Jean Élie Paul Zay (6 August 1904 – 20 June 1944) was a French politician. He served as
Minister of National Education and Fine Arts from 1936 until 1939. He was imprisoned by the
Vichy government from August 1940 until he was murdered in 1944.
Early life
Zay was born in
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Loiret
Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.][< ...]
, about south of Paris. His father, Leon Zay, descended from a Jewish family from
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...
, but was born and died in Orléans, where he was the director of a radical socialist regional newspaper, ''Le Progrès du Loiret''. His mother Alice Chartres was a Protestant and a teacher. He grew up with his sister in the Protestant religion.
Zay was educated at the
Lycée Pothier in Orléans, and became a lawyer in 1928. He was politically active from his early days, joining the
Radical Party aged 21.
With his wife, Madeleine Dreux, he had two daughters, Catherine Martin-Zay, and Hélène Mouchard-Zay (born 1940).
Political career
In May 1932, he was elected to the
French parliament as
député
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Re ...
to represent Loiret, for the
Radical Socialist Party. He defeated the incumbent representative of the
Popular Democratic Party,
Maurice Berger. He became one of the ''
Jeunes Turcs'' (Young Turks) who wanted to renew the Radical Party, and was instrumental in the party joining the
Popular Front in 1935. After the 1936 election, he was the
Minister of National Education and Fine Arts from June 1936. While serving in his position, he extended the school leaving age and introduced a common curriculum in elementary schools.
In 1938, Jean Zay proposed the creation of an international film event in France, which was planned to debut in Cannes in 1939. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the inauguration of the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...
was postponed until 1946.
He was a
freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
.
Second World War
He resigned as minister in 1939 to join the
French Army
History
Early history
The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...
on the outbreak of the Second World War, serving as a second lieutenant attached to the headquarters of the
Fourth Army. He remained a député until 1942, and he was given leave to attend the last session of the French Parliament, held in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...
in June 1940. After the
invasion of France by Nazi Germany in 1940, he was one of the passengers aboard the vessel ''Le Massilia'' that left from Bordeaux bound for Casablanca on 21 June 1940, with the intention of forming a resistance government in North Africa. He was arrested in August 1940, for desertion, and returned to France where he was held at the military prison in
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label= Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attrac ...
.
A press campaign, organised by
Philippe Henriot, the minister of information in the
Vichy government, called for his execution for being "Jewish, freemason and member of the Radical Party", and pointing to his anti-war poem of March 1924, ''Le Drapeau'' (The Flag), as evidence of his lack of patriotism.
Zay was convicted of desertion by a military tribunal in October 1940, and sentenced to loss of military rank and deportation for life. Held in Marseille, his sentence was commuted to one of internment in France, and he was held in the prison in
Riom
Riom (; Auvergnat ''Riam'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Puy-de-Dôme Departments of France, department in Auvergne (region), Auvergne in central France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department.
History
Un ...
, sharing a cell with Rabbi
Edward Gourévitch
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...
. He was allowed to communicate with friends and family, and did not attempt to escape. He was removed from the prison by three
miliciens on 20 June 1944, Henri Millou, Charles Develle and Pierre Cordier, purportedly so he could be transferred to
Melun. They murdered him in a wood near an abandoned quarry, at a place called ''Les Malavaux'' in the ''faille du Puits du diable'', at
Molles
Molles (; oc, Mòlas) is a commune in the Allier department in central France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Allier department
The following is a list of the 317 communes of the Allier department of France.
Intercommunalit ...
in
Allier
Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named after ...
.
Post-war rehabilitation
Zay's conviction was posthumously annulled by the appeal court in Riom in July 1945. His body was found with those of two others in 1946, under a pile of stones. The three were initially reburied together in
Cusset, but Zay's body was exhumed in 1947 and identified through his dental records. The surviving ''milicien'' Charles Develle was convicted of Zay's murder in February 1953, and sentenced to forced labour for life, but released in 1955. Zay was buried in Orléans in 1948. A memorial was erected near the site of his death in Molles, and a plaque at his high school in Orléans. The rue Jean Zay in
Trélazé
Trélazé () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), ...
is named after him.
A French literary prize, the Prix Jean-Zay, was created and named in his honour in 2005.
In March 2014,
French President François Hollande
François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of the Socialist P ...
announced his intention to recognize Jean Zay at the
Panthéon in Paris as a leading figure in the Resistance, along with
Pierre Brossolette,
Germaine Tillion, and
Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz. The official ceremony was held on 27 May 2015, National Day of Resistance.
In 2019 a new supercomputer acquired by the CNRS was named for Jean Zay.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zay, Jean
1904 births
1944 deaths
Politicians from Orléans
French Protestants
French people of Jewish descent
Burials at the Panthéon, Paris
Radical Party (France) politicians
French Ministers of National Education
Members of the 15th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic
Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic
Human Rights League (France) members
French Freemasons
French Resistance members
Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust
Jews in the French resistance
People executed by Vichy France
Executed French people