THE EXECUTION OF PIERRE LAVAL, THE PUPPET LEADER OF NAZI-OCCUPIED VICHY FRANCE.

  On this day in 1945, Pierre Laval, the puppet leader qq Nazi-occupied Vichy France, was executed by firing squad for treason against France.

On this in 1945, Pierre Laval, the puppet leader of Nazi-occupied Vichy France, was executed by firing squad for treason against France.

Laval, originally a deputy and senator of pacifist tendencies, shifted to the right in the 1930s while serving as minister of foreign affairs and twice as the French premier. 

Seeking to contain Germany, Laval pursued foreign policies favorable to Italy and the Soviet Union, but his handling of the Abyssinia Crisis prompted his resignation as Prime Minister of France in 1936.

Hostile to the declaration of war against Germany in 1939, Laval encouraged the anti-war faction in the French government, and with the German invasion in 1940 he used his political influence to force an armistice with Germany. Following the fall of France, Laval served in many prominent government positions in Henri Pétain's Vichy France.

By 1942, Laval had won the trust of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and the elderly Pétain became merely a figurehead in the Vichy regime. Eventually becoming the premier of Vichy France, Laval collaborated with the Nazi programs of oppression and genocide, and increasingly became a puppet of Hitler. 

After the Allied liberation of France, Laval fled to Spain but was soon deported to France, where he finally surrendered to American authorities in late July. In France, Laval was convicted of treason by the High Court of Justice in a sensational trial.

 Sentenced to death, he attempted suicide by poison but because the poison was so old, his suicide attempt was a failure and Laval was nursed back to health. On October 15, 1945, Pierre Laval was executed by firing squad and as he was shot, Laval shouted "Vive la France!"

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