Pierre Dreyfus

Pierre Dreyfus (born November 18, 1907 in Paris ; † December 25, 1994 ibid) was President of the French automaker Renault and French Minister for Industry from 1981 to 1982. He was neither related to Alfred Dreyfus nor to the Louis Dreyfus family .

biography

Dreyfus grew up as the son of a businessman in an educated environment and met personalities such as Robert Marjolin and Claude Lévi-Strauss in his childhood , who later became the first husband of his sister Dina Dreyfus . He entered business life at the age of 18, and then studied law. After graduating in 1935, he became a technical advisor at the Ministry of Industry. During the German occupation Dreyfus belonged to the Resistance .

Dreyfus sympathized with socialist ideas early on and joined the SFIO , a forerunner of the Socialist Party. However, he left them again in the dispute over the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

After the war, Dreyfus was first inspecteur général in 1947 and until 1949 Directeur de cabinet of the Minister of Industry and Trade Robert Lacoste , in 1954 again for Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury . From 1949 to 1955 he headed the Inspection Générale de l'Industrie et du Commerce as Chef du corps . During this entire time at the ministry, he was on the board of directors of Renault and from 1948 to 1955 also vice-president.

After a car accident of the chairman of the board ( Président-directeur général , PDG) Pierre Lefaucheux , Dreyfus was his successor from 1955 until his retirement in 1975. Under his leadership, Renault introduced a number of new production methods and led the company to commercial success. At the same time, in dialogue with the trade unions, he ensured that Renault, as a formerly nationalized company, met its social responsibility. As he wrote in his book La Liberté de réussir (“The freedom to succeed”), Renault must “enrich the nation” and “improve the conditions of the workers”. The purpose of a flourishing economy is to improve people's fortunes.

From 1968 on, however, the relationship between management and workers deteriorated in view of the political environment. In 1972 Dreyfus had to testify as a witness in the trial of the murder of the Maoist Pierre Overney , who had been shot by an employee of the security service of Renault.

In 1975, Dreyfus was replaced by Bernard Vernier-Palliez .

After François Mitterrand was elected president in 1981, Dreyfus returned to politics and became industry minister in Pierre Mauroy's government , but gave up already in June 1982, exhausted. After that he was adviser to the president and board member of the pharmaceutical company Roussel-UCLAF for several years before retiring from public life.

He was admitted to the Legion of Honor as a Grand Officer .

Web links

• Pierre Dreyfus on autonews.com
• Pierre Dreyfus' curriculum vitae on the MINEFE website