Gabriel Péri - Career and Execution

Career and Execution

At the age of twenty-two, Péri became departmental manager of Foreign Politics at l'Humanité. He was elected Deputy for Argenteuil in 1932 and was re-elected in 1936.

In the French National Assembly, Péri distinguished himself as an expert in the field of diplomatic and international relations and was a strident anti-fascist. He denounced both Benito Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia and France’s non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War. Péri was also a prominent opponent of the Nazi regime in Germany.

After the Fall of France in 1940, the country was placed under Nazi occupation. Arrested on May 18, 1941, Péri was shot later in the same year on December 15 at Fort Mont-Valérien. Albert Camus witnessed his execution, an event which he later said crystallized his own revolt against the Germans.

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