Henry Coston | |
|---|---|
 Coston in 1934 | |
| Born | 20 December 1910 Paris, France |
| Died | 26 July 2001 (2001-07-27) (aged 90) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
Henry Coston (20 December 1910 – 26 July 2001) was a Frenchfar-right,anti-Semitic journalist,collaborationist andconspiracy theorist.
After joining theAction française, Coston was influenced by journalistÉdouard Drumont and took over his newspaperLa Libre Parole (an anti-Semitic paper well-known during theDreyfus affair) in the 1930s. He had previously learned his trade editingLa France Ouvrière withHenry Charbonneau.[1] At the same time he created an "Anti-Jewish Youth" organisation "which campaigned for the exclusion of Jews from French life."[2] In the run-up toWorld War II, he was also in close touch withUlrich Fleischhauer, German publisher of an internationally distributedanti-Jewish propaganda newsletter, theWelt-Dienst /World-Service /Service Mondial.
During World War II, Coston belonged toJacques Doriot's fascistPPF. He also was vice-president of the "Association of anti-Jewish Journalists" and he organised the publication of one of the most anti-Semitic document of theVichy regime, a tract entitled "I hate you" (Je vous hais).[2] At the same period, he also wroteanti-Masonic pamphlets with his colleagueJacques Ploncard d'Assac.
In 1944, he tried to escape inAustria, but he was captured and sentenced to hard labour for life. He was pardoned in 1952 for illness and served only five years.[2] He began writing again, mainly againstfree-masonry while he kept on denouncing the influence of Jews in French life.
Until the 1990s he was contributing to different far-right newspapers. He was a supporter of theFront National and occasionally wrote in its paperNational-Hebdo. From 1967 to 2000, Coston wrote a five-volumeDictionary of French politics (Dictionnaire de la politique française), which is considered as "exactly referenced" and "a non-negligible source of information" by the Jewish historianSimon Epstein.[3]
