Jean Bichelonne

Jean Bichelonne
Born	December 24, 1904 Bordeaux, France
Died	December 22, 1944
Alma mater	École Polytechnique
Occupation	Businessman, politician

Jean Bichelonne (24 December 1904 – 22 December 1944) was a French businessman and member of the Vichy government that governed France during World War II following the occupation of France by Nazi Germany.

Jean Bichelonne was born on December 24, 1904 in Bordeaux. He graduated from the École Polytechnique.

Bichelonne gained an early reputation for his brilliant organisational skill as well as his photographic memory.

In 1937, he became member of the cabinet of the minister for public works, Henri Queuille. In 1939, he became chief of staff to Raoul Dautry, then Defence Minister. He was a member of the French delegation in the armistice commission (the Armistice of 22 June 1940 was a de facto surrender).

Following the establishment of Vichy, Bichelonne was, in September 1940, appointed head of the Office central de repartition des produits industriels, a body that determined how raw materials would be proportioned between the newly established corporatist bodies in charge of each industrial sector. Along with the likes of Jacques Barnaud, François Lehideux and Pierre Pucheu, Bichelonne was a member of a group of technocrats who held important positions in the early days of the Vichy regime. Like Pucheu he was devotee of Saint-Simonianism, the belief in industrialisation as the motor of progress in society, a belief that was not shared by the rural traditionalist Philippe Pétain.

As Minister of Industrial Production, Bichelonne faced the problem of demands for slave labour from the Nazi Labour Deployment Minister Fritz Sauckel, and the impact it was having on French industry. He managed to overcome this difficulty by securing an agreement with Albert Speer in September 1943 to the effect that the entire French industrial sector would be Sperrbetrieben, making it effectively off limits to Sauckel.

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