Year XXXVIII, Number 2, July 2025

Bruno Poucet
Professor of the History of Education, University of Picardie Jules Verne

Robert Belot
Henri Frenay au General de Gaulle. Lettres et
rapports sur la Résistance et l’Europe
Lyon, Presse fédéraliste, 2023, 254 p., € 20

This book, written by Robert Belot, professor at Jean-Monnet University in Saint-Étienne, was published by Presse fédéraliste, an association dedicated to the distribution of publications on European and world federalism. It publishes the journal “Pour le fédéralisme-Fédéchoses”, several issues of which appear each year, and a collection of books from which this work is drawn. In a way, it is complementary to Robert Belot’s book, “Henri Frenay. De la Résistance à l’Europe” (Seuil). A convinced European, he is, like Marc Lazar, Jean Garrigues and Jean- François Chanet, well known to Cahiers Jaurès, a member of the Scientific Council of the Union des fédéralistes européens France (UEF). Founded in 1946, the association welcomed among its members Henri Frenay, who served as president until the European Defense Community (EDC) was rejected by the French National Assembly in 1954. This explains why a biography has been devoted to him. This book is a collection of works by Henri Frenay between 1942 and 1953, the last being the most “European”, as it is a letter which the founder of Combat wrote to de Gaulle about the EDC, which he ardently backed despite Charles de Gaulle’s opposition. Containing abundant notes that explain the documents, the book mainly features manuscripts written during the war. The letters, notes and reports for the most part describe the great moments of the Resistance: internal resistance, of which Infantry Captain Frenay (1905-1988, Companion of the Liberation) became one of the main leaders when he founded Combat, the external resistance by de Gaulle and Frenay’s ties with the Americans. On the other hand, although the book’s numerous footnotes do not avoid the issue, there is no text on Frenay’s Petain period, which lasted until 1941, when he broke with Philippe Pétain, who embarked on a policy of collaboration. The intention of this book, some sections of which are unpublished while others are well known to historians, is to show how much the Resistance was first and foremost a fight against the Nazis, but also, in a more muted and less dramatic way, an internal struggle between men and women who wanted to assert their power. It talks about the relationship between de Gaulle and Frenay, the role of Admiral Darlan, of Giraud, the relations with Jean Moulin and the stance vis-à-vis political parties, particularly the Communists. A debate has arisen over the role of the Secret Army, which De Gaulle wanted to be autonomous from the more political resistance movements, a decision which annoyed Frenay. The relationship between Frenay and De Gaulle gradually deteriorated over time, with the former finding it difficult to place himself under De Gaulle’s authority. Relations with Jean Moulin were also very tense, as Frenay was close to the man who, through carelessness, seems to have contributed to the arrest of René Hardy, de Gaulle’s representative in France. He later clashed with Daniel Cordier, when he publicly accused Jean Moulin of being a crypto-communist. Reading these texts as a whole, it is clear that Frenay believed himself to be a great politician - which he was not - and Robert Belot’s copious notes make this abundantly clear. He wanted, somewhat naively, to impose a revolutionary vision of the Resistance on de Gaulle, and advise him on economic matters. He also seems to have had an embryonic notion of a Europe of nations. The publication of all these documents is therefore justified as, in a way, they give an indication of the difficulties which lay ahead for the very concept of building Europe.