Alphonse Van Bredenbeck de Châteaubriant (; 25 March 1877 – 2 May 1951) was a French

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...

who won the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

in 1911 for his novel ''Monsieur de Lourdines'' and

Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française Le Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1914, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French litera ...

for ''

La Brière ''La Brière'' (translated as ''Passion and Peat'') is a 1923 novel by Alphonse de Chateaubriant that won the Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française for that year. The novel is set in the rustic fenland landscape west of Nantes, known as B ...

'' in 1923. After a visit to Germany in 1935 he became an enthusiastic advocate for

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

. Along with other

Breton nationalist Breton nationalism ( Breton: ''roadelouriezh Brezhoneg'', French: ''nationalisme Breton'') is a form of regional nationalism associated with the region of Brittany in France. The political aspirations of Breton nationalists include the desire ...

s he supported

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

and

anti-semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

ideas in opposition to the French state. In 1940 he founded the pro-Nazi weekly newspaper

La Gerbe ''La Gerbe'' (, ''The Sheaf'') was a weekly newspaper of the French collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II that appeared in Paris from July 1940 till August 1944. Its political-literary line was modeled after ''Candide'' and '' Grin ...

and served as President of the

Groupe Collaboration The Groupe Collaboration was a French collaborationist group active during the Second World War. Largely eschewing the street politics of many such contemporary groups, it sought to establish close cultural links with Nazi Germany and to appeal to ...

.David Littlejohn, ''

The Patriotic Traitors ''The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-Occupied Europe, 1940–45'' is a 1972 book by David Littlejohn. It is a history of the Europeans who took part in collaborationism with Nazi Germany. Individual chapters are dev ...

'', Heinemann, 1972, p. 222 During World War II, he was a member of the central committee of the '' Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme'', an organisation founded in 1941 by

Fernand de Brinon Fernand de Brinon, Marquis de Brinon (; 26 August 1885 – 15 April 1947) was a French lawyer and journalist who was one of the architects of French collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. He claimed to have had five private talks with ...

and

Jacques Doriot Jacques Doriot (; 26 September 1898 – 22 February 1945) was a French politician, initially communist, later fascist, before and during World War II. In 1936, after his exclusion from the Communist Party, he founded the French Popular Party (P ...

to recruit volunteers to fight alongside the Germans in the USSR. In 1945 he fled to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, where he lived under the alias Dr. Alfred Wolf until his death at a monastery in

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühe ...

Works

* 1908: ''Le Baron de Puydreau'' (novella) * 1909: ''Monsieur de Buysse'' (novella) * 1911: ''

Monsieur des Lourdines ''Monsieur des Lourdines'' is a 1943 French historical drama film directed by Pierre de Hérain and starring Raymond Rouleau, Germaine Dermoz and Mila Parély. It is an adaptation of Alphonse de Chateaubriant's 1911 novel of the same title. The ...

'' (novel -

) * 1923: ''

'' (novel -

) * 1927: ''La Meute'' * 1928: ''Locronan'' * 1933: ''La Réponse du Seigneur'' * 1937: ''La Gerbe des forces'' * 1937: ''Le bouquet fané'' * 1938: ''Les pas ont chanté'' * 1953: ''...Des saisons et des jours... Journal de l'auteur, 1911-1924'' * 2004: ''Fragments d'une confession – La sainteté''

References

External links

* 1877 births 1951 deaths Writers from Rennes French Roman Catholics French fascists Christian fascists 20th-century French writers 20th-century French male writers French collaborators with Nazi Germany Prix Goncourt winners Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française winners Catholicism and far-right politics {{France-nonfiction-writer-stub