Gaston Palewski

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Gaston Palewski (1964)

Gaston Palewski (born March 20, 1901 in Paris , † September 3, 1984 in Le Val-Saint-Germain , Essonne Department ) was a French politician of the Rassemblement du peuple français (RPF), who was a member of the National Assembly between 1951 and 1955 and between In February and October 1955 he was Minister Associate with the Prime Minister responsible for coordinating national defense, scientific research, Saharan and nuclear affairs. He was ambassador to Italy between 1957 and 1962 .

He was then Minister of State from 1962 to 1965 with responsibility for scientific research and nuclear and space affairs. After leaving the government, he served as President of the Constitutional Court ( Conseil constitutionnel ) between 1965 and 1974 .

Life

Studies and military service

Palewski, son of an engineer and graduate of the École Centrale Paris (ECP) of Polish - Jewish descent, was a younger brother of Jean-Paul Palewski , who worked for the Mouvement républicain populaire (MRP) between 1945 and 1955 and again from 1958 to 1978 for the Union pour la Nouvelle République (UNR) was also a member of the National Assembly. After attending the Collège-Lycée Jacques-Decour , the Lycée Michelet in Vanves and the famous Lycée Henri IV in Paris, he studied literature at the Sorbonne at the University of Paris , at the École libre , a private college founded by Émile Boutmy in 1872 des sciences politiques and at the École du Louvre .

After studying research at the University of Oxford , he completed his military service in Morocco in 1924 , where he was a political attaché on the staff of the resident general , Marshal Hubert Lyautey , until 1925 . During this time, in August 1925, he was also a member of the staff of the Inspector General of the Army, Marshal Philippe Pétain , when he became Commander-in-Chief of the French Rif Army and thus Lyautey's successor as Commander of the military operations during the Rif War against Abd al-Karim .

A month later, in September 1925, Palewski returned to France with Marshal Lyautey, who had now also been replaced as General Resident for Morocco by Théodore Steeg , and initially worked as a journalist for the Bulletin économique et financier .

Employee of Paul Reynaud

Between 1928 and 1939, Palewski was one of the closest collaborators of the politician Paul Reynaud . He initially acted as his press attaché during his tenure as Minister of Finance (1930), Colonial Minister (1931 to 1932), Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Justice (1932). In 1932 he was part of the delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Conference organized by the League of Nations as Reynaud's attaché .

Together with Colonel Charles de Gaulle , he prepared a parliamentary proposal in 1934 for the formation of an independent corps of armored divisions within the army . However, these plans were rejected by Philippe Pétain, who was Minister of War in the government of Prime Minister Gaston Doumergue between February and November 1934 , which later proved to be one of the reasons for the quick defeat by the German Wehrmacht in World War II . In April 1938 he became Head of Cabinet of Justice Minister Reynaud and held this office after Reynaud's appointment as Minister of Finance in November 1938. In this role he played a key role in the restructuring of the credit system and the return of capital to France. At the same time he also continued his collaboration with de Gaulle, with whom he worked on the organization of the brigades of the cuirassiers. However, his proposal to Prime Minister Édouard Daladier was unsuccessful to appoint de Gaulle as Minister of National Defense.

Second World War

Support de Gaulle

After differences of opinion arose between him and Reynaud, Palewski voluntarily resigned his position as head of cabinet and enlisted for military service, which he performed in the 34th night bomber squadron and operated, among other things, along the Ruhr . Subsequently, he was transferred to the commander of the Air Army and took part there as an advisor in the Battle of Sedan from May 13-15, 1940 . Around three weeks later, on June 6, 1940, at Palewski's suggestion, de Gaulle was promoted to major general by Paul Reynaud, who had meanwhile become Prime Minister , and was appointed undersecretary of state in the Ministry of National Defense, with de Gaulle only lasting ten days until June 16, 1940 remained in office.

In June 1940, Palewski and his squadron were transferred to Tunisia . In the following years he tried in vain to convince the General Resident in Morocco, Charles Noguès , and the General Resident in Tunisia , Marcel Peyrouton , to continue the defense of North Africa after the Armistice of Compiègne on June 22, 1940 . After the end of this unsuccessful mission, he was called by General de Gaulle to London in August 1940 , where he had planned a job in the administration of the resistance movement Free France (France Libre) organized by de Gaulle on the basis of Palewski's English friends and his experience .

In London he also met Nancy Mitford , a daughter of David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale , who became his lover.

Commander of the Forces françaises libres in East Africa

In December 1940, Palewski was appointed director of political affairs there, where he was responsible for operations in the areas of France occupied by the Wehrmacht and not free. He was also editor of the movement's magazine, La Marseillaise , and one of the spokespersons for the Free France program on the BBC . He held these functions until his appointment as commander of the Forces françaises libres (FFL) in East Africa in March 1941, where he subsequently organized the battles against the Italian armed forces in Ethiopia and at the same time acted as the representative of Free France in the Empire of Abyssinia . The Emperor of Abyssinia, Haile Selassie, allowed France to control rail traffic in Ethiopia , which began in 1894 with the establishment of the semi-public French company Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de Fer Éthiopiens , and in particular included the important Djibouti – Addis Ababa (meter gauge) railway .

On his return to London, Palewski was appointed head of cabinet to General de Gaulle in September 1942 and, as head of the civilian office, organized a Gaullist network with the British and US allies together with Pierre Billotte and Jacques Soustelle . After the founding of the French Committee for National Liberation on June 3, 1943 in Algiers , he became cabinet chief de Gaulle, who became president of this body and accompanied it on its travels to London, Paris and Algiers.

Post War and Fourth Republic

Return to France and co-founder of the RPF

Palewski was one of the main organizers of de Gaulle's return to France and in the preparation of a national, exclusively French provisional government (Gouvernement provisoire de la République française) . He also retained the position of head of cabinet de Gaulle during his presidency of the Provisional Government from June 3, 1944 to January 20, 1946. At his suggestion, after the liberation of France, the planning commissioner was founded with Jean Monnet as its chairman. He himself renounced a political electoral mandate in order to continue working with de Gaulle and actively support him in founding the Rassemblement du peuple français (RPF) on June 18, 1947. He became a member of the Executive Committee of the RPF in July 1947 and was a member of the Executive Committee of the RPF since June 1949.

He was also the founder and leading figure of the Comité national d'études , a think tank for the strategic planning of de Gaulle's return to power. He was instrumental in involving personalities such as Raymond Aron , André Malraux , Louis Vallon , Michel Debré , Jacques Soustelle and Georges Pompidou . In addition, he was involved in the cooperation of the RPF with foreign political parties. At the same time he was one of the prominent speakers at the party events of the RPF in the Vélodrome d'Hiver and in Vincennes .

Member of the National Assembly

In the elections to the National Assembly, Palewski ran on June 17, 1951 in the sixth constituency of the Seine department as the top candidate of the Gaullist list of the RPF and with the mayor of Vincennes, Antoine Quinson , as a piggyback candidate. The RPF had to lead a difficult election campaign in this labor-dominated constituency, which was shaped by Jacques Duclos and the former minister Charles Tillon of the Parti communiste français (PCF). The public appearances of the RPF candidates were often disrupted by militant supporters of the PCF. Nevertheless, despite the predominant position of the PCF, the RPF was able to achieve 88,497 of the 298,719 votes cast and, with a share of 29.6 percent of the votes, have two MPs with Palewski and Quinson.

After moving into the Palais Bourbon , Palewski resigned as de Gaulle's cabinet chief and proposed Pompidou for this office. On July 6, 1951, he became a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee (Commission des affaires étrangères) , before moving to the Committee on Labor and Social Security (Commission du travail et de la sécurité sociale) in 1954 and finally in 1955 a member of the Committee on General Affairs Suffrage, constitutional law, rules of procedure and petitions (Commission du suffrage universel, des lois constitutionnelles, du règlement et des pétitions) . At the same time he took over the function of deputy chairman of the parliamentary group of the RPF in 1951 and was a member of the National Assembly until December 1, 1955.

In addition, since 1951 he was a member of the board of directors of the Fonds d'investissement pour le développement économique et social (FIDES), a financial fund for the economic and social development of the colonies , and in 1953 he also became a member of the coordination committee for issues relating to the European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC). In addition, in 1954 he also became a member of the coordinating committee investigating the problems in French Indochina .

At the beginning of the 1950s he spoke out against a hasty relaxation of Franco-German relations because of the Saar question and was particularly opposed to the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany without French control. For this reason he spoke out against the establishment of the European Defense Community (EVG) and also rejected the accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to NATO .

On the other hand, he also criticized Foreign Minister Robert Schuman's Tunisia policy and advocated negotiations on relations with the Soviet Union . While abstaining from the votes on the appointments of Prime Minister Edgar Faure on January 20, 1952, of Antoine Pinay on March 6, 1952, of René Mayer on January 8, 1953, and of Joseph Laniel on June 28, 1953, voted he for the appointment of Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France on June 17, 1954 and Edgar Faure on February 23, 1955.

Vice-President of the National Assembly

On January 6, 1952, Palewski was elected Vice-President of the National Assembly and held this office until February 23, 1955 as one of the deputies of Édouard Herriot or André Le Troquer , who between January 21, 1947 and January 12, 1954 President of the National Assembly and from January 12, 1954 to January 11, 1955, respectively. Most recently he was deputy to Pierre Schneiter , who had been President of the National Assembly since January 11, 1955.

As Vice-President of the National Assembly, he chaired 83 sessions of parliament and was also head of a parliamentary delegation on a visit to Turkey in 1952 . He spoke to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to convince the Turkish parliamentarians of the importance of joining NATO .

Deputy Minister in the second Faure cabinet

In the second government of Prime Minister Edgar Faure, Palewski held his first government office as an influential Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister

On February 23, Palewski was appointed by Prime Minister Edgar Faure to his second cabinet and until October 6, 1955, he held the post of Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister responsible for coordinating national defense, scientific research, Saharan affairs and nuclear affairs (Ministre délégué à la présidence du Conseil, chargé de la coordination de la Défense nationale, de la recherche scientifique, des affaires sahariennes et atomiques) .

As such, he was instrumental in the debates on the defense budget in 1955 and 1956 and in the establishment of a permanent secretariat-general for national defense. In addition, he was already involved in the formation of the cabinet on February 23, 1955 as an advisor to Faures, when he proposed the appointment of Marie-Pierre Kœnig as Minister of Defense , after Jacques Chevallier as Minister of National Defense and Maurice Bourgès in the previous government. Maunoury was split as Minister for the Armed Forces. At the same time he had a great influence on the preparation of the Second Atomic Plan.

In the autumn of 1955, during the tensions in Morocco , Palewski became increasingly critical of Prime Minister Faure, whom he accused of lack of resolve against the nationalist and the former general president in French Morocco, Alphonse Juin, and whom he criticized for the bloody unrest there. This led to his resignation on October 6, 1955, together with Defense Minister Kœnig and the Minister for Veterans and War Victims, Raymond Triboulet , in support of the Gaullists and joining the opposition , in which he formed a government of public health (Gouvernement de salut public) .

1956 election defeat and ambassador

In the elections to the National Assembly on January 2, 1956, Palewski suffered a defeat and lost his mandate. As the top candidate in the sixth constituency of the Seine department of the Républicains sociaux (RS) led by Jacques Chaban-Delmas , he received only 20,913 of the 371,902 of the votes cast (5.6 percent).

In 1957 he was appointed Ambassadeur de France en Italie in Italy by Foreign Minister Christian Pineau to succeed Jacques Fouques-Duparc . He remained in this diplomatic post until April 1962 and was then replaced by Armand Bérard .

Fifth Republic

Minister in the first and second Pompidou Cabinets

After Palewski was recalled as ambassador to Italy, he was appointed to Prime Minister Georges Pompidou's first cabinet on April 16, 1962, where he became Minister of State and Minister for Scientific Research and Atomic and Space Affairs (Ministre d'État, chargé de la recherche scientifique et des questions atomiques et spatiales) . He also held this ministerial office in the second Pompidou government until February 22, 1965.

In this role he was one of the main initiators in the development of the nuclear program and the establishment of a nuclear force. At In Ekker , the French army carried out 13 underground nuclear weapons tests (Essai nucléaire) during this period . At the second test on May 1, 1962, Palewski and Defense Minister Pierre Messmer were present. An explosion occurred that led to radioactivity in the atmosphere. As a result, around a hundred people, including the two ministers, were exposed to radiation doses of over 50 mSv each. In 1964 he also took part in a conference in Madrid on the establishment of the European Space Astronomy Center (ESAC) near Madrid and developed international collaboration between industry and research. He was also the initiator of the 1964 opened space center in Kourou in French Guiana , where shortly after it opened in 1964, the Véronique sounding rocket was launched.

At the same time, after a conversation with Nikita Sergejewitsch Khrushchev, he was the initiator of the sale of the color television version SECAM ( Séquentiel couleur à mémoire ) to the Soviet Union and ultimately also promoter of relations between the two states.

After the assassination of Petit-Clamart on Charles de Gaulle on 22 August 1962, he convinced the president of which, through a referendum, a change of the Fifth French Republic Constitution carry out that from the presidential election in 1965 provided for a direct election of the president.

President of the Constitutional Court

After three years of ministerial work, Palewski resigned from the second Pompidou government on February 22, 1965, after President de Gaulle appointed him President of the Constitutional Court (Conseil constitutionnel) to succeed Léon Noël . He remained in this position for nine years until he was replaced by Roger Frey on February 25, 1974.

During his term of office, President de Gaulle resigned on April 28, 1969, after he had failed with 53.5 percent votes against in a referendum that was supposed to promote decentralization by recognizing the regions as collectivité territoriale . This led to early presidential elections on June 1 and 15, 1969 , from which the Gaullist Prime Minister Georges Pompidou emerged. In addition, the important decision was made on July 16, 1971, in which the Constitutional Court ruled on the balance of civil liberties.

Other engagements and awards

In addition to his political and judicial career, Palewski was involved in art and culture and was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1968. In addition, he was vice-president of the art advisory board of the national museums and director and later honorary president of the Revue des Deux Mondes , founded on August 1, 1829 , one of the oldest still existing magazines in Europe.

In 1971 he co-founded the Institut Charles de Gaulle and in 1976 succeeded André Malraux as its president. He held this position until his death in 1984. His successor was Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel .

For his many years of service, Palewski was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor , the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Belgium and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic . He was also Compagnon de la Liberation and carrier of the Croix de guerre 1939-1945 .

Palewski, who was one of the long-standing customers of the jewelry designer Suzanne Belperron , lived on Rue Bonaparte in the 6th arrondissement of Paris . Cartoonist Jean Effel was one of his roommates in the house . He was married to Helen Violette de Talleyrand-Périgord, a descendant of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord and granddaughter of the entrepreneur Jay Gould .

Publications

  • L'Atome, Notre Destin , 1955
  • Population and Human Values , 1963
  • La science, clé de l'avenir français , 1963
  • Notice sur la vie et les travaux de Jacques Jaujard: 1895-1967 , 1968
  • Venise au dix-huitième siècle: peintures, dessins et gravures des collections françaises , co-author Nicola Ivanoff, 1971
  • L'épée du duc de Castries, de l'Académie française , co-authors Maurice Dumoncel, René de La Croix Duc de Castries, 1973
  • Hier et aujourd'hui: 1974 , 1975
  • Le Miroir de Talleyrand: Lettres inédites à la duchesse de Courlande pendant le Congrès de Vienne , 1976, ISBN 2-26200-014-X
  • Mémoires d'action: 1924-1974 , edited by Eric Roussel, 1988, ISBN 2-25901-875-0

Background literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stefan Grüner: Paul Reynaud (1878-1966): Biographical Studies on Liberalism in France , 2001, ISBN 3-48659-612-8 , p. 251
  2. ^ "The Horror of Love": Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski in Paris and London by Lisa Hilton: Review. Was Gaston Palewski's love for Nancy Mitford anything more than a wartime romance? Jane Shilling remains unswayed by Lisa Hilton's "The Horror of Love" . In: The Daily Telegraph, November 28, 2011
  3. ^ Love of a Lifetime: A New Book Looks at the Object of Nancy Mitford's Affection . In: Vogue
  4. ↑ The Horro of Love on Lisa Hilton's homepage
  5. ↑ Book review - The Horror of Love: Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski in Paris and London . In: Daily Express of November 11, 2011
  6. ↑ Laura Thompson: Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford The Biography , 2015, ISBN 1-78408-263-5
  7. ^ Antony Beevor, Artemis Cooper: Paris After the Liberation: 1944 - 1949 , 2007, ISBN 0-14191-288-X
  8. ^ Walter Lipgens, Wilfried Loth: Documents on the History of European Integration: The struggle for European Union by political parties and pressure groups in western European countries, 1945-1950 , 1988, ISBN 3-11011-429-1 , p. 56 and . a.
  9. ↑ Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut: France and German Unity: The Attitude of the French Government and the Public to the Stalin Notes 1952 , 1988, ISBN 3-48670-324-2 , p. 101
  10. ↑ Pompidou I cabinet
  11. ↑ Pompidou II cabinet
  12. ↑ Pierre Jacquinot: The Center National de la Recherche Scientifique / Organization and Politics of Scientific Research in France , 2013, ISBN 3-32298-817-1 , p. 33 f.
  13. ↑ Stephanie S. Cooke: Atom: The History of the Nuclear Age , 2010, ISBN 3-46230-175-6
  14. ↑ Hans Vorländer (editor): Die Deutungsmacht der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit , 2008, ISBN 3-53190-350-0 , p. 143 u. a.
  15. ↑ Wolfram Vogel: Democracy and Constitution in the V Republic: France's Way to Constitutional Statehood , 2013, ISBN 3-66305-666-X , p. 148 f.
  16. ^ Gaston Palewski . In: Der Spiegel from July 8, 1964
personal data
SURNAME Palewski, Gaston
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French politician (RPF), member of the National Assembly
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1984
Place of death Le Val-Saint-Germain , Essonne department , France