Word: pean
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Some of the answers unearthed by Pean's research have surprised those who know only of Mitterrand's well- and self-publicized work in the French Resistance. Even more amazing is the identity of one of Pean's most important sources: Mitterrand himself, who provided complete access to his personal archives. "I have nothing to hide," the author quotes the President as saying. "I'll help...
Nothing to hide? Less confident figures might wonder. Among Pean's discoveries...
...because Mitterrand is fading from public life, revelations about his % activities during the war have prompted more reminiscences than recriminations. Pean prints a wartime letter he discovered from Henri Frenay, chief of the United Movement of the Resistance. An aide of Charles de Gaulle's Opposition-in-exile had questioned Mitterrand's newfound Resistance fervor, given his previous dedication to Vichy. "France's drama," Frenay wrote back, "is that its honest and impartial men believed, during a certain time, in Marshal Petain and placed their trust in him. They, without a doubt, made a mistake, but it was an innocent...
...initial French response to Pean's work reflects this tolerance. There seems general relief that some of the more sinister rumors about the young Mitterrand have been debunked. "He is not anti-Semitic," the author has been telling interviewers. "I never found a single word, a single line that allowed me to think otherwise." Says Alain Duhamel, a political analyst and journalist, of the new book: "It shows Mitterrand was a nationalist, pro- Petain, but not a collaborator. I think you can also see, in his cooperation with the author, Mitterrand's desire to put his biographical house in order...
...biography of Socialist French President Francois Mitterrand has revealed new information of Mitterrand's youthful extreme right-wing sympathies and later his role in the collaborationist Vichy government in World War II. Une Jeunesse Francaise (A French Youth), by journalist Pierre Pean, was written with Mitterrand's cooperation and depicts Mitterrand as a young nationalist with sympathies for fascist regimes and later, as an ambitious official in Vichy. The book also says Mitterrand joined the Resistance only in 1943, later than he has previously claimed...