French Committee for National Liberation
The Committee for National Liberation ( French Comité français de Liberation nationale , CFLN for short) was founded on June 3, 1943 in Algiers by Charles de Gaulle and the higher-ranking General Henri Giraud under pressure from the United States as initially equal presidents. It should not be confused with the “ Committee for Free France ” founded by de Gaulle in London in 1940 .
With the CFLN, the "Committee Free France" and the French in North Africa who had already been liberated by the Allies were combined under the command of Giraud to form a government in exile . The aim was to merge these two existing French authorities as contact persons for the Allies. De Gaulle sought political leadership and left Giraud the military leadership. After tough negotiations, Pétain's discriminatory Jewish laws were abolished and freedom of the press restored. As commissioner (comparable to a minister) for interior affairs belonged the Gaullist André Philip , for exterior the Gaullist René Massigli , for armament Jean Monnet , for prisoners, deportees and refugees the Resistant Henri Frenay and as Minister of State General Alphonse Georges belonged to the CFLN.
On August 26, 1943, Raymond Schmittlein achieved de facto recognition of the Comité as the only representation of the République Française in a conversation with Molotov that was declared a "private audience" , thus delegating the Vichy regime . From then on, Schmittlein viewed the Soviet Union as a partner of his country , regardless of his strict Catholic way of thinking .
With the establishment of the CFLN, the remnants of the Deuxième Bureau , the Service de Renseignement of Colonel Louis Rivet , with the Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action (BCRA) of André Dewavrins became a new structure, the Direction Générale des Services Spéciaux ( DGSS) under the direction of Jacques Soustelle .
In November 1943 Giraud lost his office because he had kept his plan to liberate Corsica a secret from the CFLN and had armed the communist Front National . One year after its founding, on June 3, 1944, the committee declared itself the Gouvernement provisoire de la République Française (GPRF).