Christian Pineau

Christian Pineau, 1957.

Christian Pineau (French pronunciation: ​[kʁistjɑ̃ pino]; 14 October 1904, in Chaumont-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne, France – 5 April 1995, in Paris)^[1] was a noted French Resistance fighter, who later served an important term as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1956 through 1958.

Life and career[]

Pineau was born in 1904 in Chaumont-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne, France.^[1] His father was a colonel in the French Army died when he was a young child.^[1] His mother married again to the French playwright Jean Giraudoux.^[1] Later, Christian Pineau would say that it was Giraudoux who gave him his love of writing.^{[citation needed]} He was educated at the École alsacienne in Paris and graduated with degrees in law and in political science.^[2] In 1931 he joined the staff of the Bank of France, and later worked for the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas.^[2] In 1937 he founded the journal Banque et Bourse.^[2]

A World War II French Resistance leader who established a network called Phalanx, Pineau helped found the underground newspaper Libération.^[1][2] He was a close ally of Charles de Gaulle and went on dangerous secret missions passing communications between occupied France and the Free France headquarters in London.^[1] He was arrested by the Gestapo in September 1942 but escaped.^[2] He was arrested again in 1943 and evaded a death sentence through forged identity papers which hid his true identity.^[1] He was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp, and remained there until it was liberated by American soldiers in 1945.^[1][2]

Pineau represented the Sarthe department as a Socialist in the French National Assembly from 1946 to 1958.^[2] After the war, he served as a minister in French governments, 1945–1958.^[2] He was minister of supply in Charles de Gaulle's government (1945) and minister of public works (1947–1950) in various governments.^[2]

Christian Pineau meeting with David Ben-Gurion in Israel, January 1959

Pineau was finance minister for a short time in 1948.^{[citation needed]} He was designated as prime minister of France by President René Coty after the February 1955 resignation of Pierre Mendès-France, but the National Assembly refused to ratify his cabinet by 312 votes against 268; his prime ministership lasted for two days between 17 and 19 February 1955.^{[citation needed]}

As foreign minister (February 1956 – May 1958), Pineau was responsible for handling the Suez crisis and for signing the Treaty of Rome on behalf of France.^[2] With Guy Mollet, he visited Moscow.^{[citation needed]} In October 1956, he signed the Protocol of Sèvres with Great Britain and Israel on behalf of France.^[2]

Pineau was a lifelong advocate of European integration.^{[citation needed]}

Pineau is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography[]

Pineau wrote several political books and memoirs:

• La simple vérité, regard sur la période 1940–1945 (the simple truth, a view of the period 1940–45), Editions Julliard
• Khrouchtchev (Khrushchev) Perrin, 1964
• Suez, Robert Laffont, 1976
• Mon cher député, Julliard, 1959
• Le grand pari, l'aventure du Traité de Rome (with Christiane Rimbaud)

He also wrote children's books:

• Plume et le saumon (Feather and the salmon)
• L'ourse aux pattons verts (The she-bear with green paws)
• Histoire de la forêt de Bercé (Story of the Bercé forest)
• La planète aux enfants perdus (The planet of lost children)

References[]