Maurice Papon

Maurice Papon
Papon in 1967
Minister of the Budget
In office 6 April 1978 – 13 May 1981
President	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Prime Minister	Raymond Barre
Preceded by	Pierre Bernard-Reymond
Succeeded by	Laurent Fabius
Deputy for Cher's 3rd constituency
In office 11 July 1968 – 6 May 1978
Preceded by	Laurent Bilbeau
Succeeded by	Berthe Fiévet
Prefect of Police of Paris
In office 15 March 1958 – 18 January 1967
Preceded by	André Lahillonne
Succeeded by	Maurice Grimaud
Mayor of Saint-Amand-Montrond
In office 1971–1983
Preceded by	Robert Lazurick
Succeeded by	Serge Vinçon
Mayor of Gretz-Armainvilliers
In office 1955–1958
Preceded by	Georges Travers
Succeeded by	Anatole Gaucherot
Personal details
Born	(1910-09-03)3 September 1910 Gretz-Armainvilliers, Seine-et-Marne, France
Died	17 February 2007(2007-02-17) (aged 96) Pontault-Combault, Seine-et-Marne, France
Political party	Union of Democrats for the Republic Rally for the Republic
Occupation	Civil servant
Criminal status	Deceased
Conviction(s)	Crimes against humanity
Criminal penalty	10 years imprisonment
Imprisoned at	La Santé Prison

Maurice Papon (French pronunciation: [mɔʁis papɔ̃, moʁ-]; 3 September 1910 – 17 February 2007) was a French civil servant and Nazi collaborator who was convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the occupation of France. Papon led the police in major prefectures from the 1930s to the 1960s, before he became a Gaullist politician. When he was secretary general for the police in Bordeaux during World War II, he participated in the deportation of more than 1,600 Jews. He is also known for his activities in the Algerian War (1954–1962), during which he tortured insurgent prisoners as prefect of the Constantinois department, and ordered, as prefect of the Paris police, the deadly repression of a pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) demonstration against a curfew that he had "advised".

In 1961, Maurice Papon was personally awarded the Legion of Honour by French President Charles de Gaulle, whose government had been struggling with the FLN insurgency. Papon also commanded the Paris police in the Charonne subway massacre and the Paris massacre of 1961, during which between 200 and 300 Algerian demonstrators were deliberately killed by the Paris police. Forced to resign in 1967 after the suspicious forced disappearance of the Moroccan Marxist Mehdi Ben Barka, with de Gaulle's support he was named as president of Sud Aviation, the company which co-developed Concorde.

After May 1968, Papon was elected as a member of the French National Assembly and served several terms. From 1978 to 1981, he served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Raymond Barre under President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Between the two rounds of the May 1981 presidential election, where Giscard d'Estaing was running for a second term, details about Papon's past were leaked in Le Canard enchaîné newspaper. Documents signed by Papon were made public that showed his responsibility in the deportation of 1,690 Bordeaux Jews to Drancy internment camp from 1942–44. After a long investigation and protracted legal wranglings, he was eventually tried.

In 1998, Papon was convicted of crimes against humanity. He was released from prison early, in 2002, for ill health. He died in 2007.