André Trigano (; 13 September 1925 – 6 May 2024) was a French businessman and politician who was the mayor of

Pamiers Pamiers (; ) is a commune and largest city in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the most populous commune in the Ariège department, although it is not t ...

in the

French Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. F ...

, a post he held from 1995 until 2020.

Biography

Trigano was born to immigrant

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Algerian Jewish parents in Montreuil in 1925 and was 15 years old when the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

occupied the city during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The family fled to the mountains of Ariège in the south of France when his parents were tipped off by a police officer who lived in their building that their names were on a

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

arrest warrant. Trigano then joined the Resistance and was involved in assisting downed Allied pilots by forging documents that allowed them to escape to nearby Spain. He was arrested three times during the war by the Nazis. After the war, Trigano started a camping holiday business to complement his family's tent-making business. They subsequently won a contract to supply tents to the newly established

Club Med Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily ow ...

– which in its first 15 years was a camping holiday business – renting tents for vacations in locations such as

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

and

Djerba Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island h ...

in Tunisia. Trigano was the founder of the Campéole group, which now includes 40 campsites in France and

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

. This company was sold to the Central Fund of Social Activities of the Electricity and Gas Industries (CCAS) on 30 December 2009. Trigano had a long career in politics, first serving as mayor of Mazeres between 1971 and 1995, while simultaneously serving as a deputy in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the 2nd constituency of Ariège. He held the office of the mayor of Pamiers from 1995 until 2020 and was succeeded by Frédérique Thiennot. He has contested 19 elections, was re-elected in the first round in 2008 with 50.65% of votes and has lost twice. Trigano was also a racing driver, a member of the second district of Ariege from 1993 to 1997, and chairman of the Committee on Tourism Midi-Pyrenees. He was general counsel of the township of

Saverdun Saverdun (; Languedocien: ''Savardun'') is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Saverdun are called ''Saverdunois'' in French. Name Saverdun gave its name to the former city of Verdun, Que ...

for 12 years. On 14 December 2012, Trigano sued Milan Kovac of

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, Slovakia for infringing on copyright and trademark laws by registering the domain name www.andretrigano.com. The

WIPO The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to pr ...

ruled in favor of Trigano and ordered the domain to be transferred to him.

Personal life and death

Trigano was a

classic car A classic car is typically described as an automobile 25 years or older, although a car's age is not the only requirement it must meet before being considered a "classic." However, a standard criteria for recognizing cars as classics does not ex ...

collector. He had a collection of around 180 classic cars, which have since been sold as of September 2020, including vintage Citroens,

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

Triumphs ''Triumphs'' ( Italian: ''I Trionfi'') is a 14th-century Italian series of poems, written by Petrarch in the Tuscan language. The poem evokes the Roman ceremony of triumph, where victorious generals and their armies were led in procession by the ...

, Rolls Royces, and an

Excalibur Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur that may possess magical powers or be associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Its first reliably datable appearance is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. E ...

. Trigano died on 6 May 2024, at the age of 98.Mort d'André Trigano, ancien maire de Pamiers et député de l'Ariège, à 99 ans

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...

Awards and honours

* Officier de la Légion d’honneur, 2008 * Commandeur de l'ordre national du Mérite, 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trigano, Andre 1925 births 2024 deaths Politics of France People from Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis Mayors of places in Occitania (administrative region) French people of Algerian-Jewish descent Officers of the Legion of Honour Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite