Roger Frey (11 June 1913 – 13 September 1997) was a French politician. His parents were of Alsatian origin. He was

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and president of the

Constitutional Council of France The Constitutional Council (, ) is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 to ensure that constitutional principles and rules are upheld. It is housed in the ...

Political career

In 1947, Frey joined the anti-communist Rassemblement du Peuple Français (RPF) ('' Rally of the French People'') and was a member of the steering committee of the

Gaullist Gaullism ( ) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withdrew French forces from t ...

movement, in 1951 he became the Treasurer. He sat on the Assembly of the

French Union The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was ''de jure'' the end of the "indigenous" () status of Frenc ...

from 1952. He was Secretary General of the

National Centre of Social Republicans The National Centre of Social Republicans (''Centre national des républicains sociaux'', CNRS), or Social Republicans (''Républicains sociaux'', RS), was a French Gaullist political party founded in 1954. The party succeeded the Rally of the ...

in 1955. A close colleague of Jacques Soustelle he was active during the crisis of May 1958, preparing for the return of

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

to power. He was appointed to the Constitutional Advisory Committee. Frey was Secretary General of the

Union for the New Republic The Union for the New Republic (, , UNR) was a Gaullist political party in France, formed in support of Charles de Gaulle in the 1958 elections. History The UNR won 189 of 466 seats in the November 1958 elections. In 1962, the UNR grouped ...

(Union pour la nouvelle République, UNR) from 1958 to 1959 and was attached to the cabinet of Jacques Soustelle, then Minister of Information. He himself was the Minister of Information from 8 January 1959 to 5 February 1960 and Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister Michel Debré until 6 May 1961, before being appointed interior minister from May 1961 until April 1967 (law Debre and Georges Pompidou). He fought against the

Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation armée secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Army Organisation") was a far-right dissident French paramilitary and terrorist organisation during the Algerian War, founded in 1961 by Raoul Salan, Pierre Lagaillarde and Jean-Jacques S ...

(OAS) at the end of the war in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. His office was marked by the violent repression of a demonstration of Algerians in Paris on 17 October 1961, during which dozens of Algerians were massacred and thrown into the Seine - sources vary between 40–200 deaths. He decided the repression. This was followed by the Charonne subway massacre on 8 February 1962 with another 9 deaths. The kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka by Moroccan police took place in 1965. Under President

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( ; ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously served as Prime Minister of France under President Charles de Gaulle from 19 ...

he served as the Minister of State for Relations with the Parliament of 6 April 1967 to 31 May 1968. He held the same position in the government Maurice Couve de Murville from 10 July 1968 to 20 June 1969 and the Government

Jacques Chaban-Delmas Jacques Chaban-Delmas (; 7 March 1915 – 10 November 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. He was the Mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and a deputy for the Gironde ''d ...

at 20 June 1969. He then served as Minister of State for Administrative Reform from 7 January 1971 to 5 July 1972.

Monokini prosecution

In 1964, he enforced the prosecution of the use of monokini, a women's one-piece bathing suit that leaves the breasts uncovered. Such bathing suit, Mr. Frey went on to say, "constituted a public offense against the sense of decency, punishable according to article 330 of the penal code. Consequently, the police chiefs must employ the services of the police so that the women who wear this bathing suit in public places are prosecuted."

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

,
Sketch of a Morality without Obligation or Sanction
'', Issue No 9, August 1964.''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', 25 July 1964.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Roger 1913 births 1997 deaths People from Nouméa New Caledonia politicians Rally of the French People politicians National Centre of Social Republicans politicians Union for the New Republic politicians Union of Democrats for the Republic politicians Ministers of information of France French interior ministers New Caledonian people of French descent Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 4th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 5th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Free French military personnel of World War II French people of the Algerian War Members of the Constitutional Council (France)