05 March 2007
A former French prime minister, Raymond Barre, has said that the convicted Vichy war criminal Maurice Papon, who died recently aged 96, had been made a "scapegoat". In an interview with French radio, Barre – who was prime minister between 1976 and 1981 and who had made Papon a government minister in charge of the budget in 1978 – said that the fact that Papon did not resign as provincial prefect of the Vichy government was perfectly understandable. "When you have essential responsibilities for a province, region or the country as a whole, you do not resign. You resign when it is truly in the national interest." Asked whether that was the case, Barre replied: "That was not the case, because France had to continue to function."
Papon was convicted for crimes against humanity in 1998 for ordering the arrest and deportation of 1,560 Jews in the Bordeaux area, where he was in charge during World War II. In his interview with the 'France Culture' radio station, Barre also attacked "the Jewish lobby", which was allied to the political left in the country. The center-right politician said: "I believe that the Jewish lobby…is capable of mounting unworthy operations, and I have to say that publicly."
Barre also defended Bruno Gollnisch, the deputy leader for the far-right National Front led by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Gollnisch was convicted of questioning the existence of gas chambers at the Nazi death camps. "I have said that I condemn him for what he said. But apart from that I got to know him and he is a good man," Barre said, adding that he considers himself someone who believed that people were entitled to their opinions. Both Barre and Gollnisch are from Lyon, France's second-largest city.
