Abel Bonnard (19 December 1883 31 May 1968) was a French poet, novelist and politician.

Biography

Born in

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

with secondary studies at the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. A student of literature, he was a graduate of the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and grande école located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy. Admissi ...

. Politically, a follower of

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-par ...

, his views evolved towards

fascism 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 th ...

in the 1930s. Bonnard was one of the ministers of National Education under the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

(1942–44). The political satirist Jean Galtier-Boissière gave him the nickname "la Gestapette", a portmanteau of

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

and ''tapette'', the latter French slang for a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

. The name, along with the homosexual inclinations it implied, became well known. He was a member of the committee of the Groupe Collaboration, an organisation that aimed to encourage closer cultural ties between France and Germany.David Littlejohn, '' The Patriotic Traitors'', Heinemann, 1972, p. 222 Bonnard was one of only a few members expelled from the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

for collaboration with Germany. Bonnard was condemned ''in absentia'' to death during the '' épuration légale'' period for wartime activities. However, he had escaped to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

where

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 19 ...

granted him

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...

. In 1960, he returned to France to face retrial for his crimes. Bonnard received a symbolic sentence of 10 years banishment to be counted from 1945, but dissatisfied with the verdict, he chose to return to Spain where he lived out the remainder of his life.

Bibliography

*1906 ''Les Familiers'' *1908 ''Les Histoires'' *1908 ''Les Royautés'' *1913 ''La Vie et l'Amour'' *1914 ''Le Palais Palmacamini'' *1918 ''La France et ses morts'' *1924 ''Notes de voyage : En Chine (1920-1921), 2 vol.'' *1926 ''Éloge de l'ignorance'' *1926 ''La vie amoureuse d'Henri Beyle'' *1927 ''L'Enfance'' *1928 ''L'Amitié'' *1928 ''L'Argent'' *1929 ''Saint François d'Assise'' *1931 ''Rome'' *1936 ''Le drame du présent : Les Modérés'' *1937 ''Savoir aimer'' *1939 ''L'Amour et l'Amitié'' *1941 ''Pensées dans l'action'' *1992 ''Ce monde et moi'' (selection of aphorisms, posthumous)

References

External links

*
L'Académie française
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnard, Abel 1883 births 1968 deaths People from Poitiers French collaborators with Nazi Germany French fascists French emigrants to Spain 20th-century French poets Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Expelled members of the Académie Française French Ministers of National Education 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers French politicians convicted of crimes