Jean Capdeville

Jean Capdeville (born November 8, 1912 in Estang , Département Gers , † January 30, 1977 in Nantes ) was a French politician of the SFIO . From 1945 to 1955 he was a member of the National Assembly . In World War II he took part in the resistance against the German occupiers .

Life and career

Early life

Capdeville, who came from the south of France, studied teaching from 1928 to 1931 in Rouen, northern France, and then worked there as a teacher. His marriage began in 1933, which later resulted in a son. In addition to his job, he worked for the youth organization of the socialist party SFIO in the 1930s, where he was promoted to secretary of the local association. In addition, he was involved in the teachers' union and became its chairman in the Seine-Inférieure department around Rouen.

Time in resistance

During the Second World War he was involved in the Resistance, which represented the resistance against the occupation of France by German troops, which had been ongoing since 1940. He belonged in particular to the organization Noyautage des administrations publiques , which tried to infiltrate the authorities controlled by the occupiers. In addition, he chaired the departmental and regional committees for the Resistance and was also the military chief of the resistance movement for the Normandy region . As a result, he was targeted by the Gestapo and was on the verge of arrest in several cases, but was repeatedly able to avoid it. After the liberation of France in 1944, he was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance and the Croix de guerre for his services and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor .

Career in political office

After the war he was chairman of the regional association of the SFIO and as such was placed first in the elections in October 1945. Since his party was able to win a seat, the then 32-year-old made it into the constituent national assembly and was confirmed in his role in the new elections in June 1946. In Parliament he was a member of the Defense Commission and was elected to the High Court of Justice, which may decide on the possible impeachment of the President. When the elections for the first regular national assembly after the war took place in November 1946, Capdeville once again reached the national assembly. In the following years he was a member of various commissions, with national defense remaining his main field of activity. In 1951 he was re-elected once more and took over the post of deputy chairman of the Defense Commission in parliament, which he carried out until 1955. His celebrity earned him a role in the film Napoléon , which was released in 1955.

Also in 1955 he was involved in a fraud affair in connection with his work in the military sector, which led to his expulsion from the socialist party. He therefore decided not to run in the new elections in January of the following year after his mandate expired in December 1955 and to withdraw from politics. In 1957 he volunteered as a battalion leader in the Algerian war. On December 7, 1957, he had to testify in connection with the fraud affair, but the scandal ultimately had no further consequences for him.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Base de données historique des anciens députés , assemblee-nationale.fr