Dominique Venner

Dominique Venner
Born April 16, 1935 (1935-04-16) (age 76)
Paris, French Third Republic
Occupation Writer, historian, editor,
soldier, activist
Nationality French
Notable work(s) Le Coeur rebelle,
Baltikum : dans le Reich de la défaite, le combat des corps-francs, 1918-1923,
Histoire et Tradition des Européens : 30000 ans d'identité,
Ernst Jünger : Un autre destin européen
Notable award(s) Broquette Gonin Price, 1981 (issued by the Académie française)

Dominique Venner (born April 16, 1935, in Paris) is an award-winning French historian, journalist and writer. Venner is a former militant of the ultra-right and later became a European nationalist before withdrawing from politics to focus on a career as a historian. He specializes in military and political history. He is currently the editor of the La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, a bimonthly history magazine.

Contents

Youth

The son of an architect who had been a member of Doriot's Parti populaire français [1](the PPF), he volunteered to fight in the Algerian War, and served until October 1956. Upon his return to France he joined the Jeune Nation (Young Nation) movement. Following the violent suppression of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution he participated in the sack of the office of the French Communist Party on November 7, 1956.[2] Along with Pierre Sidos, he helped found the short-lived Parti Nationaliste (Nationalist Party) and was involved with the Mouvement populaire du 13-mai (Popular Movement of May 13) led by General Chassin. As a member of the Organisation de l'Armée Secrète, he was jailed for 18 months in La Santé Prison as a political undesirable. He was freed in 1962.

Political writing and activism

Upon his release from prison in the autumn of 1962, Venner wrote a manifesto entiled Pour une critique positive (Towards a positive critique), which has been compared by some to Vladimir Lenin's What is to be done?,[3] as it became a "foundational text of a whole segment of the ultra-right".[4] In the manifesto, Venner explored the reasons for the failure of the April 1961 coup and the divide that existed between "nationals" ("nationaux") and "nationalists" ("nationalistes") and called for the ceation of a single revolutionary and nationalist organisation, which would be "monolithic and hierarchical" and composed of young, "disciplined and devoted" nationalist militants who would be ready for "combat".

In January 1963, he created (with Alain de Benoist) a movement and magazine called “Europe-Action”, which he later led. He went on to found the Éditions Saint-Just, which operated in tandem with Europe-Action, and which was composed of nationalists, Europeanists, members of the Fédération des étudiants nationalistes (Federation of Nationalist Students), former OAS members, young militants and former collaborators like Lucien Rebatet. He was a member of Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne (GRECE) (Research and Study Group for European Civilization) from its beginning until the 1970s.[5] He also created, with Thierry Maulnier, the Institut d'études occidentales (IEO) (Institute of Western Studies), and its revue, Cité-Liberté (City-Liberty), founded in 1970. The IEO was an enterprise that worked in parallel and in tandem with GRECE[6] (« entreprise à la fois parallèle, concurrente et ouverte vis-à-vis du GRECE»), and the organisation attracted numerous intellectuals, including Robert Aron, Pierre Debray-Ritzen, Thomas Molnar, Jules Monnerot, Jules Romains, Louis Rougier, Raymond Ruyer and Paul Sérant. The IEO was anti-communist, pitted itself against what it saw as "mental subversion" (« la subversion mentale ») and supported "Western values" (« les valeurs occidentales »).[7] The IEO dissolved in 1971, the same year Venner ceased all political activities in order to focus on his career as a historian.

Career as a historian

Venner is a specialist regarding weaponry and hunting and has written several books on these subjects. His principal historical works are: Baltikum (1974), Le Blanc Soleil des vaincus (The White Sun of the Vanquished) (1975), Le Cœur rebelle (The Rebel Heart) (1994), Gettysburg (1995), Les Blancs et les Rouges (The Whites and the Reds)(1997), Histoire de la Collaboration (History of the Collaboration) (2000) and Histoire du terrorisme (History of Terrorism) (2002). His Histoire de l'Armée rouge (History of the Red Army) won the prestigious Prix Broquette-Gonin d'histoire awarded by the Académie française (the French Academy) in 1981.

In 1995, and with the advice of his friend François de Grossouvre, Venner published Histoire critique de la Résistance (Critical History of the Resistance), which highlighted the strong influence and presence of French nationalists in the Resistance (often called « vichysto-résistants »). The work was criticised by some for failing to probe Marshal Philippe Pétain's attitude towards the Resistance.[8]

More recently, Venner wrote Histoire et tradition des Européens (History and Tradition of the Europeans) (2002), in which Venner set out what he believed to be the common cultural bases of European civilisation, and in which he outlined his theory of "traditionalism" (a concept that, inter alia, assesses the specificities of each society and civilisation).

Venner served as editor in chief of the revue Enquête sur l'histoire (Study of History, or Historical Inquest) until its dissolution in the late 1990s. In 2002, he created La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire (The New Historical Revue, temporarily renamed the NRH in 2006), a bimonthly glossy magazine devoted to historical topics. The Revue has featured Bernard Lugan, Jean Tulard, Aymeric Chauprade, Alain Decaux, Jean Mabire, François-Georges Dreyfus, Jacqueline de Romilly and former ministers Max Gallo and Alain Decaux. He is a co-host of a radio program on Radio Courtoisie.

Certain of his books have been translated into English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

Critical reception

As noted above, Venner has been awarded a prestigious prize by l'Académie française for one of his historical works.

When it appeared that the NRH might be dissolved, journalist Christian Brosio (among others) sprang to its defence, claiming the revue was unique in its aesthetic presentation (« l'esthétique de [sa] présentation »), in its originality in the treatment of subjects covered (« l'originalité dans le traitement des sujets »), the depth of its analysis and the quality of its contributors (la « profondeur des analyses » et « la qualité de ses collaborateurs »).[9] Political scientist Gwendal Châton[10] has claimed that Venner has "integrated himself in the strategy of seeking out a newfound respectability: that of an intellectual", which he has used to "instrumentalise history to put history at the service of cultural struggle"[11] and that Venner's "traditionalism" and adherence to "European history and tradition" are a mere "rhetorical screen" designed to "mask" an "ideological continuity" from his earlier political activism (« s'intègre dans une habile stratégie de conquête d'une nouvelle respectabilité : celle de l'intellectuel » où « il s'agit d'instrumentaliser l'histoire pour la mettre au service du combat culturel »; « le “traditionalisme”, le recours à l'histoire et à la tradition européenne, n'est donc qu'un voile rhétorique masquant une continuité idéologique »).[12] Châton also alleges that Venner uses his historical revues to "manipulate history" in the guise of various rhetorical techniques[13] ( « des manipulations de l'histoire, opérées par l'usage de différentes stratégies rhétoriques »).

University Professor Christopher Flood has noted that the revue generally adheres to a right-wing outlook, commenting: "[...] the overall flavour has been persistently, if subtly, revisionist".[14] While adhering to Chauprade's views on the conflict of civilisations, the NRH does not contain explicitly racist themes. In an editorial Venner commented that "The Japanese, the Jews, the Hindus and other peoples possess that treasure that has permitted them to confront the perils of history without disappearing. It is their misfortune that the majority of Europeans, and especially the French, are so impregnated with universalism that this treasure is lacking"[15]

Works

References

  1. ^ Notice biographique dans le Tome 1 du Dictionnaire de la politique française d'Henry Coston (1967).
  2. ^ Les Actualités françaises [archive], 14 novembre 1956; La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire n°27, p. 52.
  3. ^ Pierre Milza, Fascismes français, passé et présent, Flammarion, 1988, p. 320
  4. ^ Pierre Milza, L'Europe en chemise noire. Les extrêmes droites en Europe de 1945 à aujourd'hui, Flammarion, collection « Champs », 2002, p. 193. In footnote 1 on p. 443 Milza notes, inter alia: "In December 1982, during the Congress of the Party of New Forces, Roland Hélie, of the Party's political executive, suggested members reread Venner's text", « En décembre 1982, lors du congrès du Parti des forces nouvelles, Roland Hélie, membre du bureau politique, conviait les militants à une relecture du texte de Venner ». Cf. Pierre-André Taguieff, « La stratégie culturelle de la “Nouvelle Droite” en France (1968-1983) », in Vous avez dit fascismes ?, ed. Robert Badinter, Paris, Arthaud/Montalba, 1984, pp. 13-52.
  5. ^ Nouvelle École, août-septembre 1968.
  6. ^ According to Pierre-André Taguieff
  7. ^ see Pierre-André Taguieff, Sur la Nouvelle Droite. Jalons d'une analyse critique, « Descartes et cie », 1994).
  8. ^ Bénédicte Vergez-Chaignon, Les Vichysto-résistants : de 1940 à nos jours, Perrin, 2008, p. 721.
  9. ^ « Une revue d'histoire menacée », Valeurs actuelles, 28 juillet 2006.
  10. ^ Gwendal Châton, « L'histoire au prisme d'une mémoire des droites extrêmes : Enquête sur l'Histoire et La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, deux revues de Dominique Venner », dans Michel J. (dir.), Mémoires et Histoires. Des identités personnelles aux politiques de reconnaissance, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, coll. « Essais », 2005, pp. 213-243.
  11. ^ Gwendal Châton, « L'histoire au prisme d'une mémoire des droites extrêmes : Enquête sur l'Histoire et La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, deux revues de Dominique Venner », dans Michel J. (dir.), Mémoires et Histoires. Des identités personnelles aux politiques de reconnaissance, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, coll. « Essais », 2005, p. 221-222.
  12. ^ Gwendal Châton, « L'histoire au prisme d'une mémoire des droites extrêmes : Enquête sur l'Histoire et La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, deux revues de Dominique Venner », dans Michel J. (dir.), Mémoires et Histoires. Des identités personnelles aux politiques de reconnaissance, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, coll. « Essais », 2005, p. 227.
  13. ^ Gwendal Châton, « L'histoire au prisme d'une mémoire des droites extrêmes : Enquête sur l'Histoire et La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, deux revues de Dominique Venner », dans Michel J. (dir.), Mémoires et Histoires. Des identités personnelles aux politiques de reconnaissance, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, coll. « Essais », 2005, p. 233
  14. ^ Journal of European Studies, no 35(2), p. 221-236.
  15. ^ (« Les Japonais, les Juifs, les Hindous et d'autres peuples possèdent ce trésor qui leur a permis d'affronter les périls de l'histoire sans disparaître. Pour leur malheur, la plupart des Européens, particulièrement les Français, imprégnés qu'ils sont d'universalisme, en sont dépourvus»). Venner, La NRH, n°8 (éditorial)

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