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Jacques Doriot (September 26, 1898-February 22, 1945) was a French Fascist and politician prior to and during World War II.
Born in Bresle, Oise, Doriot moved to Saint Denis at a young age and became a laborer. In 1916, in the midst of World War I, Doriot became a committed Socialist. However, Doriots political activity was halted by his joining the French Army in 1917. Participating in active combat during World War I, Doriot was captured by enemy troops and remained a Prisoner of War until 1918. For his wartime service, Doriot was awarded the Croix de Guerre. After being released, Doriot returned to France and in 1920 joined the French Communist Party. Doriot rose quickly through the party and within a few years had become one of its major leaders. In 1922 he became a member of the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist International and a year later was made Secretary of the French Federation of Young Communists. In 1923, Doriot was arrested for violently protesting French occupation of the Ruhr. He was released a year later, however, upon being elected to the Chamber of Deputies by the people of Saint Denis. In 1931, Doriot was elected Mayor of Saint Denis. Around this time, Doriot came to advocate an alliance between the Communists and French Fascists, who Doriot sympathized with on a number of issues. Doriots defense of Fascism divided the Communist Party enough to alarm its leadership, which expelled Doriot from the party in 1934. Still a member of the Chamber of Deputies, Doriot struck back at the Communists by becoming a devoted Fascist and forming the right wing Parti Populaire Francais (PPF) in 1936. Doriot and his supporters were vocal advocates of France becoming organized along the lines of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and bitter opponents of Socialist Premier Leon Blum and his Popular Front coalition.
Not content to be active in France alone, Doriot traveled to Spain and became a supporter of Francisco Francos forces during the Spanish Civil War. While in Spain, he met the English Fascist John Amery and the two became associates, traveling together to fascist nations such as Austria, Italy, and Germany. When France went to war with Germany in 1939, Doriot became a staunch pro-German and supported Germanys occupation of northern France in 1940. Doriot resided in collaborationist Vichy France for a time, but he eventually found that it wasnt nearly as fascistic as he had hoped it would be and moved to occupied Paris, where he espoused pro-German and anti-Communist propaganda on Radio-Paris. In 1941, Doriot and fellow Fascist collaborator Marcel Déat founded the Legion des Volontaires Francais (LVF), a French unit of the German Army. Doriot fought with the LVF and saw active duty on the Eastern Front when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941. When the LVF was all but destroyed, Doriot fought with the regular German Army and was awarded the Iron Cross in 1943. In December of 1943, Doriot travelled to Sigmaringen, Germany, and became a member of the exile Vichy government there. Doriot was killed while traveling from Mainau to Sigmaringen in February of 1945. His car was strafed by two Allied fighters, which had mistaken Doriot and his companions (wearing German uniforms and traveling in German vehicles) as common German soldiers.
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