Information AboutCagoule |
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| french fascist parties | |
| cagoule | |
| terrorism in france | |
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IN THE THIRD REPUBLIC Prominent members of the Cagoule (''Cagoulards'') included Eugène Schueller , the founder of the French cosmetics giant L'Oréal , who was also founder of the group. Some of the early meetings of the Cagoule took place at l'Oréal headquarters, and some former Cagoulards, such as Jacques Corrèze , were later hired as executives. Another important activist was Joseph Darnand . The group was founded in 1935 , drawing its troops mostly from Orléanist s disappointed by the lack of action from Charles Maurras ' ''Action Française'', and undertook various actions aimed at destabilizing the Republic, including the assassination of Italian antifascists, the Rosselli brothers. The group, organized along military lines, infiltrated parts of the French Military (especially in order to get weapons), and prepared the overthrowing of the Popular Front Government . However, they were themselves infiltrated by the police, and, in November 1937 , Marx Dormoy , Minister Of The Interior (and thus in charge of law enforcement) denounced their plot and ordered arrests. WORLD WAR II During World War II , members of the Cagoule were divided. Some of them joined various Fascist movements; Schueller and Deloncle founded the Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire , which conducted various pro- Nazi Germany activities in Occupied France , including the October 1941 bombing of seven Synagogue s in Paris . Others were prominent members of Philippe Pétain 's Vichy Regime . Darnand was the leader of the '' 'Milice '', the Vichy Paramilitary group of who fought the French Resistance , and enforced Anti-semitic policies; he took an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler , and had a Waffen SS rank. On the other hand, many sided with the anti-German camp, either as members of the Resistance in the Maquis , or as members of Charles De Gaulle 's Free French Forces . According to Michael Bar-Zohar , President of the Fifth Republic François Mitterrand , who was a Junior Minister under Vichy, but worked for the Resistance, was also a member of the Cagoule Michael Bar-Zohar, ''Bitter Scent: The Case of L'Oréal, Nazis, and the Arab Boycott'' (London, Dutton Books: 1996) pp. 264.. If his participation to the Vichy government before his participation to the Resistance is well known, no person other than Bar-Zohar has ever made this claim before. EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES |