Jean Rene Souetre expelled from the US 18hrs after JFKA?!

[Roger Odisio]

20 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

Roger,

I do not believe that Jean Rene Souetre was a shooter in the JFK assassination based on what I know of the character of the man, rather than for any ideological or political reasons. My reasons for saying this are threefold:

 

Reason# 1 – He was an honorable man. In the speech he gave at his trial in December, 1961, the column he wrote in the book, Algerie Francaise, 1942-1962, entitled; Le Premier Maquis; and the letter he wrote to the Camp Commandant after his escape from Camo L’Ardoise, he stressed that the actions he took were done as an officer in the service of France.

 

After his escape from the prison camp, Souetre and Mura sent this letter to the prison commandant:

“Monsieur. Respectueux des décisions de justice qui ont fait de nous des hommes libres, nous avons jugé de notre devoir de nous soustraire à une mesure incompatible avec notre état d’officier. Nous aurions été indignes de notre uniforme en acceptant de remplacer dans votre camp ceux que la France nous avait donnés pour mission de combattre. Respectueux de nos serments, fidèles aux traditions de notre Arme, convaincus de la justice de notre cause, nous ne pouvions demeurer plus longtemps dans une expectative coupable. Nous sommes persuadés Monsieur qu’il vous est facile de comprendre. Nous en appelons à votre dignité en vous demandant de vous refuser à remplir à l’avenir des fonctions qui déshonorent le Corps de la Police française. Mura et Souètre.”

(Arch. dép. du Gard, CA 1568).

 

“Respectful of the judicial decisions which made us free men, we felt it our duty to avoid a measure incompatible with our position as officers. We would have been unworthy of our uniform by agreeing to replace in your camp those whom France had given us to fight. Respectful of our oaths, faithful to the traditions of our Arms, convinced of the justice of our cause, we could not remain longer in a guilty expectancy. We are convinced Monsieur, that it is easy for you to understand. We appeal to your dignity by asking you to refuse to fulfill in the future, functions that dishonor the French Police Corps. Mura and Souètre."

 

Before the Special Military Tribunal

http://adimad.info/galerie/MAQUISBOURGUIRAT/Maquis_Sou_tre_2

 

Captain Souètre Explains Why He Created the First “French Algerian” Maquis

 

PARIS - The Special Military Tribunal created to explain the affected affairs to the State Sûreté in relation with the Algerian events, resumed its meeting here this afternoon in the locality of the 17^th Correctional Chambers where it unraveled the process of Captain Souètre and his military and civilian accomplices who had constituted a combat group in Algeria.

 

Before President Leyria opened the audience, eight men are in the box; three military in the leopard garb of parachutists; Captain René Souètre, Sergeants François Lemieur and Pierre Luca and five civilians; Charles Charnay, René Guedi, Albert Lefèvre, Dominique Squyilace, and Yvon Toffolo. The case of eight other defendents, in fact, are separate.

 

Air Force Captain Souètre, had decided, last February, to take in the maquis several others that had been transferred to the Meropole. In some appeals to his “comrades of combat”, he affirmed that it was the “Hour of the Centurions” and that they should “Cross the Rubicon”.

 

After having recruited several comrades, he installed himself on February 14^th on the “Marcel” farm in Cheffa Ouled in the Bouguirat Canton, Mostaganem Department. It was there that the platoons of reconnaissance gendarmes arrested this first maquis on the 21^st, 23^rd and 26^th of last February.

gérant

 

The Declaration

Of Captain Souètre

 

d'ecoutér

“I have not acted with any interest but by ideal,” stated Souêtre, summoned to explain his attempt.

 

“We, soldiers at the moment of May 18^th, we have known a hope without limit,” insisted the officer, who affirmed, “We listened to the Chief of State who said, among other things at Böne, (Algeria), “France is here with its vocation, it is here for always.” “We, armed, were according to our proper terms were assured that the parole of France would be given. But we were abused of that. We do not have any more reason to fight. So, rather than fill the the honorable function of a manager of soldiers in Constantine, or return to the Metropole, I preferred to remain in the face of danger”. I am a soldier. My place is in combat.” claimed Souetre. In taking the maquis, I was determined to organize in Ouarsenis a corps of French musulmans destined to combat the F.L.N. With these methods, these rough methods that I had experimented with officially in Kabylia in October, 1960, I attempted to enlist some pro-French orators with some under-officers (sub-alterns,or warrant officers?) to sponaneously come to join me. But on the eve of my arrest, I had to surrender to the evidence: those who had joined me had no combat experience. I had to return them”.

 

Having also furnished his version of the facts and (cut?) all liason with the extremists, Captain Souêtre forcefully said, “The Army does not have any law, honor in the fidelity in the defense of national pride: It devalued me. The failure is the affair of mercenaries, not of French soldiers”.

After the general amnesty devlared in 1968, Souetre returned to France and served in the civil government. And even ran as a member of the European Parliament in 2001.

La Flamme October 14, 2013:

http://la-flamme.fr/2013/10/15-octobre-1930-naissance-de-jean-souetre/

Dès son retour en métropole, il devient membre du Front National et un pilier de la fédération de Savoie ou il se présente régulièrement aux élections.

(My rough translation: From his return to France, he served as a member of the Front National Party and a pillar of society representing Savoie where he regularly ran in the elections.)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute-Savoie

Haute-Savoie is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its capital is Annecy. To the north is Lake Geneva and Switzerland; to the south and southeast are the Mont Blanc and Aravis mountain ranges. The French entrance to the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy is in Haute-Savoie. It is noted for winter sports; the first Winter Olympic Games were held at Chamonix in 1924.

 

Reason# 2 – He was the father of a newborn baby, and I don’t think he would have disgraced his newborn son.

When he was posted to Algeria, he earned the nickname, “Robin Hood of Ouarsenis”, where he was stationed. (see below)

 

His second marriage was to Josette Suzanne Marcailhou d'Aymeric on January 26, 1962. They had a child named Yannick.

Yannick is a first name which originated in Brittany, France where the combination of its two Breton language parts, Yann and Ick results in the meaning of "Little John" or Petit Jean in French. It is used as a first name mostly for men and is of use, notably, in French speaking countries like France, (a part of) Belgium, Switzerland. (Romandy), Canada, (Quebec) and former French African colonies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yannick

 

The photo above appeared in an article by Jean-Claude Sanchez, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine "Debout les Paras" Le Journal de L'Union Nationale des Parachutistes. Jean-Claude Sanchez was the President of the Haute-Savoie section of the U.N.P. in 1982.

The Caption reads: (Le Capitaine Souetre in Timimoun in 1957.)

The Timimoun District is in Adrar Province, south-central Algeria.

 

Errol Flynn in the movie, Robin Hood:

 

Reason# 3 – He was flamboyant. If he took an action, it would have been done out in the open. I don’t think he would have shot someone long-range, hidden as a sniper. That wasn’t in his character.

On January 20, 1962, he married Josette Marcailhou d'Aymeric, cousin of René Villard. This created a scandal in French social circles has they were married in the camp of Saint Maurice-l’Ardoise. where he was imprisoned. The ceremony took place in the presence of the deputy commander of the IX Military Region, General Clémen, who serced as a witness for the groom. The marriage was covered by the magazine, Paris Match.

Instead of a Guard of Honor consisting of crossed swords, the inmates are holding strands of barbed wire.

"CAMP ST MAURICE ARDOISE"

 

For these reasons, I just don't see him as a sniper, hiding in the shadows, shooting someone from ambush.

Steve Thomas

To summarize the portrait you paint of Souetre:  He could not have been a JFKA shooter because he was above all a French patriot, an honorable man in service to his country, who had too much character and was too flamboyant to shoot someone from ambush, hidden as a sniper, and who had a young son he did not want to disgrace.  That doesn't comport with other things we think we know about Souetre, but let's set that aside.

 

Even if we accept your view of Souetre, it does *not* preclude him from being a shooter of either DeGaulle, or Kennedy, and in fact may enhance our understanding of the possibility.

 

In Souetre's eyes, who was the real French patriot, DeGaulle or the OAS and him?  DeGaulle had once said Algeria would always be part of France and then reneged on this promise.  Similar in some ways to Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs to proceed, then refusing air support that the Cubans thought was part of the deal.  DeGaulle had to go.  And for precisely the way you describe Souetre as a man of character in service to his country, he has to be a prime candidate for the job.  He certainly had the means and the ability.

 

The French had suspected Souetre was part of the many attempts to get rid of DeGaulle, which is why they contacted the FBI when they found out Souetre may have been in Dallas that day and DeGaulle was scheduled to go Mexico in a few months.

 

Both DeGaulle and Kennedy thought the CIA was involved in the attempts on DeGaulle as well.  The CIA knew a lot about Souetre;  they had what they described as a large file him.  And they had a preference for using assassins away from their country of origin (for "operational security" reasons, Richard Helms said).

 

All of this also answers your second point.  What son growing up would not revere a father who had played an important role in ridding France and the world of such villains as DeGaulle and Kennedy?  

 

Your third point makes little sense to me.  A trained assassin like Souetre wouldn't want a way to conceal his effort and have a getaway plan in place?  If nothing else to live another day, with his wife and young son, besides any further jobs he may consider?  Flamboyance shouldn't be confused with stupidity.

 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Roger Odisio said:

To summarize the portrait you paint of Souetre:  He could not have been a JFKA shooter because he was above all a French patriot, an honorable man in service to his country, who had too much character and was too flamboyant to shoot someone from ambush, hidden as a sniper, and who had a young son he did not want to disgrace.  That doesn't comport with other things we think we know about Souetre, but let's set that aside.

 

Even if we accept your view of Souetre, it does *not* preclude him from being a shooter of either DeGaulle, or Kennedy, and in fact may enhance our understanding of the possibility.

 

In Souetre's eyes, who was the real French patriot, DeGaulle or the OAS and him?  DeGaulle had once said Algeria would always be part of France and then reneged on this promise.  Similar in some ways to Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs to proceed, then refusing air support that the Cubans thought was part of the deal.  DeGaulle had to go.  And for precisely the way you describe Souetre as a man of character in service to his country, he has to be a prime candidate for the job.  He certainly had the means and the ability.

 

The French had suspected Souetre was part of the many attempts to get rid of DeGaulle, which is why they contacted the FBI when they found out Souetre may have been in Dallas that day and DeGaulle was scheduled to go Mexico in a few months.

 

Both DeGaulle and Kennedy thought the CIA was involved in the attempts on DeGaulle as well.  The CIA knew a lot about Souetre;  they had what they described as a large file him.  And they had a preference for using assassins away from their country of origin (for "operational security" reasons, Richard Helms said).

 

All of this also answers your second point.  What son growing up would not revere a father who had played an important role in ridding France and the world of such villains as DeGaulle and Kennedy?  

 

Your third point makes little sense to me.  A trained assassin like Souetre wouldn't want a way to conceal his effort and have a getaway plan in place?  If nothing else to live another day, with his wife and young son, besides any further jobs he may consider?  Flamboyance shouldn't be confused with stupidity.

 

To add some off the cuff thoughts to that, it doesn’t seem Souetre is lacking sophistry or intelligence.

What is Souetre’s fiscal history? Do his finances get significantly better after the assassination in the following years?

It’s always going to be preferable to use foreign contract assassins. As you have a million ways to spin it. Foreign assassins also have no emotional connection to US presidents, US patriotism or anything else. Its just a job. 
 

However, contradicting the last paragraph, in a more abstract sense, the OAS definitely needed allies, its quite isolating being hunted by your own government and living a life of exile. Did a French OAS man bitter at the independence of Algeria (a former French colony), have more in common with the right wing cabal that are pro-neo-colonialism and against a US president who thinks all nations have the right to self govern and self-determination? There is a battle of ideologies there.

My personal feeling is; the CIA probably provided these guys with wet work, or had a cooperation in the lucrative drug trade, or used them for intelligence. Lets not forget that De Gaulle thought the CIA were behind a plot on him. They were a logical choice and they wanted the money. 
 

What did JFK say as a senator in 1957 about Algerian independence? What did he say in the middle of 1962 on the subject? 

 

 

[Steve Thomas]

1 hour ago, Chris Barnard said:

To add some off the cuff thoughts to that, it doesn’t seem Souetre is lacking sophistry or intelligence.

What is Souetre’s fiscal history? Do his finances get significantly better after the assassination in the following years?

It’s always going to be preferable to use foreign contract assassins. As you have a million ways to spin it. Foreign assassins also have no emotional connection to US presidents, US patriotism or anything else. Its just a job. 
 

However, contradicting the last paragraph, in a more abstract sense, the OAS definitely needed allies, its quite isolating being hunted by your own government and living a life of exile. Did a French OAS man bitter at the independence of Algeria (a former French colony), have more in common with the right wing cabal that are pro-neo-colonialism and against a US president who thinks all nations have the right to self govern and self-determination? There is a battle of ideologies there.

My personal feeling is; the CIA probably provided these guys with wet work, or had a cooperation in the lucrative drug trade, or used them for intelligence. Lets not forget that De Gaulle thought the CIA were behind a plot on him. They were a logical choice and they wanted the money. 
 

What did JFK say as a senator in 1957 about Algerian independence? What did he say in the middle of 1962 on the subject? 

 

 

Chris,

The study of French politics in general, and the OAS in particular is... confusing. They seemed to change their governments so frequently it's hard to keep up.

That the nature of the OAS was rightist in true, to a certain extent; but I've found that the OAS consisted of many things. You had the proto-fascists, yes, but it also had French loyalists,, disaffected SDECE and SAC agents, double agents, royalists, former members of the French Foreign Legion, outright criminals...the list goes on.

I once read that the hardest job in the world was a drill instructor in the French Foreign Legion. You had a polyglot of languages mixed up with misfits, people who were on the lamb who had changed their name, men to were given the choice of joining the Foreign Legion or going to jail. Discipline consisted of taking you out behind the barracks and letting four of the biggest, baddest Legionnaires beat the tar out of you. So, it's complex. More than anything else, I would say that the OAS were anti-DeGaulle.

I think there are two ingredients that help understand Souetre's character.: One was the Integraliste movement; and the other was Article 16 of the French Constitution.

1) Integralism

There was a throwaway line in something Jean-Claude Perez told Fensterwald in 1982. He said that,

“post 1962, Souetre was part of an ultra-right, ultra-Catholic splinter group which included four men named Pichon, Lefevre, Bourget, and Grossouvre. Group called Integraliste
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20Jean%20with%20aka%27s/Item%2011.pdf

p. 4.

(Albert Lefevre, by the way, was the one man I could find that both stood trial with Souetre in December, 1961 and who escaped with him from the Camp at St. Maurice L'Ardoise in February, 1962.)

From Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integralism

Integralism is an ideology according to which a nation is an organic unity. Integralism defends social differentiation and hierarchy with co-operation between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups. It advocates trade unionism (or a guild system), corporatism, and organic political representation instead of ideological forms of representation. Integralism claims that the best political institutions for given nations will differ depending on the history, culture and climate of the nation's habitat. Often associated with blood and soil conservatism, it posits the nation or the state or the nation state as an end and a moral good, rather than a means.[1]

The term integralism was coined by the French journalist Charles Maurras, whose conception of nationalism was illiberal and anti-internationalist, elevating the interest of the state above that of the individual and above humanity in general.[1]

Although it is marked by its being exclusionary and particularistic, and there has been consideration of its historic role as a sort of proto-fascism (in a European context)[1] or para-fascism (in a South American context),[2] this link remains controversial, with some social scientists positing that it combines elements of both the political left and right.[3]

Catholic Integralism does not support the creation of an autonomous "Catholic" state church, or Erastianism (Gallicanism in French context). Rather it supports subordinating the state to the worldwide Catholicism under the leadership of the Pope. Thus it rejects separation of the Catholic Church from the state and favours Catholicism as the proclaimed religion of the state.[5]

Catholic Integralism appeals to the teaching on the subordination of temporal to spiritual power of medieval popes such as Pope Gregory VII and Pope Boniface VIII. But Catholic Integralism in the strict sense came about as a reaction against the political and cultural changes which followed the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.[6

For “trade unionism” See Fensterwald's “Possible French Connection”

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20et%20al,%20Published/Item%2002.pdf

“In the period, 1964-1966. Souetre headed the Societe Expinmaq in Madrid; it was a “soueti de traveaux publics,” furnishing works and cover for OAS veterans and exiles, such as Varga, Marton and Sari.”¹⁹ (essentially a trade union and you can see why Souetre was beloved by former OAS veterans. He got them jobs). When men deserted from the French Army as Souetre did and joined the OAS, they were destitute. They were wanted men who had no money for food or shelter and many turned to extra-legal means to get it. Popular methods were robbery, extortion, bank robbery and running drugs. Many were dependent on the largesse of rich donors.

2) DeGauule's invocation of Article 16 of the French Constitution.

When DeGaulle swept into power in 1958 and overthrew the Fourth Republic, France also got a new constitution. Under certain conditions, Article 16 allowed the President to invoke a national emergency and allocating all powers including judicial to the President. Due process was suspended. After the General's Putsch in April of 1961, DeGaulle invoked Article 16. When Souetre was tried in December of 1961, he was given a three-year suspended sentence, but was immediately placed in Administrative detention for an indefinite period, and confined to a prison camp in southern France. I've seen pictures of the camp. It was bleak to say the least. He led an 18-man prison break out of the camp in February, 1962. 10 men were immdediately re-captured, but 8 managed to escape. Souetre fled to Spain. I believe that this extra-judicial move left him embittered. You can see it reflected in pictures of him pre-1962 and post-1962. In earlier pictures, he is smiling and happy. After his imprisonment, he is dour and morose.

Steve Thomas

 

[Steve Thomas]

There was a throwaway line in something Jean-Claude Perez told Fensterwald in 1982. He said that,

“post 1962, Souetre was part of an ultra-right, ultra-Catholic splinter group which included four men named Pichon, Lefevre, Bourget, and Grossouvre. Group called Integraliste
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20Jean%20with%20aka%27s/Item%2011.pdf

p. 4.

François de Grossouvre (29 March 1918 – 7 April 1994) was a French politician charged in 1981 by newly elected president François Mitterrand with overseeing national security and other sensitive matters, in particular those concerning Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Gabon, the Persian Gulf countries, Pakistan and the two Korea. He was also in charge of the French branch of Gladio, Nato's stay-behind paramilitary secret armies during the Cold War. He was found dead with gunshot wounds at the Élysée Palace, the French President's official residence. The official verdict was suicide.

François de Grossouvre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_de_Grossouvre

In 1943 he married Claudette Berger, daughter of an industrialist, Antoine Berger, and had six children. Grossouvre managed his family-in-law's companies Le Bon Sucre (1944–63) and A. Berger et Cie (1949–63), and then founded the Générale Sucrière sugar company. Along with Italian collaborators, businessman Gilbert Beaujolin and the American Alexandre Patty, he succeeded in obtaining an exclusive production licence for Coca-Cola and building the first factory of this type in France. Distribution was by the Société parisienne de boissons gazeuses and the Glacières de Paris, both subsidiaries of Pastis Pernod.

 

(Remember Souetre was the manager? Of a sugar company in Martinique)

 

According to Fensterwald in A Possible French Connection, Souetre “spent much time in Martinique where nominally, he was the Director of a sugar refinery whose head office was in France at Arcis sur Aube.”

http://www.xiconhoca.org/PDF/DDeRoux/Apossiblefrenchconnection.pdf page 13 of the memo page 15 of the pdf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcis-sur-Aube

 

“Besides many big farms producing all sorts of cereals, the sugar industry has a big plant there Cristal Union.”

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_de_Grossouvre

 

During World War II, François de Grossouvre was posted as auxiliary physician in a regiment of Moroccan tirailleurs, and then joined the ski troops in the Vercors region. There he met Captain Bousquet, who created one of the first units of the Organisation de résistance de l'armée (ORA). He then returned to Lyon, where he received his doctorate in 1942. Afterward, he became doctor of the 11th regiment of Cuirassiers, headed by Colonel Lormeau.[4]

Grossouvre then became a member of Joseph Darnand's Service d'ordre légionnaire (SOL), a Vichyst militia. He left it in 1943 to fight in the Vercors, joining the Maquis of the Chartreuse, near Grenoble (code-name "Clober"). After the Liberation, it was found that he had in fact infiltrated the SOL on behalf of ORA.

 

Grossouvre was then recruited in 1950 by the French SDECE intelligence agency to replace Gilbert Union, official in Lyon and who had worked with the military agency BCRA, and became leader of Arc-en-Ciel, the regional branch of Gladio (Lyon region), NATO's stay-behind anti-communist organizations during the Cold War, under the code-name "Monsieur Leduc".[1][5] According to former SDECE agent Louis Mouchon, "His business, the A. Berger et Cie Sugar company, offered ample opportunities to stage fronts. He really had excellent contacts." According to The Economist's obituary, "He was recruited into the French espionage service and helped to organise Gladio, an American backed plan to create an armed resistance movement in Western Europe against a Russian invasion."

Created by Colonel Fourcaud, in liaison with the US National Security Council, and then by Grossouvre, this network allegedly used the SAC Gaullist militia and the DPS, the National Front's currently dissolved militia.[6] The DPS was created along with Jacques Foccart, after the 1982 dissolution of the SAC, and allegedly provided mercenaries for activities in the former French colonies in Africa.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_de_Grossouvre

According to former SDECE agent Louis Mouchon, "His business, the A. Berger et Cie Sugar company, offered ample opportunities to stage fronts. He really had excellent contacts."

I believe the part about the KGB infiltrating the SDECE. It was the same thing that Vosjoli and Goytsin were telling the Americains. This information was causing the Americans great consternation. I think Kennedy even wrote DeGaulle a handwritten letter about it. I think the French were trying to steal American nuclear technology and it was getting back to the Russians.

After his escape from the prison camp in February, 1962, I wondered how, on foot, he was able to get from the southern coast of France to Spain in 1963. I think it was through the efforts of Pierre Guillaume – head of the naval section of the OAS, and naval advisor to one of the Putsch generals, but I can't remember if it was Gardy, or Jouhaud. Souetre would take Guillaume's place in the OAS when Guillaume was arrested in 1962.

Les soldats perdus : des anciens de l'OAS racontent

Author:
Vincent Quivy

“ Without economy and without resources since he had deserted, Soueter was trying to work to earn enough.

In the autumn of 1963, however, he received 1 million old francs which enabled him to buy a business on the beach in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.”

The OAS veterans who made it to the Balearic Islands were destitute.
I'm not sure about the 1 milliion francs. Quivy doesn't say who gave it to him.

http://jeanjviala.free.fr/1963 a 1965.htm

Le colonel Broizat vivait à Madrid, Joseph Ortiz, le docteur Kovacs, Jacques Achard et Jean-René Souètre à Palma de Majorque, Athanase Georgeopoulos, Robert Tabarot, Michel de la Bigne et Camille Vignau dans la région d'Alicante ... "En situation irrégulière, ils ne pouvaient obtenir un emploi et vivaient dans le dénuement". Anne Dulphy L'algérie française et l'Espagne franquiste in l'Algérianiste, numéro 121 mars 2008.

“In an irregular situation, the were not able to obtain employment and lived in destitution”.

Palma de Mallorca is the major city and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of the island on the Bay of Palma. As of the 2009 census, the population of the city of Palma proper was 401,270, and the population of the entire urban area was 517,285, ranking as the twelfth largest urban area of Spain - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palma,_Majorca

He would  return to Palma de Majorque in 1971 after his sojourn in Africa with the Tschombe affair.

Steve Thomas

 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:

Chris,

The study of French politics in general, and the OAS in particular is... confusing. They seemed to change their governments so frequently it's hard to keep up.

That the nature of the OAS was rightist in true, to a certain extent; but I've found that the OAS consisted of many things. You had the proto-fascists, yes, but it also had French loyalists,, disaffected SDECE and SAC agents, double agents, royalists, former members of the French Foreign Legion, outright criminals...the list goes on.

I once read that the hardest job in the world was a drill instructor in the French Foreign Legion. You had a polyglot of languages mixed up with misfits, people who were on the lamb who had changed their name, men to were given the choice of joining the Foreign Legion or going to jail. Discipline consisted of taking you out behind the barracks and letting four of the biggest, baddest Legionnaires beat the tar out of you. So, it's complex. More than anything else, I would say that the OAS were anti-DeGaulle.

I think there are two ingredients that help understand Souetre's character.: One was the Integraliste movement; and the other was Article 16 of the French Constitution.

1) Integralism

There was a throwaway line in something Jean-Claude Perez told Fensterwald in 1982. He said that,

“post 1962, Souetre was part of an ultra-right, ultra-Catholic splinter group which included four men named Pichon, Lefevre, Bourget, and Grossouvre. Group called Integraliste
http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20Jean%20with%20aka%27s/Item%2011.pdf

p. 4.

(Albert Lefevre, by the way, was the one man I could find that both stood trial with Souetre in December, 1961 and who escaped with him from the Camp at St. Maurice L'Ardoise in February, 1962.)

From Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integralism

Integralism is an ideology according to which a nation is an organic unity. Integralism defends social differentiation and hierarchy with co-operation between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups. It advocates trade unionism (or a guild system), corporatism, and organic political representation instead of ideological forms of representation. Integralism claims that the best political institutions for given nations will differ depending on the history, culture and climate of the nation's habitat. Often associated with blood and soil conservatism, it posits the nation or the state or the nation state as an end and a moral good, rather than a means.[1]

The term integralism was coined by the French journalist Charles Maurras, whose conception of nationalism was illiberal and anti-internationalist, elevating the interest of the state above that of the individual and above humanity in general.[1]

Although it is marked by its being exclusionary and particularistic, and there has been consideration of its historic role as a sort of proto-fascism (in a European context)[1] or para-fascism (in a South American context),[2] this link remains controversial, with some social scientists positing that it combines elements of both the political left and right.[3]

Catholic Integralism does not support the creation of an autonomous "Catholic" state church, or Erastianism (Gallicanism in French context). Rather it supports subordinating the state to the worldwide Catholicism under the leadership of the Pope. Thus it rejects separation of the Catholic Church from the state and favours Catholicism as the proclaimed religion of the state.[5]

Catholic Integralism appeals to the teaching on the subordination of temporal to spiritual power of medieval popes such as Pope Gregory VII and Pope Boniface VIII. But Catholic Integralism in the strict sense came about as a reaction against the political and cultural changes which followed the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.[6

For “trade unionism” See Fensterwald's “Possible French Connection”

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20et%20al,%20Published/Item%2002.pdf

“In the period, 1964-1966. Souetre headed the Societe Expinmaq in Madrid; it was a “soueti de traveaux publics,” furnishing works and cover for OAS veterans and exiles, such as Varga, Marton and Sari.”¹⁹ (essentially a trade union and you can see why Souetre was beloved by former OAS veterans. He got them jobs). When men deserted from the French Army as Souetre did and joined the OAS, they were destitute. They were wanted men who had no money for food or shelter and many turned to extra-legal means to get it. Popular methods were robbery, extortion, bank robbery and running drugs. Many were dependent on the largesse of rich donors.

2) DeGauule's invocation of Article 16 of the French Constitution.

When DeGaulle swept into power in 1958 and overthrew the Fourth Republic, France also got a new constitution. Under certain conditions, Article 16 allowed the President to invoke a national emergency and allocating all powers including judicial to the President. Due process was suspended. After the General's Putsch in April of 1961, DeGaulle invoked Article 16. When Souetre was tried in December of 1961, he was given a three-year suspended sentence, but was immediately placed in Administrative detention for an indefinite period, and confined to a prison camp in southern France. I've seen pictures of the camp. It was bleak to say the least. He led an 18-man prison break out of the camp in February, 1962. 10 men were immdediately re-captured, but 8 managed to escape. Souetre fled to Spain. I believe that this extra-judicial move left him embittered. You can see it reflected in pictures of him pre-1962 and post-1962. In earlier pictures, he is smiling and happy. After his imprisonment, he is dour and morose.

Steve Thomas

 

Hi Steve, thank you for the detailed background in your response, I appreciate it. Is there a point where you think Souetre could have had enough, having faced an enormous personal cost for a cause? Algeria was independent by mid ‘62’, JFK spoke on July 3rd that year about it. Some get tired of being a man on the run, and perhaps he indeed made a decision to make the most of the rest of his life and cash out with some well paid work wherever he could? Or at least aim at that. I take on board that he may have wishes to fight for his cause until the end of his days. 
 

If it is to be believed/confirmed that Souètre was expelled/evacuated from the US/Texas in the days immediately after JFK was shot, what would you say the significance of that is, if any at all? 
 

Thanks

Chris

 

PS I haven’t read your latest post, yet. 

[Steve Thomas]

25 minutes ago, Chris Barnard said:

If it is to be believed/confirmed that Souètre was expelled/evacuated from the US/Texas in the days immediately after JFK was shot, what would you say the significance of that is, if any at all? 
 

Thanks

Chris

 

Chris,

I just don't know. I'm still learning.

As far as believed vs. confirming, people believe many things.

All I know is that he denied he was in Dallas all through the 1970's, 1980's and 1990"s up until his death in 2001.

Steve Thomas

 

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:

Chris,

I just don't know. I'm still learning.

As far as believed vs. confirming, people believe many things.

All I know is that he denied he was in Dallas all through the 1970's, 1980's and 1990"s up until his death in 2001.

Steve Thomas

 

Ultimately, we may never know. I think he or anyone else there was compelled to deny it until their deathbed. If you have any family, or a desire to be an old man someday, you would keep quiet. 
 

If we had some idea of his accounting and whether he has spikes of unexplained or dubious income, we may be closer to understanding it better.

 

I do think his presence should be taken seriously. 
 

Thanks

Chris

Edited February 5, 2023 by Chris Barnard

[Paul Brancato]

3 hours ago, Chris Barnard said:

Ultimately, we may never know. I think he or anyone else there was compelled to deny it until their deathbed. If you have any family, or a desire to be an old man someday, you would keep quiet. 
 

If we had some idea of his accounting and whether he has spikes of unexplained or dubious income, we may be closer to understanding it better.

 

I do think his presence should be taken seriously. 
 

Thanks

Chris

Thanks Steve - your response to Chris was very detailed, and included a $1million franc payment of unknown origin in the fall of 1963. News to me. I’m inclined to believe what Albarelli dug up about Souetre joining Skorzeny in Spain. 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

n the autumn of 1963, however, he received 1 million old francs which enabled him to buy a business on the beach in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.”

The OAS veterans who made it to the Balearic Islands were destitute.
I'm not sure about the 1 milliion francs. Quivy doesn't say who gave it to him.

http://jeanjviala.free.fr/1963 a 1965.htm

Thanks, Steve. I had no idea. I wonder if 50 years later is there is a way to determine the source of it?
 

And thanks @Paul Brancatoit was on my to do list. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Chris Barnard

[Guest]

The good news is that I have found Souetre’s next of kin, a few family members and an email address. Does anyone speak / write French very well, and have the diplomacy skills to perhaps ask some questions that don’t seem too invasive? 
 

 

[Steve Thomas]

3 hours ago, Chris Barnard said:

The good news is that I have found Souetre’s next of kin, a few family members and an email address. Does anyone speak / write French very well, and have the diplomacy skills to perhaps ask some questions that don’t seem too invasive? 
 

 

Deleted

Edited February 6, 2023 by Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

More than Skorzeny, I think a  more fruitful line of research would be to look at Souetre's relationship with Yves Guerin-Serac. It was Guerin-Serac who Souetre was with when they met with representatives of the CIA in Madrid in May of 1963.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Guérin-Sérac

Yves Guérin-Sérac, born Yves Guillou (also known as Jean-Robert de Guernadec or Ralf; 2 December 1926 – 9 March 2022^[1]) was a French anti-Communist Roman Catholic activist, former officer of the French army and veteran of the First Indochina War (1945–54), the Korean War (1950–53) and the Algerian War of Independence (1955–62). He was also a member of the elite troop of the 11ème Demi-Brigade Parachutiste de Choc, which worked with the SDECE (French intelligence agency), and a founding member of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS), a French terrorist group based in Spain which fought against Algerian independence in 1961-62.^[2] It was alleged that he was an instigator of the so-called strategy of tension in Italy, and the main organizer of the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing.^[3]

^{Steve Thomas}

[Chuck Schwartz]

Per " Coup in Dallas (page 43)",  "on May 23, 1963 Guerin-Serac .. met with CIA officials in Lisbon Portugal... Helms identified the purpose of the meeting...was to enlist the CIA in OAS efforts to assassinate.. DeGaulle."

[Chuck Schwartz]

When Helms died,  J. Morley wrote this essay on Helms...https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2002/11/the-nasty-career-of-cia-director-richard-helms.html

[Steve Thomas]

1 hour ago, Chuck Schwartz said:

Per " Coup in Dallas (page 43)",  "on May 23, 1963 Guerin-Serac .. met with CIA officials in Lisbon Portugal... Helms identified the purpose of the meeting...was to enlist the CIA in OAS efforts to assassinate.. DeGaulle."

Chuck,

Sorry. I mis-spoke - it was Lisbon.

Steve Thomas