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Raoul Villain (19 September 1885 – 17 September 1936) was a Frenchnationalist. He is primarily remembered for hisassassination of the Frenchsocialist leaderJean Jaurès on 31 July 1914, inParis. Villain was acquitted by a jury of peers in 1919 and later fled to theBalearic island ofIbiza, where he was killed during the first stages of theSpanish Civil War.
Villain was born inReims,Marne, France on 19 September 1885. As a 29-year-old student in archeology at theÉcole du Louvre, he was a member of theLigue des jeunes amis de l'Alsace-Lorraine ("League of Young Friends ofAlsace-Lorraine"), a nationalist student group.[1]
After France's defeat in theFranco-Prussian War, the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine were annexed by Germany. This was a source of anger and resentment in France, causing many to feel that a new war with Germany was in order to recover both territories and French pride. Therefore, many like Villain were opposed to thepacifist policies of Jean Jaurès. Villain lived for some time in England, atLoughton, where he stayed with Mrs Annie Francis, who described him, according toThe Observer on 6 June 1915, as "a gentle and very kind man".[This quote needs a citation]
Villain focused on Jaurès, bought arevolver and began stalking him, scribbling incoherent notes about the socialist leader's habits into his pocket-book. At about 21:40 on Friday, 31 July 1914, Villain fired two bullets through a window embrasure into Jaurès' head while his victim was having supper with his contributors inLe Croissant at the corner ofRue Montmartre and Rue du Croissant.[2]
The next day, posters went up all over France announcing thegeneral mobilization, and war was declared three days after Jaurès's death. What would beWorld War I began.
Incarcerated for the duration of the war, Villain was brought to trial in 1919. He was acquitted by a jury of peers on 29 March 1919, andAnatole France wrote inL'Humanité: "Workers! ... A monstrous verdict proclaims that the assassination of Jaurès is not a crime...".[3] Jaurès's wife, as plaintiff, was ordered to pay the court costs.
After having briefly been arrested in 1920 in Paris after trying to pass some false currency, Villain fled toCala de Sant Vicent,[4]Ibiza in theBalearic Islands off Spain. Receiving some money through an inheritance, he fled France and arrived in Ibiza.[5] Villain thought that, by hiding out in the remote northeastern corner of Ibiza, he could live anonymously and be forgotten. In 1933,[5] the Bay of Cala de San Vicent was a very quiet backwater with no development; there was not even a road into the valley. Villain decided to make his home there. Using local labour and help from Paul René Gauguin,[5] the grandson ofPaul Gauguin, he built a house from concrete and had almost finished the building by August 1936.
On 13 September,[5] a small detachment of soldiers arrived on the beach ofCala de San Vicent by rowboat. Eyewitnesses reported that they thought that they may have been anarchists of theFAI.[5] These soldiers were part of a larger detachment. The force had arrived on the island to re-secure it following the mini-coup which had been orchestrated by the Nationalists under the command of Infantry Commander Juli Mestre.[5] Villain had been away visiting a French woman[5] inSanta Eulària des Riu when the soldiers arrived, but quickly returned home when he heard of their arrival. Feeling vulnerable, he feared that the soldiers would steal his valuables, which he had stashed[5] in the unfinished house. Despite being repeatedly warned[5] by his neighbours not to go back down to the cove, he still went home.
The officer and troops who arrived on the beach that day seemed very suspicious of this Frenchman, who also antagonised the officer with his explanation of why he had set a crucifix[5] on the hill behind his house. Apart from this outward show of religious zeal, the officer was also suspicious of where Villain had been that day, and decided to confine him to his house.[5] He was considered to be a fascist and a spy and, as such, a threat to their plans to reoccupy the island.
On the afternoon of 17 September 1936, three bombers from theItalian Air Force had flown along the coast over Cala de Sant Vicent and bombed the town ofIbiza, which could be heard even that far up the coast.[5] It is thought that the troops, on hearing the sounds of the attack, decided to return to the capital and tried to take Villain and his valuables with them. He reacted violently to this, and as a consequence was shot in the back, with the bullet exiting via his throat.[5] Villain had only been wounded, but the officer in charge warned the villagers that had come down to see what had happened, not to assist or disturb him. Villain lay alone on the sand for two days until he died.[4] The locals then placed his body in a makeshift coffin, draped it in aFrench Tricolour they found in his house, and buried him in the cemetery at nearbySant Vicent de sa Cala.[5]
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