50 years ago, on March 30, 1970, Léon Blum the famous head of government of the Popular Front disappeared. In this new episode of "At the heart of history", produced by Europe 1 Studio, Jean des Cars returns to the journey of this idealist intellectual who was one of the founders of French socialism.
Between 1936 and 1938, this period between the two world wars when politics were particularly violent and tormented, the extreme right made him the most hated man in France. Today we remember him as one of the founders of French socialism. A man who, in all of his struggles, has never been mediocre. In this new episode of "At the heart of history", produced by Europe 1 Studio, discover the story of Léon Blum
After refusing to vote full powers for Marshal Pétain on July 10, 1940, Léon Blum was arrested. He was interned at the Château de Chazeron, in Puy-de-Dôme, with Paul Reynaud, Georges Mandel, Edouard Daladier and General Gamelin. All are held responsible for the defeat of 1940, accused of endangering state security and treason.
In February 1942, they were brought before the Court of Justice of Riom. The only one to really defend themselves, with courage, is Léon Blum. His plea was so brilliant that he forced the Vichy government to suspend the trial. This is the time when the Germans invade the Free Zone.
Detained in Buchenwald
He was again interned, this time at the Bourrassol fortress near Vichy, with his companions. They have no right to communicate with each other. But Léon Blum manages to correspond with a certain Jeanne Levylier. He has been widowed since 1938 by his second wife, Thérèse, who died of generalized cancer. She had been the great love of her life.
From that moment and perhaps a little before, his little cousin, Jeanne Levylier, madly in love with him, will do everything to embellish and soften his existence. On March 31, 1943, Léon Blum, who is 71 years old, begins his thirtieth month in captivity. He sees arriving at the fortress German officers who come to kidnap him and his companions. Léon Blum just had time to jot down a few words to Jeanne, whom he called Janot: "Right now, German officers are coming in. I'm leaving at noon. The dice are thrown. I promise to come back intact".
The detainees are taken to Clermont-Ferrand airport and from there they fly to Germany. Blum is separated from his fellow sufferers. He arrives in Germany in a place which is unknown to him. In fact, the place is called Buchenwald. However, he is not subjected to the same treatment as an ordinary deportee.
Let his biographer, Jean Lacouture, explain to us: "Installed in a barrack near the officers' quarter, at the outer limit of the camp, he does not even know that he lives in the sinister Buchenwald which he heard about from his anti comrades. -Nazis. It is only later that he will realize this. The room is clean, fairly well heated. He can work, has a radio station and receives the press: that of Paris, good collaboration. sure, L'Oeuvre or Le Matin, but there are so many ways to read a newspaper, even if it is despicable ... "
Léon Blum gets married for the 3rd time ... in a concentration camp
Léon Blum discovers that the room next to his is occupied by Georges Mandel. The latter, Minister of the Interior in 1940, had opposed the Armistice. Georges Mandel had then left for Morocco. Arrested and brought back to France, he was delivered to the Germans by Vichy. They are free to meet, exchange books and ideas, play billiards, in short support each other and will become friends when political life had previously opposed them.
From his first day in Buchenwald, Léon Blum had written to Janot, Jean Lacouture tells us: "You may be able to join me". He specifies that it will be locked up, that no return will be possible, that this trip and this meeting present the worst dangers. How could she not know? But what do these risks weigh, weighed against the prospect of joining it? While Léon Blum, on April 14 and May 3, addressed memoirs to this effect to the camp and Berlin authorities, alleging in particular their common wish to marry. Janot multiplies the steps with the Parisian Gestapo, arguing that it is related to the deportee. That the Nazis listened to it is one of the mysteries of this extravagant affair. The fact is that on May 3, Blum received a letter from his daughter-in-law, their enthusiastic ally, saying that Janot has a lot of hope. "
On June 30, after an incredible trip through Berlin, Jeanne disembarks at Buchenwald, finding Léon Blum in his room sorting beans and lentils. They get married. Léon Blum will say "My life is transformed". Now there are two of them to face this captivity. It is lighter than what the deportees of the camp so close to live. However, no hope seems to them allowed. They now know that they are hostages. But before this tragic episode, what was the journey and the life of Léon Blum?
A bright and committed young man
He was born in 1872 into a family of Alsatian Jewish origin, who was successful in the fabric trade. The lifestyle of his parents is more than easy. He will study in Paris at the Lycée Charlemagne then at Henri IV where he is preparing the entrance exam to Normale Sup. He brilliantly joined the Rue d'Ulm School but was excluded from it after a year. He hated "this elite factory where the bourgeoisie's watchdogs are trained".
He then enrolled at the Sorbonne, studied law and letters. He was accepted to the Council of State competition in 1895. At the same time, he made his debut as a literary critic in the famous Revue Blanche by the Natanson brothers. He also writes a theatrical column in the journal Comedia. He met Maurice Barrès, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Claudel, Paul Verlaine but also Guillaume Apollinaire and Tristan Bernard. The latter will be one of his great friends. He frequents a very brilliant universe. In Madame de Caillavet's living room, he also meets Anatole France.
In 1896, just after joining the Council of State, Léon Blum married Lise Bloch. The couple moved to rue du Luxembourg, the current rue Guynemer. He published his first book in 1901: "New conversations of Goethe with Eckermann".
While they hadn't dated each other during his short year at Normale Sup, Léon Blum became friends with the school's librarian, Lucien Herr. It is he who will direct him towards the Socialist Party. Léon Blum begins to mingle in political struggles during the Dreyfus affair.
He was to become a defender of Zola when he was convicted in 1898. He was deeply Dreyfusard. We know that the fight will be long before Captain Dreyfus is completely whitewashed and reinstated in the army.
At 25, he meets Jean Jaurès
It was in 1897 that he met Jean Jaurès. Blum is 25 years old, Jaurès 38. Léon Blum will immediately consider himself a disciple of this convinced socialist. Let Thadée Natanson, boss of La Revue Blanche speak: "All the time that Jaurès lived, Léon Blum only listened to him ... He never thought that he had more or better to do. because this master did better who give him faith, he made him see that he had it ".
Léon Blum himself confided to André Gide: "This man, I was his faithful dog". In 1899, he participated for the first time in a socialist congress and in 1901, he was with Jaurès for the foundation of the newspaper L'Humanité. But after the Congress of the Socialist Party in 1905, which saw the creation of the SFIO (French Section of the Workers' International), Léon Blum left L'Humanité and deviated for almost ten years from the life of the Socialist Party.
Literary criticism fascinates him. He gives articles to the Latin Renaissance, the Excelsior and the Morning. He is 33 years old and has just been appointed Master of Requests at the Council of State. With his wife, he moved to settle in a very large apartment on Boulevard Montparnasse. He fitted out a large office-workshop. He hung two large paintings by Vuillard on loan from Alfred Natanson. He also spends a lot of time educating his little boy, Robert, born in 1902.
His wife Lise is passionate about theater and music. Boulevard du Montparnasse we meet Alfred Cortot, Gabriel Fauré and especially Reynaldo Hahn, very close to Léon Blum. Lise is a remarkable hostess, although a little authoritarian and slightly low-blue. During the holidays, they receive a lot of the arts and literature world in a villa of Enghien rented by their parents.
It was then that he wrote his treatise "Du Mariage" in 1907. Blum caused a scandal by developing the thesis of the polygamous instinct of men and by advocating the sexual experience for young girls before marriage. This life, after all very pleasant, ended in August 1914. The Sarajevo attack had been concealed in Paris by the trial of Madame Caillaux. Austria's July 23 ultimatum to Serbia provokes war.
Jaurès goes to an emergency meeting in Brussels of the International Socialist Union. Blum accompanies him to the Gare du Nord. It is the last time he will see Jaurès. On his return from Brussels on July 31, Jaurès spent his day at L'Humanité before going for a drink at the Café du Croissant. At 9:40 p.m., he was assassinated at close range. Blum rushes to the Jaurès where the body of the tribune has been brought back. He experiences immense sorrow. His master in politics has just died.
1914: for the first time, Blum is associated with power
When the First World War broke out, Léon Blum was 42 years old. He cannot be mobilized but he wishes to serve. He will do so within the Union Nationale government of René Viviani. Blum is chief of staff to one of the two socialist government ministers, Marcel Sembat, in charge of public works. Blum stayed there from 1914 to 1916. This ministry was a key ministry. The intelligence, organizational skills and legal knowledge of Léon Blum allow him to impose himself. He tackles the conversion of civilian factories for military purposes. It does this with great efficiency. In 1916, he returned to the Council of State and also plunged back into the life of the Socialist Party.
In 1919, he was responsible for drafting the action program of the Socialist Party. That same year, Blum was elected deputy for the Seine. He definitely entered politics. His parliamentary functions being incompatible with those of Councilor of State, he is registered with the bar. In a few months, he became the most famous civil lawyer in Paris. He will earn a lot of money, the eternal paradox of committed socialism! It doesn't bother him at all.
The Tours Congress: a major turning point
The major turning point in his political life was to be the Congress of Tours. It begins on December 25, 1920: for lay delegates, Christmas does not count! This is the rupture: Blum is one of the stars of the minority hostile to the Bolsheviks. After trying in vain to maintain the unity of the Party, he, who was simply secretary of the socialist parliamentary group, becomes the undisputed leader of the Socialist Minority Party.
His paradox is to have become a Party leader without ever having really been an activist. He has little contact with the working world. And above all, his scruples always forbid him the compromises sometimes necessary for action. He was beaten in the 1928 elections but still made his return to the Chamber of Deputies during a by-election in 1929: he was elected deputy for Narbonne and remained so until 1940.
As early as 1924, during the formation of the Cartel des Gauches, he steered the Socialist Party towards collaboration with the radicals. But until 1936, he limited it to support without participation in the government. Her private life is also changing. His wife Lise died in 1931. He remarried two years later to Thérèse Pereyra. He has known her for a long time. She is part of a group of musicians and painters with whom Blum likes to mix. Thérèse has a lot of spirit, enthusiasm and cheerfulness. He is very much in love with her. The couple settled in Île Saint-Louis. Léon Blum will be perfectly happy with her until Thérèse is carried away, in 1938, by a generalized cancer. But in the meantime, Léon Blum's career has reached new heights.
The head of government of the Popular Front
In May 1936, the alliance of socialists and radicals won the elections. Léon Blum becomes head of government of the Popular Front. It implements important economic and social reforms: the institution of Paid Holidays on June 8 and the 40-hour week on June 12. The government imposed direct state control over the Banque de France on July 24 and the nationalization of large arms factories on August 11.
However, the financial situation is dire. Blum is forced to devalue the franc. In February 1937, he announced a social break. The start of the Spanish War threw the Popular Front into disarray. Blum is in favor of neutrality with regard to Spain whereas a part of his friends wishes that one brings financial and military aid to the republicans. The United Kingdom indicates that it will not accept it: that could call into question its alliance with France. Germany and Italy support Franco and the nationalists, the USSR supports the Republicans.
In France, the Popular Front is falling apart. During the night of June 20 to 21, 1937, Léon Blum resigned. He returned to government from March to April 1938 before retiring from power. He is a simple parliamentarian and will refuse to vote full powers to Marshal Pétain in July 1940, as I told you at the beginning of this story.
The end of the nightmare and a brief return to power
In Buchenwald, Léon Blum writes a lot. He compels dialogues with his wife. These dialogues will give rise to notes which will form a series and will be published under the title "On a human scale". One morning in July 1944, the Gestapo came to extract Georges Mandel from the barracks where they had lived together for months. They do not yet know that Mandel will be brought back to France where the Militia will assassinate him in the forest of Fontainebleau. Leon and Jeanne will tell what they suspected without really apprehending it. Let us listen to Léon Blum: "It is also the rigor of this fence which explains an apparently incomprehensible fact, I mean our ignorance so long prolonged about the unspeakable horrors which were perpetrated a few hundred meters from us. The first clue that we were surprised is the strange odor which often reached us in the evening, through open windows, and which obsessed us all night when the wind continued to blow in the same direction: it was the smell of crematorium ovens ".
April 1, 1945, a German officer warns them that they will leave in the afternoon by car. They are part of a convoy which crosses Weimar, then Regensburg before arriving at Dachau. Then they reach Munich and take the road to Innsbruck, Austria. By the Brenner road, they find themselves in Italy. A German officer introduces himself and tells them that they are now on bail for the military honor of the Wehrmacht. Léon Blum and his wife are saved. They are recovered by the Americans. On Tuesday May 8, 1945, Armistice Day, a US Air Force aircraft transported them to Naples, at General Alexander's British HQ. They will be cared for and housed for a few days before returning to Paris on May 14.
They come back to life in Paris. General de Gaulle proposed to Léon Blum a Minister of State. He refuses it. At the end of 1946, at the request of Vincent Auriol, Léon Blum formed a homogeneous socialist government which would only be a month-long transitional cabinet, before the election of Vincent Auriol President of the Republic. Léon Blum will remain the man of paid holidays and 40 hours and the main inspirer of French socialism. If he no longer has political responsibilities, he will remain intellectually very active until the end, notably with his editorials in Le Populaire. He died in his house in Jouy-en-Josas on March 30, 1950.
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"At the heart of history" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast
Author and presentation: Jean des Cars
Project manager: Adèle Ponticelli
Realization: Guillaume Vasseau
Diffusion and edition: Clémence Olivier
Graphics: Europe 1 Studio