Description:

France



French Defense Minister Edouard Daladier Anticipates War with Germany, ca. 1939

 

This fascinating French language lot features a 2pp AMS by then Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Edouard Daladier (1884-1970), and a 1p TLS by former Prime Minister Pierre Mendes France (1907-1982) summarizing it. Daladier's letter, estimated by France to date just before and after France's September 3, 1939 declaration of war against Germany, is an extraordinary document in itself. But, combined with France's analysis of it, it provides the collector with primary and secondary resources relating to France on the brink of World War II. France's letter is addressed to well-known American collector Jerry Granat, from whose collection this was once a part.

 

Daladier inscribed two sheets of cream blue-lined stock paper and signed the first sheet as "M. Edouard Daladier" at top. The manuscript appears to be a series of notes, as Daladier has crossed out certain passages. A few minor folds, else near fine. 6.25" x 9.375". France's letter, on cream watermarked paper with "Pierre Mendes France" letterhead, is signed at bottom. Written at Paris on February 3, 1972. Expected paper folds, and some minor cut marks. 8.25" x 10.875". The materials show minor evidence of mounting traces and tape residue verso. 

 

As Minister of Defense in the late 1930s, Daladier knew that Germany was mobilizing for war; these documents show how he prepared French national defense.

 

The first part of Daladier's note is translated in part:

 

"M. Edouard Daladier, President of the Council, extends the nation's thanks to former combatants and war victims who, on Sunday and Monday during the day, addressed him so that they contributed to the independent fund of National Defense … These titles were immediately transmitted to the independent fund of National Defense. The President of the Council apologizes for not having been able to personally thank them sooner…"

 

Daladier then drew attention to the "thousands of Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, most often of modest means, notably to the fathers and mothers of large families - who want to demonstrate their confidence of readiness [and] the will of all their strength to [achieve] the salvation of the Country."

 

France wrote to Granat in explanation: "The first part of the paper [Daladier's manuscript] corresponds to Monsieur Edouard Daladier's call, [when] then President of the Council, for pensioners and former veterans of the first World War to gift to the National Defense Fund the remainder of their pensions and retirement annuities. I remember that this initiative took place either just before or at the beginning of hostilities. The manuscript that you have must thus date from 1939."

 

France's conjecture about the date of Daladier's manuscript was largely correct. On March 5, 1938, in response to increasingly belligerent German acts, French Parliament had unanimously passed a motion to create a National Defense Fund. This "Caisse de la Defense Nationale," overseen by a committee of financial, government, and military advisers, would earmark funds for anticipated future military spending. Treasury advances, loans, and war bonds enriched the National Defense Fund, as did gifts from organizations. Average citizens--like school children, foreigners, and war veterans--also contributed to the national savings account. Article 87 of the December 30, 1938 Law of Finance authorized retired pensioners or "others who had served the state" to transfer their benefits to the National Defense Fund. This advance fundraising proved timely, as France and Great Britain declared war on Germany less than one year later.

 

France estimated that the second page of Daladier's notes dated after the September 3, 1939 declaration of war. As France explained to Granat: "As there was no censorship before the declaration of war, I thus have a tendency to believe that the copy you communicated to me probably dates after the declaration of war."

 

Daladier's notes on the press underscore his acute understanding of how information shaped public discourse and informed the country's mood. Daladier instructed his subordinates to "Remind the Parisian press…[and] the information agents…by a letter or by other efficient means," to emphasize certain things and omit others. During this time of national crisis, information was rigidly controlled--this was the reality of wartime censorship.

 

Edouard Daladier was an influential liberal politician in interwar France. He served three terms as Prime Minister, the last between April 1938-March 1940, during which time he also acted as Minister of Defense (1936-1940). Daladier had grudgingly accepted the terms of Joseph Chamberlain's appeasing Munich Agreement, although he knew that this would not long satisfy German ambitions for territorial gain. After the German invasion of France, he fled to Morocco where he was tried for treason by Vichy. Daladier survived internment in a concentration camp, outliving the war by some 25 years. He died in October 1970.

 

Pierre Mendes France, like Daladier a left-leaning politician, was Prime Minister of France between 1954-1955. France had held numerous government ministerial positions before and after World War II. During the war, France had been a member of the French Air Force. He was captured and imprisoned until he escaped to join de Gaulle's Free French in Britain.

 



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