July 7, 1883 - Pierre Laval
His trajectory from socialist labor lawyer to the most prominent collaborationist politician in occupied Western Europe remains one of the starker reversals in twentieth-century political history. As head of government under Vichy France from 1942 to 1944, Laval actively facilitated the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews to Nazi death camps, at times going beyond German demands. His earlier career — defending strikers, opposing the First World War — makes the ideological distance he traveled all the more consequential as historical record.
From Wikipedia
Pierre Jean Marie Laval (French: [pjɛʁ laval]; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vichy France. After the war, Laval was tried as a Nazi collaborator and executed for treason.
A socialist early in his life, Laval became a lawyer in 1909 and was famous for his defence of strikers, trade unionists and leftists from government prosecution. In 1914, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), and he remained committed to his pacifist convictions during the First World War. After his defeat in the 1919 election, Laval left the SFIO and became mayor of Aubervilliers. In 1924 he returned to the Chamber as an independent, and was elected to the Senate three years later. He also held a series of governmental positions, including Minister of Public Works, Minister of Justice and Minister of Labour.
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