A veteran of
World War I, Darquier had been active in
Fascist and
antisemitic politics in
France in the 1930s, being a member, at various times, of
Action Française,
Croix-de-Feu and
Jeunesses Patriotes. On 6 February 1934 he was injured at the
Place de la Concorde riot, and, according to
Janet Maslin, writing in
The New York Times in 2006, "parlayed (his) new status as a 'man of 6 February' into a leadership role." A British report in 1942 called him "one of the most notorious anti-semites in France". Darquier's ascent to this post immediately preceded the first mass deportations of
Jews from France to concentration camps. He was fired in February 1944 when, in Nicholas Fraser's words, "his greed and incompetence could no longer be countenanced." His successor was
Charles du Paty de Clam. On 10 December 1947 he was sentenced to
death in absentia, national degradation for life and the confiscation of his property by the French High Court of Justice for
collaboration. He was one of a number of French exiles, including
Abel Bonnard, Georges and Maud Guilbaud, and Alain Laubreaux. In 1978, a French journalist from ''
L'Express magazine interviewed him. Among other things, Darquier declared that in Auschwitz, gas chambers were not used to kill humans, but only lice, and that allegations of killings by this method were lies by the Jews. When L'Express'' published the interview, it caused an immediate scandal. The
extradition of Darquier was requested, but was refused by Spain. ==See also==