Henri Béraud (French pronunciation:[ɑ̃ʁibeʁo]; 21 September 1885 inLyon – 24 October 1958 inSaint-Clément-des-Baleines,Ré Island), also known asTristan Audebert, was a French novelist and journalist. He was sentenced to death in 1945, which was later commuted to life imprisonment, forcollaboration with Germany.
Henri Béraud was the son of a baker. In 1903 he began his work in journalism.[1] He joined the satirical weeklyLe Canard enchaîné in February 1917, recommended byPaul Vaillant-Couturier, andRoland Dorgeles. He renewed his old friendship withAlbert Londres.
He later became known as one of France's best-selling novelists and reporters, and won thePrix Goncourt in 1922. He was virulentlyAnglophobic and to a lesser extentantisemitic. These factors led him to supportVichy France.[2] He did this by contributing pieces to the fascist weekly paperGringoire, indicating his hatred of British forces and criticism of theFree French.
Typical of Vichy anti-British propaganda was the widely distributed pamphlet published in August 1940 and written by self-proclaimed "professional Anglophobe" Henri Béraud entitled,Faut-il réduire l'Angleterre en esclavage? ("Should England Be Reduced to Slavery?"); the question in the title was merely rhetorical.[3] Additionally, Vichy mixed Anglophobia with racism andantisemitism to portray the British as a racially degenerate "mixed race" working for Jewish capitalists, in contrast to the "racially pure" peoples on the continent of Europe who were building a "New Order".[4]
His aid of theVichy government caused him to be sentenced to death in 1945, but several writers, includingFrançois Mauriac intervened on his behalf. The sentence was commuted byCharles de Gaulle to life imprisonment. By 1950, he was freed for health reasons. He died eight years later.[5]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
