterrand was near the end of his national service when the war broke out. He fought as an infantry sergeant and
4560-475: Was a journalist, Minister of Culture and Communications under Nicolas Sarkozy (and a supporter of Jacques Chirac , former French President), and his wife's brother-in-law Roger Hanin was a well-known French actor. François Mitterrand studied from 1925 to 1934 in the Collège Saint-Paul in Angoulême , where he became a member of the Jeunesse Etudiante Chrétienne , the student organisation of Action catholique . Arriving in Paris in autumn 1934, he then went to
4636-491: Was affiliated with General Henri Giraud , a former POW who had escaped from a German prison and made his way across Germany back to the Allied forces. In 1943 Giraud was contesting with de Gaulle for the leadership of the French Resistance . From the beginning of 1943, Mitterrand had contacts with a powerful resistance group called the Organisation de résistance de l'armée (ORA), organised by former French military personnel. From this time on, François Mitterrand could act as
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#17327795420304712-413: Was an official representative of France during the wedding of Rainier III , Prince of Monaco , and actress Grace Kelly . Under the Fourth Republic, he was representative of a generation of young ambitious politicians. He appeared as a possible future prime minister. In 1958, Mitterrand was one of the few to object to the nomination of Charles de Gaulle as head of government, and to de Gaulle's plan for
4788-513: Was born on 26 October 1916 in Jarnac , Charente , the son of Joseph Mitterrand and Yvonne Lorrain. His family was devoutly Catholic and conservative. His father worked as a stationmaster for the Compagnie Paris Orléans railway. He had three brothers, Robert, Jacques (retired General and head of the French state aircraft company Aerospatiale), and Philippe, and four sisters, Antoinette, Marie-Josèphe, Colette, and Geneviève. Mitterrand's wife, Danielle Mitterrand ( née Gouze, 1924–2011), came from
4864-411: Was called " la relève "). When André Masson began to talk about " la trahison des gaullistes " (the Gaullist treason), François Mitterrand stood up in the audience and shouted him down, saying Masson had no right to talk on behalf of POWs and calling la relève a " con " (i.e., something stupid). Mitterrand avoided arrest as Piatzook covered his escape. In November 1943, the Sicherheitsdienst raided
4940-421: Was created by Mendès-France, former internal opponents of Mollet and reform-minded former members of the Communist Party. The PSU leaders justified their decision by referring to his non-resignation from Mollet's cabinet and by his past in Vichy. Also in that same year, on the Avenue de l'Observatoire in Paris, Mitterrand claimed to have escaped an assassin's bullet by diving behind a hedge, in what became known as
5016-436: Was described as a premeditated plot, prepared by Mitterrand, Mauroy, Defferre and Chevènement beforehand. Mitterrand became the new PS first secretary and in the following year signed the Common Programme with the Communist Party and the Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left . Mitterrand clinched the party leadership with a very radical speech, a strategy often used in French socialist congresses: His project to ally with
5092-573: Was injured and captured by the Germans on 14 June 1940. He was held prisoner at Stalag IXA near Ziegenhain (today part of Schwalmstadt , a town near Kassel in Hesse ). François Mitterrand became involved in the social organisation for the POWs in the camp. He claims this, and the influence of the people he met there, began to change his political ideas, moving him towards the left. He had two failed escape attempts in March and then November 1941 before he finally escaped on 16 December 1941, returning to France on foot. In December 1941 he arrived home in
5168-438: Was invaded by the Germans . Mitterrand left the Commissariat in January 1943, when his boss Maurice Pinot [ fr ] , another vichysto-résistant , was replaced by the collaborator André Masson, but he remained in charge of the centres d'entraides . In spring 1943, along with Gabriel Jeantet , a member of Marshal Pétain's cabinet, and Simon Arbellot (both former members of La Cagoule), François Mitterrand received
5244-504: Was ordered to accept the medal as cover for his work in the resistance. Pierre Moscovici and Jacques Attali remain skeptical of Mitterrand's beliefs at this time, accusing him of having at best a "foot in each camp" until he was sure who the winner would be. They noted his friendship with René Bousquet and the wreaths he was said to have placed on Pétain's tomb in later years (see below) as examples of his ambivalent attitude. In 1994, while President of France, Mitterrand maintained that
5320-431: Was replaced by Maurice Couve de Murville . Fran%C3%A7ois Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France . As a former Socialist Party First Secretary , he was the first left-wing politician to assume
5396-459: Was revealed in the 1990s, he attributed his actions to the milieu of his youth. He furthermore had some personal and family relations with members of the Cagoule , a far-right terrorist group in the 1930s. Mitterrand then served his conscription from 1937 to 1939 in the 23rd régiment d'infanterie coloniale. In 1938, he became the best friend of Georges Dayan [ fr ] , a Jewish socialist, whom he saved from anti-Semitic aggressions by
5472-666: Was supported by the Communists but the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) refused to withdraw its candidate. This division caused the election of the Gaullist candidate. One year later, he was elected to represent Nièvre in the Senate , where he was part of the Group of the Democratic Left . At the same time, he was not admitted to the ranks of the Unified Socialist Party ( Parti socialiste unifié , PSU) which
5548-412: Was supported in the second round by the left and other anti-Gaullists: centrist Jean Monnet , moderate conservative Paul Reynaud and Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour , an extreme right-winger and the lawyer who had defended Raoul Salan , one of the four generals who had organized the 1961 Algiers putsch during the Algerian War . Mitterrand received 44.8% of votes in the second round and de Gaulle, with
5624-667: Was the General's response, "It would be wrong to demean the office of the Presidency, since one day he [Mitterrand] may have the job." Mitterrand visited China in 1961, during the worst of the Great Chinese Famine , but denied the existence of starvation. In the 1962 election , Mitterrand regained his seat in the National Assembly with the support of the PCF and the SFIO. Practicing left unity in Nièvre, he advocated
5700-651: Was to be the leader. Under the influence of Henri Frenay, de Gaulle finally agreed to merge his nephew's network and the RNPG with Mitterrand in charge. Thus the RNPG was listed in the French Force organization from spring 1944. Mitterrand returned to France by boat via England. In Paris, the three Resistance groups made up of POWs (Communists, Gaullists, RNPG) finally merged as the POWs and Deportees National Movement ( Mouvement national des prisonniers de guerre et déportés [ fr ] , MNPGD) and Mitterrand took
5776-473: Was twice forced by the loss of a parliamentary majority into " cohabitation governments " with conservative cabinets led, respectively, by Jacques Chirac (1986–1988), and Édouard Balladur (1993–1995). Mitterrand’s foreign and defence policies built on those of his Gaullist predecessors, except in regards to their reluctance to support European integration , which he reversed. His partnership with German chancellor Helmut Kohl advanced European integration via
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