Laval, Josée (c. 1911—)

French daughter of Pierre Laval who staunchly defended her father. Name variations: Josee or José Laval; Josée de Chambrun; Mme de Chambrun; Comtesse de Chambrun. Born around 1911; daughter of Pierre Laval (1883–1945, prime minister of France and open collaborator with the Germans) and Eugenie (Claussat) Laval (daughter of Chateldon's mayor); married Count Réne de Chambrun (French military attaché in Washington at the time of the fall of France in summer of 1940), in 1935.

"In marrying Comte René de Chambrun, Mlle. José Laval … married into the Roosevelts, Longworths, and Murats, which is pyramidal for the granddaughter of a jolly Auvergnat innkeeper," wrote Janet Flanner in 1935. Josée Laval was born around 1911, the daughter of Eugenie Claussat Laval and Pierre Laval. Before he became prime minister of France and a Nazi collaborator, Pierre had been a provincial schoolteacher. Josée's family was poor during her childhood but extremely rich by the time she had reached her teen years.

After World War II, her father "was the most hated man in France," writes biographer Hubert Cole, "the focal point of the nation's shame and revulsion, its evil genius." On October 4, 1945, Charles de Gaulle's Provisional Government launched Pierre Laval's trial for treason. Even for a political tribunal, the proceedings were embarrassing. The jury screamed obscenities at the defendant, who was given no opportunity to introduce evidence. The prosecutor, several years previously, had volunteered to serve on Vichy's Denaturalization Commission, a vehicle for the deportation of Jews. After Laval's conviction, de Gaulle refused to order a retrial. On October 15, 1945, Pierre Laval nearly escaped the firing squad by swallowing poison in prison. Revived by a team of frantic doctors, he was shot several hours later.

Convinced that her father was the victim of a miscarriage of justice, Josée Laval fought for years to restore his reputation. She also published and wrote a preface for a collection of documents, Laval parle. Even Pierre Laval's enemies agreed that his trial had been scandalous and highly irregular. When some years later M. François-Ponset spoke before the French Academy extolling the virtues of Marshal Pétain and the villainy of Laval, Josée mailed a long statement to the French press which included letters from François-Ponset to her father, extolling his policies and political wisdom.

suggested reading:

Cole, Hubert. Laval: A Biography. Putnam, 1963.

de Chambrun, Réne. I Saw France Fall.