Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Georges Albertini papers,
Date (inclusive): 1938-1986
Collection number: 80104
Creator:
Albertini, Georges, 1911-1983
Extent:
16 ms. boxes
(6.6 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, reports, notes, and other writings, relating to political conditions in France, communism in France,
international communism, and anti-communist movements.
Language:
French
Collection is open for research.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Georges Albertini papers, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.
Initally acquired in 1980.
Increments may have been received since this finding aid was prepared. Please check Stanford University's online catalog Socrates
at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat to find the full extent of the collection.
| 1911 | Born, Chalon-sur-Saône, France |
| 1932 | Joins the French Socialist Party |
| 1942-1944 | Secretary-General, Rassemblement Natonal Populaire |
| 1944 | Cabinet secretary for Marcel Dé, Minister of Labor in Vichy government |
| Tried and sentenced for collaboration with German occupation | |
| 1945-1948 | Imprisoned |
| 1949 | Meets Boris Souvarine, who becomes his associate |
| 1949-1983 | Edits and publishes the Bulletin d'études et d'informations politiques internationales, which in 1956 becomes Est-Ouest |
| 1951 | Amnestied by French government |
| 1969-1974 | Advisor to French president Georges Pompidou |
| 1983 | Died |
Acquired in 1967, with major increments received in 1980 and 1985, the Georges Albertini papers in the Hoover Institution
Archives consist largely of Albertini's extensive files on French political life over three decades following World War II,
with a major emphasis on the role of the French Communist Party during this period.
The principal biography of Albertini is entitled
L'homme de l'ombre, or "the man of the shadows," and this seems an apt description of Albertini's role as a chronicler and confidant, a man
operating in the corridors as an adviser to leading figures in the French establishment while pursuing a consistently anti-Communist
agenda as the editor and publisher of his own political newsletter and journal.
Given his past as a collaborator with the German occupiers of France, activity for which he was tried and convicted, Albertini
would at first glance seem to be an unlikely candidate for the role of political insider in postwar France. However, he emerged
from prison with his connections to the French political elite largely intact, and with a clear conception of his part as
purveyor of information on the French Communist Party to conservative and socialist opponents of the communists. Moreover,
in choosing Boris Souvarine as his principal associate, Albertini benefited from Souvarine's intimate knowledge of the international
communist movement, and the publication they produced,
Est-Ouest, became a journal of reference for many in the French political class.
Throughout his life, Albertini kept meticulous records of his many meetings with French politicians, journalists, and businessmen.
These can be found in the NOTES, which, in addition to summaries of Albertini's activities, include correspondence and reports.
The notes provide extensive information on such subjects in modern French history as the war in Algeria, the May-June revolt
of 1968, and rivalries among conservative politicians. The main focus of Albertini's political undertakings was to document
the workings of the French Communist Party, and the notes contain detailed information on the finances, publications, and
internal politics of the French C.P. Albertini was keen to counter what he perceived to be communist influence in other parts
of the world, and there is a considerable amount of material in the papers relating to Latin America and Africa.
Albertini's sources of information included contacts within the French security services, and there are some reports emanating
from the French political police, the Renseignements Généraux, in the chronological section of the NOTES, especially for 1968
and immediately after. There are also internal reports and minutes of meetings relating to the functioning of Albertini's
research organization, the Centre d'Archives et de Documentation. These can be found in the topical section of the NOTES.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the repository's online public access catalog.
Communism--France.
Social history.
Communism.
Anti-communist movements.
France--Politics and government--20th century.