Tag: French Gestapo

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Les Bleus, Le Collabo et l’Exécution

A message from Stew: We’re one week away from the World Cup final. At this point, we know that France and Uruguay made it out of group play and into the knockout stage. Not too sure how far each country will go in 2018 but I thought I’d reprint this blog from 27 May 2017 to give you a historical perspective of the first World Cup game and one of Le Bleus’s finest French footballers albeit a terrible human being.

We’ve become immune to the stories we hear every day about professional athletes who get into trouble with the law. Their crimes range from acts of violence to murder and everything in-between.

Our story today is about one of these athletes. He was a French footballer. In other words, he played soccer. His saga starts with the first World Cup in 1930 and ends fourteen years later with his execution at the hands of the French Resistance. He was a well-known and vicious Nazi collabo (collaborationist).

Did You Know?

France has a very storied history behind its national football team (even though our blog today talks about a rather unscrupulous French footballer). France’s first international match was against Belgium on 1 May 1904 (a 3 to 3 draw). Its first World Cup appearance was in 1930 and the team has had fourteen subsequent appearances since then. Lucien Laurent became the first player to score in a World Cup (1930) however, France became the first team to not score in a World Cup match after losing 1−0 to Argentina in the same World Cup. Under its captain, Didier Deschamps (the current coach), Les Bleus won the 1998 World Cup defeating Brazil 3 to 0. One of the younger players, Zinedine Zidane, would help guide Les Bleus to victory in the 2000 Euro Cup. Zidane would captain the team that went to the finals in the 2006 World Cup only to lose to Italy on penalty kicks. One of the low points for the national team came at the 2010 World Cup when the team and its manager suffered a meltdown. Due to a disagreement with the manager, Raymond Domenech, the players boycotted training prior to the third game of the group stage. The team lost the third match and exited the tournament without advancing. Domenech was succeeded by Laurent Blanc who promptly suspended all twenty-three players (including the captain, Thierry Henry) for their next international match and disciplined five players deemed responsible for the boycott. Since then, Les Bleus have come back and today are ranked in the top ten of the FIFA world rankings.

Meet Our Villain

Alex Villaplane. Photo by anonymous (c. 1930).
Alex Villaplane. Photo by anonymous (c. 1930).

Alexandre Villaplane (1905–1944) was born in Algiers and between 1921 and 1935 played football (i.e., soccer) for various French club teams. Known for his vicious tackling and headers, Villaplane’s greatest achievement was on the pitch (i.e., field) playing for Les Bleus or, “The Blues.” The national team kit (i.e., uniform) was and remains red, white, and blue. Unfortunately, by 1944, Villaplane was wearing a different uniform and was better known for his cruelty, blackmail, and murders.

Official poster of the 1930 Football World Cup in Uruguay. Illustration by Guillermo Laborde (c. 1930). PD-70+ Wikimedia Commons.
Official poster of the 1930 Football World Cup in Uruguay. Illustration by Guillermo Laborde (c. 1930). PD-70+ Wikimedia Commons.

Learn more about the 1930 World Cup.

The first FIFA World Cup was played in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930 and consisted of thirteen teams including France and the United States (yep, you read this correctly and here’s the other shocker—the United States national team came in third).

Villaplane was named captain of the French National World Cup team. France was one of four teams in Group 1with Argentina, Chile, and Mexico rounding out the group. On 13 July 1930, Villaplane led the team to its only victory of the 1930 World Cup—a 4 to 1 score over Mexico. The next two games (against Argentina and Chile) were both 1 to 0 losses. Only Argentina broke out of the group stage and advanced to the knockout stage. Ultimately, Uruguay would beat Argentina in the finals with a score of 4 to 2. The World Cup was ultimately seen as the highlight of Villaplane’s football career. After this, his club career went into a downward spiral.

Football used in the 1930 World Cup final. Photo by Oldelpaso (July 2009). National Football Museum. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.
Football used in the 1930 World Cup final. Photo by Oldelpaso (July 2009). National Football Museum. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

French Football Clubs

After the World Cup, Villaplane went on to resume playing for his club. While players were not supposed to be paid, in reality the clubs paid each of them a salary. Prior to the World Cup, Villaplane had a reputation as a mercenary, moving between teams for the highest payment. Soon after returning to France from Uruguay, a playboy lifestyle replaced Villaplane’s attitude and enthusiasm towards the game. His club career took a U-turn and soon Villaplane would be shuffled off from team to team after managers got tired of dealing with him. Read More Les Bleus, Le Collabo et l’Exécution

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TIME Magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’ is Executed

TIME Magazine dated 4 January 1932; Pierre Laval as “Man of the Year.” Oil painting by Harris Rodvogin. Author’s collection.
TIME Magazine dated 4 January 1932; Pierre Laval as “Man of the Year.” Oil painting by Harris Rodvogin. Author’s collection.

Each year since 1927, TIME Magazine names its “Man of the Year” (now called “Person of the Year”). Individual women have been named five times (e.g., Wallis Simpson, Soong Mei-ling, Queen Elizabeth II, Corazon Aquino, and Angela Merkel), thirteen groups have been named (e.g., “U.S. Scientists,” “American Women,” and “The Whistleblowers”), an inanimate object once (the computer), and in several instances, very controversial selections were made (e.g., Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin). The editorial board uses the following criteria for making its decision: the selection must profile a person, group, an idea, or an object that “for better or worse . . . has done the most to influence the events of the year.”

Although some of their selections ultimately met their end by assassination (e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Anwar Sadat), I’m not aware of anyone who was executed. That is, except for Pierre Laval the 1931 ”Man of the Year”.

On the morning of his scheduled execution at Fresnes Prison south of Paris, Pierre Laval (1883−15 October 1945) laid down on his prison cot, pulled the sheets over his head, and bit down on a cyanide capsule. The poison was too old to finish him off. The doctors pumped his stomach along with other efforts to keep him alive. Charles de Gaulle declared that Laval would have to be shot while laying on a stretcher but his orders were refused because French code would not allow it. Laval had to be standing on his own in order to be executed by a firing squad. By 11:30 A.M., Laval regained consciousness and the process began. After being dressed, he was escorted to the police car which drove him to the execution site. Tied to the stake but not blindfolded, Laval stood straight. His body was deposited in a graveyard reserved for disgraced individuals. Eventually, his family was allowed to remove his remains and bury him at Montparnasse Cemetery (we will visit his grave in my future book Where Did They Bury Jim Morrison, the Lizard King? A Walking Tour of Curious Paris Cemeteries. Read More TIME Magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’ is Executed