Laurent Wetzel (16 January 1950 – 12 October 2021) was a French academic, politician, and essayist. A member of the

Centre of Social Democrats The Centre of Social Democrats (''Centre des démocrates sociaux'', CDS; also translated as ''Democratic and Social Centre'') was a Christian-democratic and centrist political party in France. It existed from 1976 to 1995 and was based directly a ...

(CDS) and the

Miscellaneous right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically suppor ...

(DVD), he served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

Sartrouville Sartrouville () is a commune in the Yvelines department, Île-de-France, north central France. it is located in the north-western suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris. Name In the Middle Ages the name Sartrouville was recorded in Mediev ...

from 1989 to 1995 and General Councilor of the

Canton of Sartrouville The canton of Sartrouville is an administrative division of the Yvelines department, northern France. Its borders were modified at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Sartrouville. It consists of th ...

from 1985 to 1998.

Biography

Wetzel was born to engineer Jacques Wetzel and nurse Hélène Durosoy in

Landerneau Landerneau (; br, Landerne, ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. It lies at the mouth of the Elorn River which divides the Breton provinces of Cornouaille and Léon, east of Brest. The name i ...

on 16 January 1950. He graduated from the

École normale supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education sca ...

in 1969 and earned an

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''profess ...

in history in 1973. He taught history, geography, and civics across multiple middle and secondary schools across

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...

from 1973 to 1986. He retired from teaching in 2011. While a student, Wetzel joined the Progrès et Liberté party, founded by

Jacques Soustelle Jacques Soustelle (3 February 1912 – 6 August 1990) was an important and early figure of the Free French Forces, a politician who served in the French National Assembly and at one time served as Governor General of Algeria, an anthropologist ...

. In

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Sartrouville and joined the opposition bloc of the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order ...

and the CDS, which opposed the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

in power, led by Mayor . On 17 January 1985, he was acquitted of a defamation charge against the late communist politician

Marcel Paul Marcel Paul (12 July 1900, Paris — 11 November 1982) was a French trade unionist and communist politician. He was also a Nazi concentration camp survivor and later served as a member of the French parliament. Biography Marcel Paul was a ...

by the High Court of Versailles. In the

1985 French cantonal elections ''Cantonale'' elections to renew canton general councillors were held in France on 10 and 17 March 1985. The left, in power since 1981, lost 10 departments. As a result, the right controlled 69 out of 95 departments. Electoral system The cant ...

, he defeated the communist

François Hilsum François Hilsum (26 January 1929 – 16 March 2020) was a French political activist and journalist. Biography Hilsum came from a family of communist activists. His father, René Hilsum, was a bookseller, and his mother, Marcelle Grandjux, was a ...

with 56% of the vote to become General Councilor of the Canton of Sartrouville. Wetzel became Mayor of Sartrouville in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

, defeating incumbent Auguste Chrétienne, who had served for 30 years. He was able to ride momentum against communist politicians in Europe after the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of ...

. While in office, he renamed the

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

Municipal Hall after

Félix Éboué Adolphe Sylvestre Félix Éboué (; 26 December 1884 – 17 May 1944) was a French colonial administrator and Free French leader. He was the first black French man appointed to a high post in the French colonies, when appointed as Governor of ...

. He condemned a ruling by a criminal court against the President of the for violating an anti-racist law against housing discrimination after he refused to allocate social funds to house an Algerian immigrant. He also dealt with riots following the murder of an Algerian immigrant by a Tunisian security guard. Wetzel was re-elected as General Councilor of the Canton of Sartrouville in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

with 53% of the vote. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, he was defeated in the second round by

Jacques Myard Jacques Myard (born 14 August 1947) is a French politician and former diplomat who represented the 5th constituency of the Yvelines department in the National Assembly from 1993 to 2017. A member of The Republicans (LR), he has served as Mayo ...

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 rep ...

for

Yvelines's 5th constituency The 5th constituency of Yvelines is a French legislative constituency in the Yvelines ''département''. Description The 5th constituency of Yvelines is one of a group of constituencies within the department formed from the wealthy western sub ...

. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, he was defeated by Rally for the Republic candidate Pierre Fond and lost his seat as mayor of Sartrouville. The First Administrative Court of Versailles cancelled the ballot at first due to an

involuntary commitment Involuntary commitment, civil commitment, or involuntary hospitalization/hospitalisation is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is detained in a psychiatric hos ...

against Wetzel which took place on 18 June 1995. However, the

Conseil d'État In France, the (; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice, which is one of the two branches of the French judiciary system. Establi ...

later confirmed the election for Fond. In 2013, Wetzel failed to be elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Former Students

, an election which he claimed to have been fraudulent. On 1 March 2017, he co-founded the Cercle InterHallier. Laurent Wetzel died on 12 October 2021, at the age of 71.

Books

*''Un internement politique sous la Ve République. Barbouzes et blouses blanches'' (1997) *''Ils ont tué l'histoire-géo'' (2012) *''Vingt intellectuels sous l'Occupation - Des résistants aux collabos'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wetzel, Laurent 1950 births 2021 deaths French schoolteachers École Normale Supérieure alumni French general councillors Mayors of places in Île-de-France Centre of Social Democrats politicians People from Landerneau