During this trial, which took place in Bordeaux between October 1997 and April 1998, the former senior official was convicted of complicity in crimes against humanity.
Le Figaro Bordeaux
Archives play a key role in understanding History. In 1970, the archivist and historian Jean Cavignac identified two documents preserved in Bordeaux. Dated February 1943 and March 1944, both signed by Maurice Papon, they seem to attest to the participation of the senior official in the deportation of Jews during the Occupation. A revelation which brought Maurice Papon before French justice. On May 7, the departmental archives of Gironde are organizing the event “In search of sources”to make the archives of this historic trial known to the public.
“With 380 hours of recording, the trial of Maurice Papon constitutes the longest audiovisual archives of Justice”specify the Gironde archives, because the stakes of this extraordinary trial were “to free speech and shed light on the involvement of the French state in the deportation of Jews, through the role of one of the representatives of its senior administration”. From 1942 to 1944, while France was occupied by the Germans, Maurice Papon was secretary general of the Gironde prefecture. He then had a long public and political career, becoming police prefect of Paris (1958-1966), deputy for Cher (1968-1978) then minister of the Budget (1978-1981) under the presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
L’“affair” Maurice Papon spanned more than 20 years. In 1981, The chained Duck publishes documents appearing to prove the responsibility of the senior official in the deportation of around 1,600 Jews from Bordeaux to Auschwitz. The same year, a complaint was filed for crimes against humanity. Despite a procedural error, Maurice Papon was indicted several times (1983, 1984 and 1992) for crimes against humanity. His trial began on October 8, 1997. On April 2 of the following year, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for complicity in crimes against humanity.
Le Figaro
Early opening of the archives
However, the matter does not end there since Maurice Papon appeals to the Court of Cassation. Having tried to take refuge in Switzerland, he was expelled and imprisoned in France. The Grand Chancery of the Legion of Honor withdrew his decoration – awarded by General de Gaulle – in 1999. President Jacques Chirac rejected the former minister’s three requests for medical pardon. In 2002, Maurice Papon was released due to his state of health. The Ministry of Justice appealed to the Court of Cassation but this appeal was rejected. Maurice Papon died in 2017, aged 96, and was buried with the Legion of Honor, sparking the indignation of several political leaders.
In 2022 and 2023, the Ministers of Justice and Culture signed two decrees opening to the public in advance all the documents related to this trial. “Without this decision, we would have had to wait another 10 to 50 years to have access to these archives”, explains the Ministry of Justice. They are kept on three sites: in the departmental archives of Gironde (files of the investigation and the trial held in Bordeaux), in the national archives of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, in Seine-Saint-Denis (all other files ) and to the Ministry of Justice (certain recent files). All documents are accessible upon presentation of an identity document.
May 7 in Bordeaux, during the event “In search of sources” organized in the Jean-Cayrol auditorium of the Gironde departmental archives, archivist Laurie Barreau will notably present the inventory of the Papon trial. The historian Marc-Olivier Baruch, specialist in the history of the civil service under the Vichy regime and speaker at the Papon trial, will hold a conference. Finally, students of European and international criminal law, authors of the podcast “What Happened: An Archival Story”, will testify to their work. This public event will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., without reservation, subject to availability.
