Jean Fontenoy (21 March 1899 – 28 April 1945) was a French journalist and

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

politician who was a collaborator with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Biography

Born in

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

, Fontenoy worked as a journalist for the

Havas Havas NV () is a French multinational corporation, multinational advertising agency, advertising and public relations company, with its registered office and head office in Puteaux, France. Havas operates in more than 100 countries. The group ...

news agency from 1924 to the mid-1930s in Russia then China.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *'' Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester P ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the ...

'', 1990, p. 130 In China, he founded the French-language ''Journal de Shanghai'' and became the subject of a gossip campaign suggesting that he was having an affair with

Soong Mei-ling Soong Mei-ling (also spelled Soong May-ling; March 4, 1898 – October 23, 2003), also known as Madame Chiang (), was a Chinese political figure and socialite. The youngest of the Soong sisters, she married Chiang Kai-shek and played a prom ...

, Chiang Kai-shek's wife. Returning to France he sought involvement in politics, initially with the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

before he switched to the

French Popular Party The French Popular Party (, PPF) was a French fascist and anti-semitic political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II. It is generally regarded as the most collaborationist party of France. Formation and early yea ...

, a group that he left in 1939 because of his personal dislike of its leader,

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 French Communist Party, he founded the French Popular Pa ...

. Before long, however, Fontenoy put his personal issues to one side, rejoined the PPF and played a leading role in helping to reorganise the movement, and he also wrote widely not only for the PPF newspapers but also for the likes of ''L'Insurgé'' and ''

Je suis partout ''Je suis partout'' (, lit. ''I am everywhere'') was a French newspaper founded by , first published on 29 November 1930. It was placed under the direction of Pierre Gaxotte until 1939. Journalists of the paper included Lucien Rebatet, , the il ...

''. Despite his skill as an organiser and writer, Fontenoy began to develop a reputation for eccentricity that was aided by his personal habits. Already an alcoholic, Fontenoy was widowed in 1941 and began to abuse

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

and

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

. He was also seriously injured after volunteering for service in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

and the head wounds that he sustained led to brain damage. After those instances, Fontenoy continued to be a leading figure on the

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

, but his actions came to be somewhat more erratic. In 1938 he married

Madeleine Charnaux Madeleine Charnaux by Bourdelle Madeleine Charnaux (18 January 1902 – 10 October 1943) was a French war correspondent, sculptor, designer and aviator. She was the first woman in the Roland Garros pilots’ club. Biography Madeleine Charnaux ...

. For a time, he served

Pierre Laval Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic (France), Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vich ...

as his personal envoy to

Otto Abetz Otto Friedrich Abetz (26 March 1903 – 5 May 1958) was a German diplomat, a Nazi official and a convicted war criminal during World War II. Abetz joined the Nazi Party and the SA in the early 1930s later becoming a member of the SS. Abetz pla ...

. That was followed by the launch of the newspaper ''La Vie Nationale'', which proved short-lived and was followed by a number of equally-short-lived collaborationist reviews. He was a founder of Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire and became leader of the group in 1942 after

Eugène Deloncle Eugène Deloncle (20 June 1890 – 17 January 1944) was a French politician and fascist leader who founded the organisation “Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action" (CSAR), better known as . He became a prominent Nazi collaborator during Wo ...

had stepped aside. However, Fonteony soon lost interest in what was a declining group. He then switched over to the

National Popular Rally The National Popular Rally (, RNP, 1941–1944) was a French political party and one of the main collaborationist parties under the Vichy regime of World War II. Created in February 1941 by former members of the French Section of the Workers' I ...

and formed part of the five-man directorate, chaired by

Marcel Déat Marcel Déat (; 7 March 1894 – 5 January 1955) was a French politician. Initially a socialist and a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), he led a breakaway group of right-wing Neosocialists out of the SFIO in 19 ...

, that led the group. During that period, Fontenoy became fixated with the notion that Doriot was plotting to kill him despite a lack of evidence. That played a role in his next move in which he enrolled in the

Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (, LVF) was a unit of the German Army during World War II consisting of collaborationist volunteers from France. Officially designated the 638th Infantry Regiment (''Infanterieregiment 638''), ...

(LVF) and was sent to the Eastern Front. He served as LVF

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

chief who was also acting as a spy. He was killed while he was fighting the Soviets in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

a few days before the end of the war after he had been fatally shot in the head.Littlejohn, ''The Patriotic Traitors'', p. 355

Bibliography

* Gérard GUEGAN, ''Fontenoy ne reviendra plus'', Stock, Parijs, 2011 * Philippe VILGIER, ''Jean Fontenoy, aventurier, journaliste et écrivain'', Uitg. Via Romana, 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontenoy, Jean 1899 births 1945 deaths People from Fontainebleau 20th-century French newspaper publishers (people) French Popular Party politicians French Communist Party politicians French male non-fiction writers Former Marxists 20th-century French journalists Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism personnel killed in action French Nazi propagandists French Fascist propagandists French anti-communist propagandists French expatriates in Finland Deaths by firearm in Germany Volunteers in the Winter War