Michel Durafour
Michel Durafour | |
---|---|
Mayor of Saint-Étienne | |
In office 1964–1977 | |
Preceded by | Alexandre de Fraissinette |
Succeeded by | Joseph Sanguedolce |
Personal details | |
Born | Saint-Étienne, France | 11 April 1920
Died | 27 July 2017 Saint-Étienne, France | (aged 97)
Political party | Radical Party |
Michel Durafour (11 April 1920 in Saint-Étienne, Loire – 27 July 2017) was a French politician. He served in many government posts under Jacques Chirac, Raymond Barre and Michel Rocard, and was Mayor of Saint-Étienne from 1964 to 1977.[1]
In 1988, while serving as Minister of Public Service in Rocard's government, Durafour was the subject of a reply to his suggestion to "exterminate the Front National"[2] which provoked a "storm of criticism".[3][4] Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far right defeated presidential candidate, referred to Durafour as "Mr. Durafour-crematoire", a play on words as "four" is the French term for oven, and "oven crematorium" is a reference to the Nazi death camps of the Second World War.[4] Alain Juppé responded by stating that "There are words one does not make jokes about" while the French Socialist Party spokesman Jean-Jack Queyranne stated that "Mr. Le Pen is showing what he is at heart: a racist and an anti-Semite".[4] Le Pen himself stated that he was responding to Durafour's own accusations regarding Le Pen's role in World War II, and that "Mr. Durafour is not just an imbecile but a bum".[4]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Michel Durafour from IMDb. Retrieved 30 May 2008
- ^ "La vérité sur le Front National !". 10 January 2006.
- ^ L'Humanité – Libres Échanges Archived 6 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 30 May 2008
- ^ a b c d Anti-Semitic Joke Assailed in France from The New York Times Retrieved 30 May 2008
- 1920 births
- 2017 deaths
- People from Saint-Étienne
- Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance politicians
- Radical Party (France) politicians
- Union for French Democracy politicians
- Civil service ministers of France
- Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
- Deputies of the 4th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
- Deputies of the 5th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
- Deputies of the 6th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
- Members of Parliament for Loire
- French senators of the Fifth Republic
- Senators of Loire (department)
- Mayors of Saint-Étienne
- French mayor stubs