Pierre Drieu La Rochelle

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (3 January 1893 – 15 March 1945) was a French writer and, later, a famous collaborator with Nazi Germany during World War II. He is best known for his novels Gilles and Will O’ the Wisp, but his political evolution from liberal-democratic ideas to fascist sympathies shaped much of his life and work.

Early life
Drieu came from a middle‑class family in Paris. His father was a struggling lawyer who squandered the family fortune, and the social rise his parents hoped for faded by the time Pierre grew up. A brilliant student, he failed his final exam at the prestigious École Libre des Sciences Politiques. He served in World War I and was wounded three times, an experience that deeply affected him.

Career beginnings and political ideas
After the war, Drieu wrote novels and essays that questioned democracy and celebrated European unity. He published Mesure de la France (1922) and, in the late 1920s, essays like Le Jeune Européen (1927) and Genève ou Moscou (1928) that argued for a strong, federated Europe and warned against materialist democracy. He also explored Dada and Surrealist influences and moved in circles with other French writers.

Fascism and collaboration
By the early 1930s, Drieu’s views shifted toward fascism. In 1934 he published Socialisme Fasciste, presenting a French version of fascist ideas. He joined Jacques Doriot’s Parti Populaire Français (PPF) in 1936 and became editor of its review, L’Emancipation Nationale, advocating a specifically French fascism. He continued writing Gilles (1939), a major autobiographical novel that harshly criticized interwar France.

During the German occupation of France, Drieu aligned with the Nazis and became a leading figure in cultural collaboration. He helped run Nouvelle Revue Française and cultivated links with the German ambassador, Otto Abetz. He believed the Nazi regime could bring a new, autarkic Europe and supported collaboration with the occupying forces. In 1943, however, he grew disillusioned with the New Order and turned toward Eastern spirituality.

Final years and death
As Paris was liberated, Drieu went into hiding. With the help of friends like André Malraux, he initially survived but soon faced inevitable capture. In March 1945, he died by suicide in Paris.

Works and legacy
Drieu wrote novels, short stories, and political essays. Notable works include:
- Le Feu Follet (Will O’ the Wisp) — a short novel about a former heroin user who commits suicide (1931).
- Gilles (1939) — his major novel, a sharp critique of interwar France.
- Hotel Acropolis (1929) and other novels, as well as essays like Genève ou Moscou and Socialisme Fasciste.

Drieu remains a controversial figure: a brilliant writer whose intellectual shift toward fascism and collaboration with Nazi Germany left a lasting, contested legacy in French literature and political history.