The Rennes Congress was the thirteenth national congress of the French Socialist Party ( Parti socialiste or PS). It took place from 15 to 18 March 1990.
105-534: In 1988, François Mitterrand was re-elected President of France but the PS obtained only a relative majority in the National Assembly . Elected with a moderate program (for a "united France"), Mitterrand chose his former rival Michel Rocard , leader of the right-wing of the party, as Prime Minister. Furthermore, centrist politicians joined the cabinet. Lionel Jospin , the party's First Secretary since 1981,
210-463: 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
315-666: 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
420-558: A background in the grassroots of the party and a long history of membership. Their candidate, Pierre Mauroy , another former Prime Minister, defeated Fabius. During the Rennes Congress, Mitterrand wanted impose Fabius as First Secretary. For a second time, he was opposed by a Rocard-Jospin alliance. The Rennes Congress was marked by the violence in the Mitterrandist group which split between Jospiniens and Fabiusiens ,
525-491: A cover-up; he went on to say that "Agents of the French secret service sank this boat. They were acting on orders." Several figures, including then New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange , have referred to the bombing as an act of terrorism or state-sponsored terrorism , with scholars since describing the attack as an act of state terrorism. The next nuclear test Héro was conducted at Mururoa on 24 October 1985 with
630-508: 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"
735-701: A ferry to the South Island, went skiing at Mt Hutt , and then left the country using false documents about 10 days later. Another agent, Louis-Pierre Dillais , possibly the commander of the operation, was also never captured. France, being an ally of New Zealand, initially denied involvement and joined in condemning what it described as a terrorist act . The French embassy in Wellington denied involvement, stating that "the French Government does not deal with its opponents in such ways". Once it
840-614: 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
945-504: A flotilla of yachts protesting French nuclear testing at the Mururoa Atoll. During previous nuclear tests at Mururoa, protest ships had been boarded by French commandos after sailing into the shipping exclusion zone around the atoll. For the 1985 tests, Greenpeace intended to monitor the impact of nuclear tests and place protesters on the island to monitor the blasts. French agents posing as interested supporters or tourists toured
1050-865: 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
1155-410: A hole about the size of an average car. While the ship was initially evacuated, some of the crew returned to the ship to investigate and film the damage. Portuguese-Dutch photographer, Fernando Pereira , returned below deck to fetch his camera equipment. At 23:45, the second bomb went off. Pereira drowned in the rapid flooding that followed, and the other ten crew members either safely abandoned ship on
SECTION 10
#17327720193111260-456: 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
1365-569: 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,
1470-415: 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 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
1575-552: A scandal that led to the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu , while the two agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison. Despite being sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, due to pressures from the French state they spent merely two years confined to the Polynesian island of Hao before being freed by the French government. France
1680-533: 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
1785-541: 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
1890-539: 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
1995-623: 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
2100-928: A violation of a friendly nation's sovereignty caused a great deal of change in New Zealand's foreign and defence policy. New Zealand distanced itself from the United States, a traditional ally, and built relationships with small South Pacific nations, while retaining excellent relations with Australia and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom. In June 1986, in a political deal with Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange , presided over by United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar , France agreed to pay NZ$ 13 million (US$ 6.5 million) to New Zealand and apologise, in return for which Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur would be detained at
2205-580: 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
SECTION 20
#17327720193112310-426: A yield of 2 kilotonnes of TNT (8.4 TJ). France conducted 54 more nuclear tests until the end of nuclear testing in 1996. A Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior benefit concert at Mt. Smart Stadium , Auckland, on 5 April 1986 included performances by Herbs , Neil Young , Jackson Browne , Graham Nash , Topp Twins , Dave Dobbyn and a Split Enz reunion. Rainbow Warrior was refloated for forensic examination. She
2415-507: Is French Socialist Party politician Ségolène Royal who was contesting the French presidential election . Other sources identified Royal as the pilot of the Zodiac inflatable boat that carried the bombers. The New Zealand government announced there would be no extradition request since the case was closed. In September 2015, TVNZ's Sunday programme tracked down Jean-Luc Kister, one of
2520-637: Is equipped with an auxiliary electric motor. The ships are informally known as Rainbow Warrior II and Rainbow Warrior III respectively. In 1987, after international pressure, France paid $ 8.16m to Greenpeace in damages, which helped finance another ship. It also paid compensation to the Pereira family, reimbursing his life insurance company for 30,000 Dutch guilders and making reparation payments of 650,000 francs to Pereira's wife, 1.5 million francs to his two children, and 75,000 francs to each of his parents. The failure of Western leaders to condemn
2625-589: Is talking. I think he wanted to be understood." Kister considered the mission "a big, big failure". Built between the years 1988 and 1990, a memorial for the Rainbow Warrior was created by New Zealand sculptor Chris Booth. The memorial was erected in Matauri Bay in Northland, New Zealand. It was commissioned by Ngati Kura and New Zealand China Clays. The sinking, and subsequent investigation,
2730-719: 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
2835-527: 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, 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
2940-536: 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
3045-718: 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
3150-621: 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
3255-631: 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
Rennes Congress - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-648: The Treaty of Rarotonga declaring the region a nuclear-no zone. Since being acquired by Greenpeace in 1977, Rainbow Warrior was active in supporting several anti-whaling, anti-seal hunting, anti-nuclear testing and anti-nuclear waste dumping campaigns during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since early 1985, the ship was based in the southern Pacific Ocean, where its crew campaigned against nuclear testing. After relocating 300 Marshall Islanders from Rongelap Atoll , which had been polluted by radioactive fallout by past American nuclear tests, it travelled to New Zealand to lead
3465-633: 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 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
3570-617: 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
3675-664: 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
3780-517: 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
3885-455: 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
3990-542: 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
4095-571: 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
4200-642: 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
4305-567: The French government that might imply justification for their act. Prieur and Mafart pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on 22 November 1985. France threatened an economic embargo of New Zealand's exports to the European Economic Community if the pair were not released. Such an action would have crippled the New Zealand economy , which was dependent on agricultural exports to
Rennes Congress - Misplaced Pages Continue
4410-516: The French military base on Hao Atoll for three years. However, the two agents had both returned to France by May 1988, after less than two years on the atoll. Mafart returned to Paris on 14 December 1987 for medical treatment and was apparently freed after the treatment. He continued in the French Army and was promoted to colonel in 1993. Prieur returned to France on 6 May 1988 because she was pregnant, her husband having been allowed to join her on
4515-426: 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
4620-480: The New Zealand Green Party criticised the government over its purchase of arms from Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal , whose U.S. subsidiary was led by Dillais. At that time, Greenpeace was still pursuing the extradition of Dillais for his involvement in the act. In 2006, Antoine Royal revealed that his brother, Gérard Royal , had claimed to be involved in planting the bomb. Their sister
4725-571: The New Zealand Government in 1986, during a visit in April 1991, French Prime Minister Michel Rocard delivered a personal apology. He said it was "to turn the page in the relationship and to say, if we had known each other better, this thing never would have happened". The Friendship Fund has provided contributions to a number of charity and public purposes. During a visit in 2016, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reiterated that
4830-468: 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
4935-419: 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
5040-404: The United Kingdom. France launched their own commission of enquiry headed by Bernard Tricot which declared the French government innocent of any involvement in the terrorist act, claiming that the arrested agents, who had not yet pleaded guilty, had merely been spying on Greenpeace. When The Times and Le Monde contradicted these findings by claiming that President Mitterrand had approved
5145-462: 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
5250-413: The atoll. She, too, was freed and later promoted. The removal of the agents from Hao without subsequent return was ruled to be in violation of the 1986 agreement. Following the breach of the arrangement, in 1990 the French secretary-general awarded New Zealand another NZ$ 3.5 million (US$ 2 million) to establish the New Zealand / France Friendship Fund. Although France had formally apologised to
5355-636: 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
SECTION 50
#17327720193115460-474: The bombing, Defence Minister Charles Hernu resigned and the head of the DGSE, Admiral Pierre Lacoste , was fired. Operation Satanic was a public relations disaster. Eventually Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted the bombing had been a French plot: on 22 September 1985, he summoned journalists to his office to read a 200-word statement in which he said: "The truth is cruel," and acknowledged there had been
5565-499: 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
5670-707: The centrist Alain Poher in the second round . Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior Ouvéa Provence Rainbow Warrior New Zealand Police The sinking of Rainbow Warrior , codenamed Opération Satanique , was an act of French state-sponsored terrorism . Described as a "covert operation" by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence agency , the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE),
5775-427: 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
5880-425: The death weighed on his conscience and saying that the aim of the operation had not been to kill. He acknowledged the existence of three teams: the yacht crew, reconnaissance and logistics (those successfully prosecuted), plus a two-man team that carried out the bombing. A 20th anniversary memorial edition of the 1986 book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior by New Zealand author David Robie —who
5985-407: 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
6090-416: 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
6195-433: The head of the cabinet in 1991. The next year, Jospin was ejected from the government. The violence of the debates gave a very bad public image to the PS and contributed to its decline at the beginning of the 1990s. The Rennes Congress is a traumatic event in the memory of the French Socialists. Fran%C3%A7ois Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996)
6300-421: The help of a Neighbourhood Watch group and arrested. Both were questioned and investigated. Because they were carrying Swiss passports , their true identities were discovered, along with the French government's responsibility. The other agents of the French team all escaped from New Zealand. Christine Cabon, whose role had ended before the bombing, had left for Israel immediately before the sinking. After she
6405-408: The incident had been "a serious error". In 2005, French newspaper Le Monde released a report from 1986 which said that Admiral Pierre Lacoste , head of DGSE at the time, had "personally obtained approval to sink the ship from the late president François Mitterrand ." Soon after the publication, former Admiral Lacoste came forward and gave newspaper interviews about the situation, admitting that
SECTION 60
#17327720193116510-414: The incident—and unsuccessfully took the case to the New Zealand Court of Appeal and, subsequently, the Supreme Court of New Zealand . On 7 August 2006, Justices Hammond , O'Regan and Arnold dismissed the former French agents' appeal and TVNZ broadcast their guilty pleas the same day. In 2005, in an interview with TVNZ, Louis-Pierre Dillais acknowledged his involvement with the bombing. In 2007,
6615-431: The later group being those "high fliers" who had joined the party relatively recently. Other minority factions which presented proposals to the Congress were: Pierre Mauroy was re-elected First Secretary with the support of Jospin and Rocard. Mitterrand accused Jospin of being responsible for the split of the Mitterrandist current. His relations with Jospin and Rocard deteriorated until the "resignation" of Rocard from
6720-450: 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
6825-405: 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
6930-444: 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
7035-433: 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
7140-426: 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
7245-410: The order of Captain Peter Willcox or were thrown into the water by the second explosion. Rainbow Warrior partially sank four minutes later. After the bombing, the New Zealand Police started one of the country's largest police investigations. They identified two of the French agents, Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart , as possible suspects. Prieur and Mafart were identified with
7350-438: 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
7455-432: 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
7560-532: 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
7665-585: 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
7770-441: 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
7875-554: 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)
7980-492: 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
8085-658: The ship while it was open to public viewing. DGSE agent Christine Cabon, who had previously worked on intelligence missions in the Middle East, posed as environmentalist "Frederique Bonlieu" to infiltrate the Greenpeace office in Auckland . While working for the Auckland office, Cabon secretly monitored communications from Rainbow Warrior , collected maps, and investigated underwater equipment. Three agents on board
8190-799: The terrorist attack was carried out on 10 July 1985. During the operation, two operatives (both French citizens) sank the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, Rainbow Warrior , at the Port of Auckland on her way to a protest against a planned French nuclear test in Moruroa . Fernando Pereira , a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. The sinking was a cause of embarrassment to France and President François Mitterrand . They initially denied responsibility, but two French agents were captured by New Zealand Police and charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage , and murder. It resulted in
8295-574: The two bombers. Kister, who retired from the DGSE in about 2000, admitted his lead role and feelings of responsibility for the lethal attack. He also pointed to the French President, as commander of the armed forces and intelligence services assigned the operation. Reporter John Hudson , who spent two days with Kister in France, said that Kister "wanted an opportunity to talk about his role in the bombing... It has been on his conscience for 30 years. He said to us, 'secret agents don't talk', but he
8400-669: The yacht Ouvéa imported the limpet mines used for the bombing. Two more agents, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart , posing as the newlywed couple "Sophie and Alain Turenge", picked up the mines and delivered them to the bombing team, consisting of the divers Jean Camas ("Jacques Camurier") and Jean-Luc Kister ("Alain Tonel"). After sufficient information had been gathered, Camas and Kister attached two limpet mines to Rainbow Warrior berthed at Marsden Wharf. They were detonated seven minutes apart. The first bomb went off at 23:38, blasting
8505-426: The yacht Ouvéa , escaped by that yacht and were arrested by Australian police on Norfolk Island , but released as Australian law did not allow them to be held until the results of forensic tests came back. They were then picked up by the French submarine Rubis (then known as Provence ), which scuttled Ouvéa . Several agents, including Jean-Luc Kister, one of the bombers, had posed as tourists. They took
8610-412: 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
8715-532: 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 the presidency under the Fifth Republic . Due to family influences, Mitterrand started his political life on the Catholic nationalist right. He served under
8820-683: 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
8925-411: Was aboard the bombed ship—was published in July 2005. Twenty years after the bombing, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) sought access to a video record made at the preliminary hearing in which the two French agents pleaded guilty. The footage had remained sealed since shortly after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. The two agents opposed release of the footage—despite having both written books on
9030-670: 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
9135-628: Was also forced to apologise and had to pay reparations to New Zealand, Pereira's family and Greenpeace. France began testing nuclear weapons in 1966 on Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia . In 1985, the South Pacific nations of Australia , the Cook Islands , Fiji , Kiribati , Nauru , New Zealand , Niue , Papua New Guinea , Samoa , Solomon Islands , Tonga , Tuvalu , and Vanuatu signed
9240-478: 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
9345-399: Was appointed national Education Minister. Mitterrand wanted his former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius succeeded him to the head of the party. Fabius appeared as the heir chosen by Mitterrand. A coalition was created in order to prevent Fabius from being elected First Secretary. It gathered Rocard's supporters and a part of the Mitterrandist faction led by Jospin, comprising those members with
9450-640: 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
9555-477: 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
9660-539: 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
9765-629: Was deemed irreparable and scuttled in Matauri Bay , near the Cavalli Islands on 12 December 1987, to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary. Her masts had been removed and put on display at the Dargaville Maritime Museum. Greenpeace acquired a new ship and gave it the name Rainbow Warrior earlier that same year. On 14 October 2011, Greenpeace launched a new sailing vessel, again called Rainbow Warrior , which
9870-746: 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 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
9975-461: Was identified as a participant in the operation, Auckland police requested that the Israeli authorities detain her. Cabon was tipped off and fled before she could be arrested. Three other agents, Chief Petty Officer Roland Verge ("Raymond Velche"), Petty Officer Jean-Michel Bartelo ("Jean-Michel Berthelo") and Petty Officer Gérard Andries ("Eric Audrenc"), who had carried the bombs to New Zealand on
10080-782: 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
10185-499: 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
10290-504: 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
10395-504: Was realised that the bombing was the action of the government of a friendly state, the New Zealand government stopped referring to it as a "terrorist act", instead calling it "a criminal attack in breach of the international law of state responsibility , committed on New Zealand sovereign territory". The "breach of international law" aspect was referred to in all communications with the United Nations to dissuade any arguments from
10500-513: 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
10605-741: 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
10710-472: 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
10815-735: 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
10920-607: Was the subject of several films, including The Rainbow Warrior conspiracy (1988) and The Rainbow Warrior (1993). Murder in the Pacific is a three-part documentary about the sinking, directed by Chloe Campbell. It was broadcast on BBC2 in March 2023. The 1985 song "Hercules" by the Australian band Midnight Oil is about the sinking. The 1989 song " Little Fighter ", by the Danish/American band White Lion ,
11025-651: 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
#310689