Robert Poulet (4 September 1893 – 6 October 1989) was a Belgian writer, literary critic and journalist. Politically he was a Maurras-inspired integral nationalist who became associated with a

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to the 19th ...

newspaper during the occupation of Belgium by

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 ...

Literature

Educated at the Faculté des Mines in his hometown, Poulet served in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and before taking odd jobs in Belgium and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He began writing for several literary reviews in the 1920s and published his first novel, the

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

''Handji'', in 1931. He became a part of the 'Groupe du Lundi' that built up around Franz Hellens, which attacked the regional novels prevalent in France then and endorsed

magic realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical re ...

instead. As a literary critic, he became noted for rejecting female authors, dismissing them as ''midinettes en diable''.

Politics

Poulet was involved in politics during the early 1930s when he was a member of the

corporatist Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come together and negotiate contracts ...

study group ''Réaction''.David Littlejohn, ''

The Patriotic Traitors ''The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-Occupied Europe, 1940–45'' is a book written by David Littlejohn in 1975. It is a history of the Europeans who took part in collaborationism with Nazi Germany. Individual chapters ...

'', London: Heinemann, 1972, p. 152 Although not altogether enamoured of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

he became the 'political director' of ''Le Nouveau Journal'', a collaborationist paper launched by Paul Colin in October 1940. A strong supporter of Belgian independence, he was heavily influenced by

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

and the ''

Action Française ''Action Française'' (, AF; ) is a French far-right monarchist and nationalist political movement. The name was also given to a journal associated with the movement, '' L'Action Française'', sold by its own youth organization, the Camelot ...

'' and by 1941, he agreed with Raymond de Becker that a corporatist, authoritarian party of state should be created. His idea was soon abandoned however when the Nazis decide to instead back

Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupatio ...

and

Rexism The Rexist Party, or simply Rex, was a far-right Catholic authoritarian and corporatist political party active in Belgium from 1935 until 1945. The party was founded by a journalist, Léon Degrelle.

, a philosophy to which Poulet was opposed. Despite all of this Poulet never opposed the Nazis and frequently wrote in support of them during his time at ''Le Nouveau Journal''. He also praised them in their war against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

due to his own strict

anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

. He was sentenced to death in October 1945 for collaboration, after serving six years in prison, ostensibly on 'death row,' he was released and allowed to return to France.

Later years

Following his move to France, he published several autobiographical novels in which he sought to justify his war-time collaboration as merely trying to safeguard the monarchy and Belgian independence. He would also act as a reader at

Éditions Denoël Éditions Denoël is a French publishing house founded in 1930. Acquired by Éditions Gallimard in 1951, it publishes collections spanning fiction, non-fiction and comic books. It published some of the most important French authors of the interwa ...

and Plon and write for 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 ...

journal '' Rivarol'', the Catholic paper ''Présent'' and ''Ecrits de Paris'', amongst other publications.King, ''Rereading Camara Laye'', p. 138 He was a close friend and supporter of

Robert Faurisson Robert Faurisson (; born Robert Faurisson Aitken; 25 January 1929 – 21 October 2018) was a British-born French academic who became best known for Holocaust denial. Faurisson generated much controversy with several articles published in the '' ...

and joined him in advocating

Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...

.Mark McKinney, ''History and Politics in French-Language Comics and Graphic Novels'', p. 38 Despite Poulet's controversial opinions, famed ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

'' cartoonist

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

, who worked for Poulet during the war, maintained a lifelong friendship with Poulet until Hergé died in 1983. Poulet's autobiography, ''Ce n'est pas un vie'', appeared in 1976. He died in 1989.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poulet, Robert 1893 births 1989 deaths Belgian military personnel of World War I Belgian fascists Belgian Nazi propagandists Belgian Holocaust deniers Belgian prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by Belgium Belgian emigrants to France Belgian writers in French Magic realism writers Writers from Liège