Jean-Marie Le Pen

Le Pen in 2007.

Going on strike to protest against French Politics

Aux armes, citoyens!

François Hollande Nicolas Sarkozy Marine Le Pen National Rally Parti Communiste Français Yellow vests French Revolution François Hollande (français) Donor conception Napoleon Bonaparte Emmanuel Macron Imperialism v - t - e

Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928–2025)^[1] was a Holocaust denier and co-founder and former leader of the French far-right party Front National (renamed in 2018 as National Rally). He was the president of that party since its creation in 1972 until his retirement in 2011 when he was succeeded by his less-racist daughter Marine Le Pen. He was a zealous Roman Catholic and, in accord with his socially conservative views, one of his primary goals was to "clean up" France of "lazy immigrants" and to put Catholic policy back into French politics.

He was notable for having managed to advance to the second round of the 2002 presidential election, partly due to left-wing division, earning a "democracy defense" victory for his mainstream conservative rival Jacques Chirac. Also noteworthy: in August of 2015, he was kicked out of the party he founded, which was good even if it was largely a cynical PR move. Of course, he was also admired by American counterparts Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan notwithstanding his anti-Americanism.

Extremist past

Le Pen enlisted in the Foreign Legion and stationed in French Indochina (comprising Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) in 1954 after France lost in battle of Dien Bien Phu. Le Pen was again sent to war in the Suez during the Suez Crisis in 1956, but arrived only after the war ended. His final destination during his military career was in Algeria. He allegedly tortured civilians and prisoners of war, and later in his life would at first deny and then admit his crimes.^[2]

Racism

Antisemitism and Holocaust denial

Because of his anti-immigration policies and the fact that he was found guilty on a charge of Holocaust denial,^[3] many people had labeled him as a Nazi. He defended his immigration policies by saying that he wanted to get rid of only the "lazy" immigrants.

He said that the gas chambers were "a minor detail" in the history of the Second World War, proclaiming his belief in the "inequality between the races". He was found guilty by the courts for his comments and was later charged and fined for his bigoted statements.^[4]

Torture in Algeria

Le Pen was accused of torture by French mainstream newspaper Le Monde, which Le Pen has repeatedly denied^[5] even though he was quoted by the newspaper Combat in 1962 as saying:

We tortured in Algeria because it had to be done.^[5]

Le Pen lost a defamation lawsuit against Le Monde regarding their accusation of torture against him.^[6] Committing torture during war is considered a war crime.

Other craziness

Le Pen has called for the forced quarantine of people with AIDS^[7] and once stated that he hoped the Ebola virus outbreak would sort out global overpopulation.^[8]

Le Pen believed the Nazi occupation of France "wasn't really so bad".^[9]

He responded to a Jewish critic by saying "we'll put a batch in the oven".^[10]

His antics eventually became too extreme even for his (slightly-less-bigoted) daughter Marine, leading her to expel him from the party in 2015.^[11]

See also

• National Rally — The far-right party he co-founded as Front National and led for 30 years.
• Marine Le Pen — His daughter, successor leader of the National Rally. Still a far right racist, but less batshit insane and bigoted than her father was.

Notes

• His various stupid quotes

References