Le Figaro
- A Few Personal Words
- The Inquiry into the Germersheim Incident
- What Will Become of These Resolutions?
Le Figaro's front page of 12 October 1926 opened with a signed column by Lucien Romier, the paper's director and political editor-in-chief, insisting that effort, policy and responsibilities were shared with François Coty. Romier wrote that despite Coty's imperious, inventive temperament, their collaboration had produced no clashes and their agreement on general policy remained complete. A news report said that Captain Tropat, rapporteur to an army-corps military council, had gone to Germersheim to reconstruct the drama of the night of the 26th and would soon question Germans. The same space carried the day's events (the Automobile Show at the Grand Palais, Leather Week, races at Enghien) and an appeal by Mgr Seipel, Austria's former chancellor, urging Catholics worldwide to take an interest in international affairs. Under Henri Vonoven's headline about the general councils' resolutions, the legible text is only masthead matter: the paper's supplements and the Paris exchange table.
Translation
A Few Personal Words
…and different temperaments, and consequently imaginations and experiences which must, indeed, be brought into harmony for a common creation. What would be the use of bringing them together if each were merely the copy or the reflection of his neighbor? Common is the effort. Common is the policy. Common are the responsibilities. Many people know M. Coty's name and his campaigns. Few people seem to know the man himself well. It is not my business here to sing his praises or to draw up an account of his merits. Given his vigorous and prodigiously active mind, his imperious temperament as an inventor and renovator, his sensitivity on guard against surprises, his quickness of conception and his taste for decision, one might perhaps expect certain clashes in a collaboration such as ours. Well, it is the opposite. Our agreement on the problems of general policy has been, and remains, complete. He has never […] of him, attentive […] I have not […] it is thus […] pictures […] scene […] [?] the first […] know […] or make […] collective shelters […] attack […] It was long. I […] of which I […] compensate […]
Lucien Romier.
The Inquiry into the Germersheim Incident
Today: Grand Palais: Automobile Show. — Cours-la-Reine: Salon […] Exhibitions: Leather Week. — Visit to the battlefields by the Japanese […]. — Races at Enghien. DIRECTOR AND POLITICAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: LUCIEN ROM[…] […] appeal of Mgr Seipel […] to Catholics. The inquiry into […] of Germers[…] […] Seipel, former chancellor of Austria, […] to make at the Congress of the Union of International Studies, […] in Vienna, a sort of appeal […] to Catholics of the whole world, […] not to lose interest in the pro[…] of international life. — […] at the end of the 19th century, the […] Captain Tropat, […] rapporteur to the council of the […] army corps, sitting at […], went to Germersheim for the reconstruction of the drama […] that occurred during the night of 26 […] He will shortly hear […] Germans, among them the prosecut[…]
What Will Become of These Resolutions?
[…]t. 30 IN FRANCE […] SUPPLEMENTARY PUBLICATIONS: […]ONOMIQUE ". On Saturdays: " LE FIGARO LITTÉRAIRE ". " LE FIGARO ARTISTIQUE ILLUSTRÉ ", " […] of the United States and Argentina, etc. […] TABLE OF EXCHANGE RATES IN PARIS: .. 34 83 The Pound is worth...... 168. 89.. 6. 71 The Lira —...... 1. 65.. 0. 96 The Peseta —...... 5. 19 Doll. 4. 85 In Rome, the Dollar is worth in Lire 25 02 — 4. 85 — the Pound — 117 50 POLITICS: FRANÇOIS COTY POLITICS
Henri Vonoven.
Context
Romier's editorship and his claimed harmony with Coty
Romier's column is a public statement that the paper's political line was a joint one: he describes Coty as a vigorous, imperious inventor and renovator, admits that clashes might have been expected, and declares that their agreement on general policy "has been and remains complete." The same front page shows the arrangement in its masthead fragments, with "DIRECTEUR-RÉDACTEUR EN CHEF POLITIQUE: LUCIEN ROM…" in one place and "POLITIQUE: FRANÇOIS COTY" beside the exchange table. That harmony is the paper's own assertion. The independent record shows that Romier, a historian trained at the École des Chartes, edited Le Figaro from 1925 to 1927 and again from 1934 to 1942, so his first tenure ended the year after this column. His later career took him much further into politics: a personal friend of Pétain, he served as minister of State in Laval's government from April 1942 to December 1943.
Why a French military officer investigated Germersheim
The report names Captain Tropat as rapporteur to an army-corps council and says he went to Germersheim to reconstruct the night's events and would question Germans. That a French military magistrate, not a German court, handled the case followed from the legal framework of the occupation. Under the Rhineland Agreement signed alongside the Treaty of Versailles, Germany kept civil and criminal jurisdiction in the occupied territory except for offences against occupation troops, which fell to Allied military courts. Because the clash at Germersheim set a French officer against Germans accused of attacking him, the case came before a French court martial, which later sat at Landau and judged both the officer and the Germans involved. The occupation itself was already shrinking in 1926: after the Locarno settlement of Germany's western border in late 1925, the northern zone around Cologne had been evacuated in January 1926, while the rest of the occupied Rhineland, including Germersheim, remained under occupation.
How the Germersheim case ended
The inquiry announced here led to a trial at the end of the year. According to TIME of 3 January 1927, a French court martial at Landau tried the officer, Lieutenant Rouzier, for killing one German and wounding two others at Germersheim in September. The court acquitted him on the grounds that he had fired in self-defence when Germans attacked him with canes, while sentencing six Germans connected with the affray. The verdict provoked furious comment in the German press and an official protest from Berlin, after which President Doumergue pardoned the six convicted Germans. The case thus moved from the local reconstruction described on this page to a diplomatic quarrel settled by presidential clemency.
The diplomatic moment: Geneva and Thoiry
The shooting came at a delicate moment in Franco-German relations. Germany had been admitted to the League of Nations on 10 September 1926, and on 17 September Briand and Stresemann met at Thoiry, where Briand agreed in principle to return the Saar early and to bring the military control and occupation of the Rhineland to an early end. An incident in which a French officer shot German civilians, occurring barely ten days later, touched exactly the occupation that the two ministers had discussed winding down. The Thoiry understandings were soon narrowed by objections from both governments, and the occupation continued until 1930, so the Germersheim case unfolded while early evacuation was being discussed but not yet decided.
Original
Quelques mots personnels
et des tempéraments différents, par conséquent des imaginations et des expériences qu'il s'agit, en effet, d'accorder pour une création commune. A quoi servirait de les réunir, si chacun n'était que la copie ou le reflet de son voisin? Commun est l'effort. Commune est la politique. Communes sont les responsabilités. Beaucoup de gens connaissent le nom et les campagnes de M. Coty. Peu de gens semblent connaître bien sa personne. Je n'ai ici à faire son éloge ni à dresser le compte de ses mérites. De son esprit vigoureux et prodigieusement actif, de son tempérament impérieux d'inventeur et de rénovateur, de sa sensibilité en garde contre les surprises, de sa promptitude à concevoir et de son goût de la décision, peut-être attendrait-on certains heurts dans une collaboration comme la nôtre. Eh bien, c'est le contraire. Notre entente sur les problèmes de la politique générale a été et demeure complète. Il ne m'a jamais imétait ass il ne ces de lui, attentif Je n'a tier géné c'est ain tableaux scène, q tions. C [?] les prem savoir s ' ou faire abris-coll attaque C'était long. Je dont je compens La q ser
L'enquête sur l'incident de Germersheim
Aujourd'hui: Grand Palais: Salon de l'Automobile. - Cours-la-Reine: Salon xpositions: Semaine du Cuir. - Visite des champs de bataille par la japonaise. - Courses à Enghien. DIRECTEUR-RÉDACTEUR EN CHEF POLITIQUE: LUCIEN ROM pel de Mgr Seipel ux catholiques L'enquête sur de Germers pel, ancien chancelier d'Autride faire au Congrès de l'Union des études internationales, ot à Vienne, une sorte d'appel iques du monde entier, les supe pas se désintéresser des prola vie internationale. - il, à la fin du XIXe siècle, les Le capitaine Tropat, co porteur près le conseil de corps d'armée, siégeant à transporté à Germersheim à la reconstitution du dram roulé dans la nuit du 26 a Il entendra prochaineme allemands, dont le procur
Que deviendront ces vœux ?
t. 30 EN FRANCE ICATIONS ANNEXES: ONOMIQUE ". Le samedi: " LE FIGARO LITTÉRAIRE ". " LE FIGARO ARTISTIQUE ILLUSTRÉ ", " des États-Unis et de l'Argentine, etc. BLEAU DES CHANGES A PARIS:.. 34 83 La Livre vaut...... 168. 89.. 6. 71 La Lire -...... 1. 65.. 0. 96 La Peseta -...... 5. 19 Doll. 4. 85 A Rome, le Dollar vaut en Lire 25 02 - 4. 85 - la Livre - 117 50 POLITIQUE: FRANÇOIS COTY LA POLITIQUE