Glossary

Following the defeat of France and subsequent Nazi occupation, Laval's publications and broadcasts outlets played a prominent part in forcing out the government and then supporting the new Vichy regime first headed by Philippe Pétain. On 12 July 1940 Laval became vice-premier. He met Adolf Hitler in Montoire on 22 October 1940, and proposed an alliance between Vichy France and Nazi Germany. Two days later, he organized the meeting between Pétain and Hitler in Montoire, where the Collaborationist policy of Vichy was officialized through a handshake between the two men. A month later, during a reunion with Hermann Göring, Laval suggested a military alliance with Nazi Germany.
Laval then multiplied good will acts towards the Nazi, without requesting or obtaining any counterparty. From July to December 1940, Laval lead an active Collaborationist policy with Nazi Germany. Some members of the government found him too radical, while Pétain worried about his unpopularity and ambition.
He was injured in an assassination attempt by Paul Collette, a former member of the Croix-de-Feu league, on 27 August 1941 at a Légion des Volontaires Français (LVF) review. Laval recovered and was recalled into the Vichy government on 18 April 1942. This time he became Prime Minister and succeeded Admiral Darlan as the leading figure in the regime after Pétain himself. Laval was largely blamed for the increase in anti-Jewish activities and the decision to send French workers to Germany through la relève and later the Service du Travail Obligatoire. The creation of the Vichy Milice in January 1943 has also been ascribed to Laval.
Following the Allied invasion of France, the government moved from Vichy to Belfort and then to Sigmaringen (Germany) in August 1944. (He appears as a character in Louis Ferdinand Céline's novel Castle to Castle, which is set largely at Sigmaringen.) In May 1945 Laval fled. He first went to Spain but was deported and ended up in Austria where he was given over to the Allied Forces. On 30 July 1945 he was handed over to the new French government. Charged with treason and violating state security, Laval was tried and after being found guilty, despite vigorously defending himself in the first part of his trial, was sentenced to death on 9 October. After a failed attempt of suicide (the cyanide had lost its full potency), he was executed by a firing squad at Fresnes prison, near Paris on 15 October 1945.