René Bousquet

René Bousquet (11 May 1909 – 8 June 1993) was a high-ranking French political appointee who served as secretary general to the Vichy regime police from May 1942 to 31 December 1943. For personal heroism, he had become a protégé of prominent officials before the war and rose rapidly in the government.

In 1949, he was automatically convicted as a Vichy official and sentenced to five years of Indignité nationale, but his sentence was reduced due to beliefs that he also aided the Resistance and attempted to preserve some autonomy for French police during the Nazi Occupation. Excluded from the government, he went into business. After receiving amnesty in 1959, Bousquet became active again in politics, supporting left-wing politicians through the 1970s, and becoming a regular visitor of François Mitterrand after his election as president in the 1980s.

After years of increasing accusations about his activities during the war, in 1989 Bousquet was accused by three groups of crimes against humanity. He was ultimately indicted by the French Ministry of Justice in 1991 for his decisions during the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942, which led to Jewish children being deported and killed in eastern Europe Nazi extermination camps. Bousquet was assassinated in 1993 by Christian Didier shortly before his trial was to begin.

René Bousquet was born to a radical socialist notary in Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne. After law studies, he began his career as chief of the cabinet of the préfet for Tarn-et-Garonne.

In March 1930, he and a friend became national heroes after they personally saved dozens of people from drowning during floods in the southwest of France. He was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Médaille d'or des belles actions ("Golden medal for fine deeds"). Maurice Sarraut, the radical-socialist senator and CEO of La Dépêche du Midi, and Albert Sarraut, deputy, president of the Council and minister, took on Bousquet as their protégé. Bousquet was detached to the Presidency of the Council to head the technical service in charge of the reconstruction of the flooded southern regions. He had a rapid rise within the government, gaining increasingly responsible appointments.

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