Jean-Marie Perrot
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The abbot Jean-Marie Perrot, in Breton Yann Vari Perrot (September 3, 1877, Plouarzel-December 12, 1943, Scrignac) was a Breton priest.
He was raised in a provincial Breton-speaking family. After studying at the Institut des Frères des Écoles in Guingamp in 1889, he expressed a desire to become a priest. He left to study humanities at the Pont-Croix Youth Seminary. He spent one year in Brest with the 19th infantry regiment, then enrolled in the Quimper Seminary. He became vicar of Saint-Vougay in 1904, where he undertook the patronage of Paotred Sant-Nouga, where he formed study circles, a choir, and a theatre troupe for the youth. He is the uncle of Louis Lalouer.
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[edit] Activism for the Breton language
Perrot founded Bleun-Brug (Flower of Bruyère) in 1905, along with its magazine Feiz ha Breiz (Faith and Brittany), which he headed after 1911. He was named vicar of Saint-Thégonnec in March 1914. He was mobilized at Lesneven on August 5th but he asked to leave to volunteer for the Groupe des Brancardiers Divisionnaires. He was decorated after World War I. After 1910, he played an important role in Emsav, a Breton nationalist movement.
In 1920, he was named vicar of Plouguerneau. In 1922, he enjoyed Yves Floc'h (future painter) as his parson. Perrot patronized Michel Le Noblez and organized theatrical performances. Yves Floc'h painted the scenery for a play, and his gifts were noticed by the vicar.
From 1932, Perrot's secretary was Herry Caouissin. He was the author of countless articles and plays. He was stationed at Saint-Vougay, then transferred to Scrignac in 1930 by the episcopal hierarchy, who disliked his political activities. On July 8, 1941, he became part of the group of writers who adopted a unified orthography of the Breton language.
[edit] World War II
With the war, hostility toward his regard grew, with regular rumors on his account.
On October 16, 1939, telegraphic lines in the region of Huelgoat were cut. Abbot Perrot was accused by authorities of sabotage. The gendarmes searched his esate twice and interrogated him, but he was released as he had an alibi. A gendarme publicly accused him of cutting the wires, and he in turn accused him of defamation. Afterwards, an enquiry established that an army prisoner was responsible for cutting the wires. At the request of the colonel of the Gendarmie of Quimper, the abbot dropped his accusation of defamation.
During the war, he continued to produce Feiz ha Breiz. Braving the ban by Adolphe Duparc on celebrating Bleun-Brug's birthdays during the occupation, he organized the members of Bleun-Brug in Tréguier on the 29th and 30th of August to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Duke Jean V de Bretagne. In October 1942, he was named a member of the Comité Consultatif de Bretagne (CCB), a non-elected council put in place by Regional Prefect Jean Quénette to present propositions on Breton language and culture.
Later, his parsonage was partly requisitionned by the Germans and he was accused of harbouring them. On August 7, 1943, he was questioned, according to Henri Fréville's book, on the movement of the members of Bagadou Stourm, who stopped at Scrignac. Perrot sympathized strongly with the PNB. He was hospitable toward the Bagadou Stourm Youth, who moved around Finistère, where Yann Goulet and L’Haridon had been arrested by the French police and released by the Germans.
[edit] Assassination
On December 12, 1943, the abbot was killed by Jean Thépaut, a member of the PCF.
[edit] Exploitation of his Memory
After his death, Célestin Lainé recruited about sixty men who regrouped under the name Bezen Kadoudal. Ael Péresse, second-in-command to Laîné, suggested choosing the name Bezen Perrot instead. They collaborated with the Germans.
[edit] Legacy
Abbot Perrot was laid to rest at the chapel of Coat-Quéau, in Scrignac. His memory is always celebrated, especially on Easter Monday. The role of abbot Perrot was the source of controversy on "the Breton cause", notably between Ronan Caouissin and the director of the theatre troupe Ar Vro Bagan
Unvaniez Koad Kev was a law association created to maintain the legacy of abbot Perrot. Since 1957, the association has been administered principally by Youenn Craff. Tepod Gwilhmod was president from 2001 to 2003. In 2005, a crisis arose over an attempted takeover by Gérard Hirel, Roland de la Morinière, and Loig Kervoaz, all members of Adsav. The current president and chaplain are Yann Sanseau and abbot Blanchard.
[edit] Citations
- Yvon Tranvouez, in Bretagne et identités régionales pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale asserts that « …l'abbé Perrot fait partie de ces “nouveaux croisés” (…) qui, par phobie du communisme, ont été conduits à admettre la logique de la collaboration avec l'Allemagne, conçue conjoncturellement comme un moindre mal. Ce n'est donc pas, me semble-t-il, son nationalisme breton qui l'a conduit à cette extrémité et à ses conséquences fatales, mais plutôt son anticommunisme catholique, rigide et intransigeant. Au cœur du Léon, il ne lui en eût vraisemblablement rien coûté : à Scrignac, c'était suicidaire. »
"Abbot Perrot was one of the "new crusaders" (...) who, out of phobia of communism, were forced to admit the logic of collaborating with the Germans, seen as the lesser of two evils. It is not, it seems to me, his Breton nationalism that led him to this extremity and its fatal consequences, but rather his catholic anti-communism, rigid and uncompromising. At the heart of Léon, there was probably nothing for him to lose: at Scrignac, it was suicidal."
- Abbot Henri Poisson said in his book : « L’assassinat de l’abbé Jean-Marie Perrot, le 12 décembre 1943, plus connu, et à qui on ne pouvait reprocher que son ardente fidélité à la Bretagne, constitue un crime odieux et ne peut s’expliquer que par le régime d’anarchie et de totalitarisme qui fût la marque de cette période ».
"The assassination of abbot Jean-Marie Perrot, on December 12, 1943, well-known, and to who one could not reproach his ardent loyalty to Brittany, constituted a hateful crime and cannot be explained by the regime of anarchy and totalitarianism which marked this period."
- The freedom fighter Fañch Gourvil in 1990 : « L'abbé Perrot était bien connu pour ses attaches avec les Breiz Atao qui eux-mêmes… De là à en conclure, après la seconde arrestation de D., qu'il en portait la responsabilité, il n'y avait pas loin… En réalité, l'abbé, la bonté même, était bien incapable de nuire, même à un ennemi politique. Malheureusement, il avait des familiers, que vous connaissez aussi bien que moi et auquels, fort innocemment, il avait dû rapporter le fait incriminé, lequel fut joint à d'autres fait (…) le tout fut transmis à Quimper et enregistré, dans l'ordre, par celui qui, dans cette ville, centralisait les renseignements susceptibles d'interesser à quelque titre la Gestapo. La Résistance locale, à Scrignac, fut sans doute mise au courant du passage concernant D. dans cette liste. À la suite de quoi, le pauvre recteur « paya de sa vie » une dénonciation dont il n'était pas l'auteur »
"Abbot Perrot was well-known for his ties with the Breiz Atao who themselves... concluded, after the second arrest of D., that he was responsible, there wasn't far... In reality, the abbot, ever kind, was incapable of harming, even a political enemy. Unfortunately, he had close ties, who you as well as myself and others, innocently strong, he had brought home the incriminating fact, to which other joined to conspire (...) everything was transmitted to Quimper and recorded, in order, by someone in the village who centralized the susceptible information of inferest for the Gestapo. The local resistance, in Scrignac, was without doubt aware of the passage concerning D. on this list. After which, the poor rector "paid with his life" a denunciation which he was not the author."
[edit] Publications
- Alanik al Louarn. Pe "n'euz den fin n'en deuz e goulz". Pez c'hoari plijadurus rimet e daou Arvest, Brest, Moullerez "Ar c'hourrier", 1905
- Buez ar zent, Ar Gwaziou, Morlaix, 1911
