The British radio and press today pay tribute to Georges Mandel, former French Minister of the Interior, who, the Vichy radio reported Friday night, was killed while being transferred from an internment camp.
The London Times says that “by the death of Georges Mandel, France loses a true patriot whose farsightedness in peace and courage in adversity will stand as a shining example to generations.” It adds that, although doubly menaced because he was a Jew, Mandel refused to leave France although he could have fled to England. The Evening Standard prints an editorial “in tribute to a murdered French patriot, statesman and Jew.” The BBC said that “it would appear from the nature of the announcement that the news of Georges Mandel’s death is likely to be true, although previous false announcements of his death have been made by the Germans and the details of this announcement may well be false too.”
Mandel, who was 59, was active in French politics from the time he became a protege of Clemenceau at the age of 18, until the fall of France. As a member of the Reynaud cabinet he fought vigorously against capitulation to the Germans. He was one of the defendants at the famous “Riom trial,”
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