Gaston Calmette

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Gaston Calmette
Cover picture of the Le Petit Journal depicting the attack

Gaston Calmette (born January 30, 1858 in Montpellier , †  March 16, 1914 in Paris ) was a French journalist and head of the conservative French newspaper " Le Figaro ".

His main opponent was the French finance minister Joseph Caillaux , who was a pacifist and introduced a progressive income tax and was therefore highly controversial in the French upper class. The right-wing extremist Calmette, who is close to the upper class, threatened to publish love letters from Caillaux's wife Henriette , which she had written to her future husband when he was still married to another woman. In response to this threat, Henriette Caillaux shot him down in his editorial office. Calmette died a little later from his injuries. Henriette Caillaux was tried on July 28, 1914 (the day on which the First World War began) acquitted due to "acute emotional distress".

The verdict sparked heated controversy and protests in France. Joseph Caillaux resigned from office the day after the crime. He appeared in court as his wife's defense lawyer.

Marcel Proust dedicated the first volume of “ In Search of Lost Time ” (“In Swann's World”) to Calmette .

Calmette's younger brother was the doctor and bacteriologist Albert Calmette (1863-1933).

In memory of his commitment to bringing about the Fifth French Antarctic Expedition (1908–1910) under the direction of the polar explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot , a cape and a bay are named after him on the Antarctic Peninsula .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ March 16, 1914: Mme Caillaux tue le directeur du "Figaro"
  2. ↑ BR: Le Figaro boss shot because of love letters  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , March 16, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.br-online.de  
  3. ^ Edward Berenson, The Trial of Madame Caillaux , University of California Press, 1992
personal data
SURNAME Calmette, Gaston
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French journalist and head of the conservative French newspaper Le Figaro
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Montpellier
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1914
Place of death Paris