Jean Bichelonne
Jean Bichelonne (* 1904 in Bordeaux , † December 21, 1944 in Hohenlychen ) was a French politician and member of the Vichy regime .
As the son of a doctor from Bordeaux, Bichelonne graduated from the École polytechnique in 1923 and distinguished himself from an early age with a brilliant organizational talent and a photographic memory. After the establishment of the Vichy regime, he was appointed head of an office called the Office central de répartition des produits industriels , which determined the distribution of raw materials within the newly established state organizational committees. With Pierre Pucheu , Jacques Barnaud and François Lehideux, Bichelonne belonged to a group of technocrats who were active in organization in France at the beginning of the Second World War.
On April 18, 1942, Bichelonne was appointed State Secretary for Industrial Production with the rank of Minister. In this function he was confronted with demands from Fritz Sauckel to make forced laborers available to the German Reich . He succeeded in partially circumventing Sauckel's demands by concluding an agreement with Albert Speer in September 1943, according to which, instead of the number of over a million forced laborers demanded by Sauckel, around 300,000 were ultimately made available. In addition, Speer had “blocked companies” or “S-companies” set up in France and other occupied countries, whose employees were not sent to Germany. This led to arguments between Speer and Sauckel.
In November 1943, Bichelonne replaced Hubert Lagardelle as Minister of Labor. As the end of the Vichy regime approached, Bichelonne moved to Sigmaringen , fell ill and was admitted by the SS to the Hohenlychen sanatorium , where his death from pulmonary embolism was officially confirmed; however, the actual circumstances surrounding his death are not clear.
Web links
- Newspaper article about Jean Bichelonne in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The four Sauckel campaigns in France ( 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.
- ^ Nestler, Ludwig [ed.]: The fascist occupation policy in France. - Berlin: Dt. Verl. D. Knowledge , 1990 ISBN 3-326-00297-1 , Doc. 193, pp. 283f.
- ↑ War crimes and crimes against humanity
- ^ Speer's statement in the Nuremberg trial
- ^ Henry Rousso , Pétain et la fin de la collaboration, Sigmaringen 1944-1945 , Éditions Complexe, 1999, p. 441.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bichelonne, Jean |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French politician and member of the Vichy regime |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bordeaux |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 21, 1944 |
| Place of death | Hohenlychen |