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Title: Jacques Benoist-Méchin Papers
Dates: 1909-1994
Collection number: 2007C70
Creator:
Jacques Benoist-Méchin
Collection Size:
26 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box
(10.8 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Acquired in 2007, the Jacques Benoist-Méchin Papers represent a significant addition to the existing holdings in the Hoover
Institution Archives relating to the collaborationist Vichy government in France during World War II. Although the papers
are only part of the extant Benoit-Méchin materials in various depositories and private collections, the collection in the
Hoover Institution Archives contains important documents from all major phases of Benoist-Méchin's multifaceted career as
a literary figure, politician, and historian.
Physical location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
French,
German, and
English
The collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives
[Identification of item], Jacques Benoist-Méchin Papers, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 2007
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
| 1901 | Born, Paris, France |
| 1921 | Served as interpreter, French occupation forces in the Ruhr, Germany |
| 1925-1927 | Director, Paris bureau, International News Service |
| 1929-1930 | Editor, l'Europe Nouvelle |
| 1936 | Author, Histoire de l'armée allemande (5 volumes) |
| Joined pro-fascist party of Jacques Doriot, the Parti Populaire Français | |
| 1939 | Author, Eclaircissements sur Mein Kampf d'Adolphe Hitler, le livre qui a changé la face du monde |
| 1939 | Mobilized into French army. Taken prisoner by German forces and interned in Voves, France |
| 1940 | Released from P.O.W. camp, and enters service of Vichy government of Philippe Pétain |
| 1940-1942 | Serves in various ministerial posts, under Darlan and Laval, in Vichy government |
| 1944 | Arrested as a collaborator after the Liberation of France and incarcerated |
| 1947 | Sentenced to death by French court. Death penalty is commuted to one of prison with hard labor |
| 1947-1953 | In prison, including in Fresnes, France. Released in an act of clemency by the government of Vincent Auriol |
| 1954 | Author, Mustapha Kemal |
| 1956 | Author, Soixante jours qui ébranlèrent l'occident: 10 mai—10 juillet 1940 |
| 1957-1976 | Traveled widely as a journalist and author in the Middle East and North Africa, making the acquaintance of various Arab rulers. Served as an occasional private envoy of the French government in the same region |
| 1959 | Author, Un printemps arabe |
| 1983 | Died |
Scope and Content of Collection
Acquired in 2007, the Jacques Benoist-Méchin Papers represent a significant addition to the existing holdings in the Hoover
Institution Archives relating to the collaborationist Vichy government in France during World War II. Although the papers
are only part of the extant Benoit-Méchin materials in various depositories and private collectio ns, the collection in the
Hoover Institution Archives contains important documents from all major phases of Benoist-Méchin's diverse careers as cultural
figure, politician, and historian.
The papers will be of particular interest to historians of the Vichy period. The Speeches and Writings series shows Benoist-Méchin's
evolution from cultivated
litterateur to an ardently Germanophile historian and politician, one who enthusiastically embraced Nazi Germany's vision of a New Europe.
Benoit-Méchin's writings also reveal his reinvention after World War II as an analyst and historian of Middle East and North
African affairs.
The Vichy government file series includes a compilation of materials (called by Benoist-Méchin "notes politiques") that relate
directly to his service, including a period as minister, in the Vichy regime. These document his work for Admiral François
Darlan, his collaboration with the German ambassador to France, Otto Abetz, as well memoranda and reports, including an important
letter sent to Philippe Pétain by Adolf Hitler to mark the first anniversary of France's surrender to Germany in 1940.
The Trial and imprisonment file series provides an intimate look at the judicial proceedings against Vichy collaborators and
their subsequent experiences in prison. In this series, there is correspondence among Benoit-Méchin and his fellow prisoners,
including Robert Brasilach in the period leading up to his execution. There are also art works in this file that depict prison
life and the viewpoint of Vichy collaborators concerning the violence surrounding the liberation of France.
The extensive Correspondence series records Benoist-Méchin's enduring connections to collaborationist and ex-Nazi milieus
in France, Germany, and elsewhere. Among these friends and acquaintances of Benoist-Méchin figure Fritz von Papen, Wolf Rüdiger
Hess, Oswald and Diana Mosley, René de Chambrun, and Saint-Paulien (the pseudonym of Maurice-Ivan Sicard). There is also correspondence
between Benoist-Méchin and French officials in the 1960s and 1970s, including Jacques Chirac and Georges Pompidou. Among other
matters, these reveal Benoist-Méchin's behind-the-scenes role as an envoy of the French government to various Arab rulers
in this period. The series also includes correspondence with some of these rulers, including Muamar Khadaffi (Muammar al-Gaddafi),
who commissioned Benoist-Méchin to arrange the French publication of the Libyan leader's so-called Green Book. More materials
on Benoist-Méchin's many travels and high-placed connections in the Arab world can be found in the Middle East and North Africa
file series of the papers.
The extensive Photograph series contains hundreds of prints, many personally selected and arranged by Benoist-Méchin, that
illustrate his career and what he considered to be its highlights, including his collaboration with the Nazis. There are some
additional materials revealing of Benoist-Méchin's assessment of his wartime role in the Biographical file series.
The collection is organized into 10 series: Biographical file, correspondence, speeches and writings, Vichy government file,
Trial and imprisonment file, Middle East and North Africa file, subject file, writings by others, photographs, and oversize
materials.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in Stanford University's online catalog.
National socialism.
World War, 1939-1945--France.
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons.
World War, 1939-1945--Collaborationists.
Prisoners of war.
France--Politics and government--20th century.
France--Politics and government--1940-1945.
France--Foreign relations--Germany.
Germany--Foreign relations--France.
Germany--History, Military.
France--History--Occupation, 1940-1945.
Middle East--History.
Middle East--Politics and government.
Gaston Bergery Papers, Hoover Institution Archives
René de Chambrun Papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Marcel Déat Papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Georges Scapini Papers, Hoover Institution Archives