René Capitant
René Capitant ( born August 19, 1901 in La Tronche, † May 23, 1970 in Suresnes ) was a French jurist, political scientist and left - Gaullist politician.
He has written numerous studies on Public Law and Political Science and was a knight of the Legion of Honour.
Life
The son of Henri Capitant attended the Lycée Henri IV in Paris and studied law in Paris.
In 1929 he was appointed professor of law at the University of Strasbourg.
He was interested in the National Socialism in Germany, held on the basis of a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1934 in Germany and was an opponent of the new pan-Germanism. As director of an Institute for German Studies, he gathered documents for the development of National Socialism. In 1937 he became chairman of the committee of vigilance in Strasbourg, fought as a speaker, the new German policy and criticized the Munich Agreement. In 1939 he volunteered for the Tank Corps and fought there until the armistice. Here he met Charles de Gaulle. He was then allowed to be a member of the University of Strasbourg in Clermont -Ferrand and resisted in the underground. In 1941 he was appointed to the University of Algiers, where he continued engaged in resistance activity and supported the Allied landings.
Following a discussion with de Gaulle in London appointed him to the Commissioner for the educational system in the National Liberation Committee, a position he held even after the change of government on 5 December 1944. Capitant founded the Union Gaulliste, which he led after de Gaulle's resignation in the Rassemblement du peuple français. Capitant was a member of the departments of Bas- Rhin (1945 ) and Paris ( 46-51 ). In the 1951 general election he lost his seat, but remained a spokesman for the RPF. Since 1951 he was a professor at the University of Paris.
From 1957 to 1960 Capitant was director of the French- Japanese house in Tokyo. 1960 Honorary Doctorate awarded him the Keio University. From May to August 1962, he was legal adviser to the provisional government in Algiers. In December 1962, he became President of the Legal Committee of the National Assembly, he also was the spokesman for the linksgaullistischen MPs in Parliament.
Despite opposition to Georges Pompidou, he became Minister of Justice in the 5th cabinet Pompidou on May 31, 1968 he retained this position under Maurice Couve de Murville. After de Gaulle's resignation Capitant founded the Union gaulliste populaire and went into open opposition to Pompidou. He soon withdrew due to illness but from politics.