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Importing Wikidata short description: "French politician (1890–1944)"
 
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{{Short description|French politician (1890–1944)}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2021}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Eugène Deloncle
| name = Eugène Deloncle
| image = Eugène Deloncle vers 1940.jpg
| image = Eugène Deloncle vers 1940.jpg
| caption = Deloncle {{circa}} 1940
| caption = Deloncle {{circa}} 1940
| birth_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_place = [[Brest, France|Brest]], France
| birth_place = [[Brest, France|Brest]], France
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1890|6|20}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1890|6|20}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1944|1|17|1890|6|20}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1944|1|17|1890|6|20}}
| death_place = [[Paris]], France
| death_place = [[Paris]], [[German-occupied France]]
| death_cause = [[Gunshot wounds]]
| nationality = French
| mother =
| nationality = French
| father = Louis Deloncle{{sfn|''Le Monde illustré''}}
| mother =
| father = Louis Deloncle{{sfn|''Le Monde illustré''}}
| relatives = [[François Deloncle]] (uncle)
| relatives = [[François Deloncle]] (uncle)
| spouse = Mercedes Cahier
| spouse = Mercedes Cahier
| other_names =
| other_names =
| occupation ={{ubl|Politician|Naval engineer}}
| occupation = {{ubl|Politician|Naval engineer}}
| known_for = Founder of [[La Cagoule]]
| known_for = Founder of [[La Cagoule]]
| awards = [[Legion of Honour]] (Chevalier)
| awards = [[Legion of Honour]] (Chevalier)
}}
}}
'''Eugène Deloncle''' (20 June 1890 – 17 January 1944) was a French politician and [[Fascism|Fascist]] leader, who founded the “Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action" (CSAR), known as {{lang|fr|[[La Cagoule]]}} ('The Hood'), and became a prominent [[Collaboration with the Axis powers|Nazi collaborator]] during [[World War II]].
'''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 {{lang|fr|[[La Cagoule]]}}. He became a prominent [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|Nazi collaborator]] during [[World War II]]. Later on in the war, Deloncle, now doubtful that Germany would win, went into contact with the German resistance. He was later assassinated for these activities by [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]] agents.


==Early life and war service==
==Early life and war service==
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==1930s political activity==
==1930s political activity==
Initially supportive of the [[integralism|integralist]] ''[[Action Française]]'', he left the movement in 1935 because of his perception of inaction by older organisations in combating the French left. Deloncle founded his own group, the ''Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire'' (CSAR), with similar political goals. The new group was also known by the pseudonym of {{lang|fr|[[La Cagoule]]}} ('The Hood'), a term that was first applied by [[Charles Maurras]] and [[Maurice Pujo]] of {{lang|fr|Action Française}}, as the group's tactics reminded them of the American [[Ku Klux Klan]]; the name was subsequently embraced by the press.<ref name="ContemporaryHistory-1975">{{cite journal|title=The Condottieri of the Collaboration Mouvement Social Révolutionaire|first=Bertram M.|last=Gordon|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|volume=10|series=2|date=1975|issue=2|pages=261–282|publisher=Sage Publications, Inc|doi=10.1177/002200947501000203|jstor=260147|s2cid=143694710|language=en|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/260147|access-date=1 August 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802032042/https://www.jstor.org/stable/260147|archive-date=2 August 2021}} [https://archive.org/download/2021-08-01a-the-condottieri-of-the-collaboration-mouvement-social-revolutionaire-bertram-gordon/2021-08-01a%20The%20Condottieri%20of%20the%20Collaboration%20-%20Mouvement%20Social%20R%C3%A9volutionaire%20-%20Bertram%20Gordon.png Alt URL]</ref> ''The Hood'' was a fascist and anti-communist terrorist group that kept the [[Orleanist]] and strongly anti-[[French Third Republic|republican]] line of the ''[[Action Française]]'', but added the rhetoric of fascism. It was formed to overthrow the leftist [[Popular Front]] government of [[Léon Blum]]. In the 1930s the ''Hood'' was responsible for assassinations, including those of the antifascist activists and refugees, [[Carlo Rosselli]] and his brother [[Nello Rosselli|Nello]] in June 1937, and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of several Paris synagogues.<ref name="ContemporaryHistory-1975"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pugliese |first1=Stanislao G. |title=Revisiting an Assassination: The Death of Carlo Rosselli |journal=Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy |date=2007 |pages=11–22 |doi=10.1057/9780230606913_2}}</ref>
Initially supportive of the [[integralism|integralist]] {{lang|fr|[[Action Française]]}}, he left the movement in 1935 because of his perception of inaction by the older organisation in combating the French left. Deloncle founded his own group, the {{lang|fr|Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire}} (CSAR), with similar political goals. The new group became well known by the [[epithet]] {{lang|fr|[[La Cagoule]]}} ('The Hood'), a term that was first applied by [[Charles Maurras]] and [[Maurice Pujo]] of {{lang|fr|Action Française}}, as the group's tactics reminded them of the American [[Ku Klux Klan]]; the name was subsequently embraced by the press.<ref name="ContemporaryHistory-1975">{{cite journal|title=The Condottieri of the Collaboration Mouvement Social Révolutionaire|first=Bertram M.|last=Gordon|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|volume=10|series=2|date=1975|issue=2|pages=261–282|publisher=Sage Publications, Inc|doi=10.1177/002200947501000203|jstor=260147|s2cid=143694710|language=en|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/260147|access-date=1 August 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802032042/https://www.jstor.org/stable/260147|archive-date=2 August 2021}} [https://archive.org/download/2021-08-01a-the-condottieri-of-the-collaboration-mouvement-social-revolutionaire-bertram-gordon/2021-08-01a%20The%20Condottieri%20of%20the%20Collaboration%20-%20Mouvement%20Social%20R%C3%A9volutionaire%20-%20Bertram%20Gordon.png Alt URL]</ref> The {{lang|fr|Cagoule}} was a fascist and anti-communist terrorist group that kept the [[Orleanist]] and strongly anti-[[French Third Republic|republican]] line of the {{lang|fr|Action Française}}, but added the rhetoric of fascism. It was formed to overthrow the leftist [[Popular Front]] government of [[Léon Blum]]. In the 1930s the {{lang|fr|Cagoule}} was responsible for assassinations, including those of the antifascist activists and Italian refugees, [[Carlo Rosselli]] and his brother [[Nello Rosselli|Nello]] in June 1937, and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of several Paris synagogues.<ref name="ContemporaryHistory-1975"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pugliese |first1=Stanislao G. |title=Revisiting an Assassination: The Death of Carlo Rosselli |journal=Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy |date=2007 |pages=11–22 |doi=10.1057/9780230606913_2|isbn=978-1-349-53944-4 }}</ref>


==World War II and death==
==World War II and death==
In 1940, with the [[Fall of France]] during [[World War II]] and the [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[Military history of France during World War II|period of occupation]], Deloncle created a movement backing [[Philippe Pétain]]'s "[[French State]]", the {{lang|fr|[[Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire]]}} (MSR, 'Social Revolutionary Movement'). MSR, a more radical form of the {{lang|fr|Cagoule}}, strongly supported Pétain's [[social conservatism]] and [[reactionary]] aims; it viewed with approval the political experiment that was being engineered in [[Vichy France]] in the south of the country. Afterwards, he approached the [[National Popular Rally]] (RNP) of [[Marcel Déat]], but conflicts with Déat saw him expelled in May 1942, when he was succeeded as leader by [[Jean Fontenoy]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Littlejohn|first=David|title=The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-occupied Europe, 1940-45|publisher=Heinemann| year=1972|isbn=978-0-434-42725-3|page=213|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=78whAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802025720/https://books.google.com.au/books?id=78whAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y|archive-date=2 August 2021}}</ref>
In 1940, with the [[Fall of France]] during [[World War II]] and the [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[Military history of France during World War II|period of occupation]], Deloncle created a movement backing [[Philippe Pétain]]'s "[[French State]]", the {{lang|fr|[[Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire]]}} (MSR, 'Social Revolutionary Movement'). MSR, a more radical form of the {{lang|fr|Cagoule}}, strongly supported Pétain's [[social conservatism]] and [[reactionary]] aims; it viewed with approval the political experiment that was being engineered in [[Vichy France]] in the south of the country. Afterwards, he approached the [[National Popular Rally]] (RNP) of [[Marcel Déat]], but conflicts with Déat saw him expelled in May 1942, when he was succeeded as leader by [[Jean Fontenoy]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Littlejohn|first=David|title=The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-occupied Europe, 1940-45|publisher=Heinemann| year=1972|isbn=978-0-434-42725-3|page=213|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=78whAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802025720/https://books.google.com.au/books?id=78whAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y|archive-date=2 August 2021}}</ref>


In October 1941, unbeknownst to his superiors, SS Officer [[Hans Sommer (SS officer)|Hans Sommer]] helped plan an [[1941 Paris synagogue attacks|attack on seven synagogues in Paris]], inspired by the [[Kristallnacht|1938 pogrom]], in collaboration with Eugène Deloncle.<ref name="FAZ">{{cite news | title = Weiße Flecken in der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes | publisher = Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | date = May 13, 2008}}</ref>
⚫
By 1942, Deloncle became doubtful of the inevitability of German victory and became a member of [[François Darlan]]'s secret staff and was in contact with ''[[Abwehr]]'' head [[Wilhelm Canaris]]. Initially, Deloncle was arrested in August 1943, interrogated and detained for a month in Ville-d'Avray. Once released, he renews contact with Canaris. Deloncle's involvement with the {{lang|de|[[Abwehr]]}} made him an enemy of the [[Gestapo]]. After plotting with the {{lang|de|Abwehr}} against Hitler, his house was swormed by the Gestapo and he was killed in a shoot out on 17 January 1944,<ref>{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=J.|title=France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2003|page=192|isbn=978-0-19-925457-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWC0l3xmB9wC|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802031129/https://books.google.com/books?id=CWC0l3xmB9wC|archive-date=2 August 2021}}</ref> in an [[assassination]] in which his son Louis was seriously wounded.

⚫
By 1942, Deloncle became doubtful of the inevitability of German victory and became a member of [[François Darlan]]'s secret staff; he was in contact with {{lang|de|[[Abwehr]]}} head [[Wilhelm Canaris]]. Deloncle's involvement with the {{lang|de|Abwehr}} made him an enemy of the [[Gestapo]]. Initially, he was arrested in August 1943, interrogated and detained for a month in Ville-d'Avray. Once released, he renewed contact with Canaris, sustaining the Gestapo's enmity.<ref name="ContemporaryHistory-1975" /> On 17 January 1944, Deloncle's house was swarmed by SD agents and he was killed in a shootout.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=J.|title=France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2003|page=192|isbn=978-0-19-925457-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWC0l3xmB9wC|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802031129/https://books.google.com/books?id=CWC0l3xmB9wC|archive-date=2 August 2021}}</ref>


==Awards==
==Awards==
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[[Category:Politicians from Brest, France]]
[[Category:Politicians from Brest, France]]
[[Category:National Popular Rally politicians]]
[[Category:National Popular Rally politicians]]
[[Category:French collaborators with Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Executed French collaborators with Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:French fascists]]
[[Category:French fascists]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:People affiliated with Action Française]]
[[Category:People affiliated with Action Française]]
[[Category:Assassinated French politicians]]
[[Category:Assassinated Nazis]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in France]]
[[Category:École Polytechnique alumni]]
[[Category:École Polytechnique alumni]]
[[Category:French military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:French military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:French anti-communists]]
[[Category:French politicians assassinated in the 20th century]]
[[Category:20th-century French politicians]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in the 1940s]]
[[Category:Extrajudicial killings in World War II]]
[[Category:French civilians killed in World War II]]
[[Category:People killed in Sicherheitsdienst operations]]




Latest revision as of 15:55, 24 October 2024

Eugène Deloncle
Deloncle c. 1940
Born(1890-06-20)20 June 1890
Brest, France
Died17 January 1944(1944-01-17) (aged 53)
Paris, German-occupied France
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
NationalityFrench
Occupations
  • Politician
  • Naval engineer
Known forFounder of La Cagoule
SpouseMercedes Cahier
FatherLouis Deloncle[1]
RelativesFrançois Deloncle (uncle)
AwardsLegion of Honour (Chevalier)

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 La Cagoule. He became a prominent Nazi collaborator during World War II. Later on in the war, Deloncle, now doubtful that Germany would win, went into contact with the German resistance. He was later assassinated for these activities by SD agents.

Early life and war service

[edit]

Antoine Octave Eugène Deloncle was born on 20 June 1890 in Brest, Brittany, France. His parents were Antoine Charles Louis Deloncle and Anna Ange Marie née Grossetti.[2]

His father died in tragic circumstances in 1898 when his son was 8. He was the captain of the French transatlantic liner SS La Bourgogne accidentally rammed in thick fog by the sailing ship Cromartyshire off Sable Island with a high death toll. Captain Deloncle did his best to organize rescue in difficult circumstances and refusing to leave the bridge went down with his ship.[3] Eugène Deloncle was a graduate of the École Polytechnique, and worked as a naval engineer for the French Navy. He married Mercedes Cahier on 4 February 1918 in Paris.

World War I

[edit]

Deloncle served as an artillery officer during World War I, including the Champagne frontline, where he was wounded.

1930s political activity

[edit]

Initially supportive of the integralist Action Française, he left the movement in 1935 because of his perception of inaction by the older organisation in combating the French left. Deloncle founded his own group, the Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire (CSAR), with similar political goals. The new group became well known by the epithet La Cagoule ('The Hood'), a term that was first applied by Charles Maurras and Maurice Pujo of Action Française, as the group's tactics reminded them of the American Ku Klux Klan; the name was subsequently embraced by the press.[4] The Cagoule was a fascist and anti-communist terrorist group that kept the Orleanist and strongly anti-republican line of the Action Française, but added the rhetoric of fascism. It was formed to overthrow the leftist Popular Front government of Léon Blum. In the 1930s the Cagoule was responsible for assassinations, including those of the antifascist activists and Italian refugees, Carlo Rosselli and his brother Nello in June 1937, and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of several Paris synagogues.[4][5]

World War II and death

[edit]

In 1940, with the Fall of France during World War II and the German period of occupation, Deloncle created a movement backing Philippe Pétain's "French State", the Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire (MSR, 'Social Revolutionary Movement'). MSR, a more radical form of the Cagoule, strongly supported Pétain's social conservatism and reactionary aims; it viewed with approval the political experiment that was being engineered in Vichy France in the south of the country. Afterwards, he approached the National Popular Rally (RNP) of Marcel Déat, but conflicts with Déat saw him expelled in May 1942, when he was succeeded as leader by Jean Fontenoy.[6]

In October 1941, unbeknownst to his superiors, SS Officer Hans Sommer helped plan an attack on seven synagogues in Paris, inspired by the 1938 pogrom, in collaboration with Eugène Deloncle.[7]

By 1942, Deloncle became doubtful of the inevitability of German victory and became a member of François Darlan's secret staff; he was in contact with Abwehr head Wilhelm Canaris. Deloncle's involvement with the Abwehr made him an enemy of the Gestapo. Initially, he was arrested in August 1943, interrogated and detained for a month in Ville-d'Avray. Once released, he renewed contact with Canaris, sustaining the Gestapo's enmity.[4] On 17 January 1944, Deloncle's house was swarmed by SD agents and he was killed in a shootout.[8]

Awards

[edit]

On 16 June 1920, Deloncle was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Le Monde illustré.
  2. ^ a b Nationales & DELONCLE Antoine Octave Eugène.
  3. ^ "A victim of duty: Captain Deloncle, commander of the Bourgogne". Look and Learn History Picture Library. 5 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Gordon, Bertram M. (1975). "The Condottieri of the Collaboration Mouvement Social Révolutionaire". Journal of Contemporary History. 2. 10 (2). Sage Publications, Inc: 261–282. doi:10.1177/002200947501000203. JSTOR 260147. S2CID 143694710. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021. Alt URL
  5. ^ Pugliese, Stanislao G. (2007). "Revisiting an Assassination: The Death of Carlo Rosselli". Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy: 11–22. doi:10.1057/9780230606913_2. ISBN 978-1-349-53944-4.
  6. ^ Littlejohn, David (1972). The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-occupied Europe, 1940-45. Heinemann. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-434-42725-3. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Weiße Flecken in der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 13 May 2008.
  8. ^ Jackson, J. (2003). France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944. Oxford University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-19-925457-6. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021.

Sources

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eugène Deloncle.


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