Wetzel was born to engineer Jacques Wetzel and nurse Hélène Durosoy in
Landerneau on 16 January 1950. He graduated from the
École normale supérieure in 1969 and earned an
agrégation in history in 1973. He taught history, geography, and civics across multiple middle and secondary schools across
Île-de-France from 1973 to 1986. He retired from teaching in 2011. While a student, Wetzel joined the Progrès et Liberté party, founded by
Jacques Soustelle. In
1983, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Sartrouville and joined the opposition bloc of the
Union for French Democracy and the CDS, which opposed the
French Communist Party in power, led by Mayor . On 17 January 1985, he was acquitted of a defamation charge against the late communist politician
Marcel Paul by the High Court of Versailles. In the
1985 French cantonal elections, he defeated the communist
François Hilsum with 56% of the vote to become General Councilor of the Canton of Sartrouville. Wetzel became Mayor of Sartrouville in
1989, defeating incumbent Auguste Chrétienne, who had served for 30 years. He was able to ride momentum against communist politicians in Europe after the
fall of the Berlin Wall. While in office, he renamed the
Nelson Mandela Municipal Hall after
Félix Éboué. He condemned a ruling by a criminal court against the President of the for violating an anti-racist law against housing discrimination after he refused to allocate social funds to house an Algerian immigrant. He also dealt with riots following the murder of an Algerian immigrant by a Tunisian security guard. Wetzel was re-elected as General Councilor of the Canton of Sartrouville in
1992 with 53% of the vote. In
1993, he was defeated in the second round by
Jacques Myard in the
National Assembly for
Yvelines's 5th constituency. In
1995, he was defeated by
Rally for the Republic candidate
Pierre Fond and lost his seat as mayor of Sartrouville. The First Administrative Court of Versailles cancelled the ballot at first due to an
involuntary commitment against Wetzel which took place on 18 June 1995. However, the
Conseil d'État later confirmed the election for Fond. In 2013, Wetzel failed to be elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Former Students
École normale supérieure, an election which he claimed to have been fraudulent. On 1 March 2017, he co-founded the Cercle InterHallier. Laurent Wetzel died on 12 October 2021, at the age of 71. ==Books==