René Bousquet

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René Bousquet (French: [ʁəne buskɛ]; 11 May 1909 – 8 June 1993) was a high-ranking French political appointee who served as secretary general to the Vichy French police from May 1942 to 31 December 1943. For personal heroism, he had become a protégé of prominent officials before the war and had risen rapidly in the government. In 1949, Bousquet was automatically convicted as a Vichy official and sentenced to five years of dégradation nationale, but his sentence was reduced due to beliefs that he also aided the French Resistance and attempted to preserve some autonomy for French police during the German occupation. Excluded from the government, he went into business. After receiving amnesty in 1959, Bousquet became active again in politics by supporting left-wing politicians through the 1970s and becoming a regular visitor in the 1980s of François Mitterrand after his election as president. In 1989, after years of increasing accusations about his activities during the war, Bousquet was accused...

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