
.
.Albert
LEBRUN
Albert Lebrun
(29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician, President
of France from 1932 to 1940, and as such was the last president of
the Third Republic.
He was a member of the center-right Democratic
Republican Alliance (ARD).
Born to a farming family in
Mercy-le-Haut, Meurthe-et-Moselle, he attended the École
Polytechnique and the École des Mines, graduating from
both at the top of his class. He then became a mining engineer in
Vesoul and Nancy, but left that profession at the age of 29 to
enter politics.
Lebrun gained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 1900 as a
member of the Left Republican Party, later serving on the cabinet
as Minister for the Colonies from 1912-1914, Minister of War in
1913 and Minister for Liberated Regions, 1917-1919.
Joining the
Democratic Alliance, he was elected to the French senate from
Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1920, and served as Vice President of
the Senate from 1925 through 1929. He was president of that body
from 1931-1932.
Lebrun was elected president of France following the
assassination of president Paul Doumer by Pavel Gurgulov on 6 May
1932. Re-elected in 1939, largely because of his record of
accommodating all political sides, he exercised little power as
president. On 10 July 1940, Lebrun was replaced by
Philippe Pétain (although Lebrun never officially resigned) as
head of state by a vote of the parliament.
He then fled to
Vizille (Isère) on 15 July, but was captured on 27 August 1943
when the Germans moved into the region and was sent into captivity
at the
Itter Castle in
Tyrol. On 10 October 1943 he was allowed to return to Vizille
due to poor health, but was kept under constant surveillance.
On 9 August 1944, when the Allies restored the French
government, Lebrun met with
Charles de Gaulle and acknowledged the General's leadership,
saying that he had not formally resigned as president because the
dissolution of the National Assembly had left nobody to accept his
resignation.
After the war, Lebrun lived in retirement. He died of pneumonia
in
Paris after a protracted illness.
Lebrun has several well-known descendants in various countries,
including the famous socialite
Elisha Stenzel who is also related to Lebrun through her
great-grandmother.
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