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Uncertain at first, Laval soon regained his old bearing. He dominated the chamber. He ignored judicial admonitions, whispered to reporters, half-bowed and smiled ingratiatingly at the Marshal. Though he knew he was not yet on trial, he also knew that his testimony was a prelude to his own fight for life.
Laval sought to identify himself and Pétain as partners in collaboration. He admitted that he had broadcast to the nation: "I hope for a German victory." But that broadcast, he added, "was approved by the Marshal."
Pétain rose stiffly from the dock. "I am
laboring under very violent emotion," the
old man quavered. "I objected to the phrase in question. ... I imagined that it had been deleted, so that I was aghast when it came over the air. ..."
Laval continued: collaboration was a double game to fool the Germans and insure French survival. . . . (Hoots of derision from the jury.) Shouted Laval: "Who in his right mind would have thought otherwise than that Germany would win the war?" . . . (The hoots swelled into a roar.) Screamed Laval: "I am not a Nazi. I am not a fascist. ... I hate war—even when we win, and we always lose. ... I love the republic. ... I resent being called Pétain's 'evil genius'. . . ."
The witness continued: he was not responsible for the murders of French patriots by Vichyminister Joseph Darnand's notorious "Blackbird" militia. He had denounced no one. In fact, he personally had saved ex-Premier Reynaud and Léon Blum from Gestapo execution. The prosecution confronted Laval with a letter he had written to Pétain: "... A few spectacular executions will prevent disorder and anarchy. . . ." Cried Laval: "I respect human life." (Searing laughter in the courtroom.)
"And I Refused." The witness concluded: the Marshal, and by implication he himself, had played the double game in North Africa. They had secretly ordered help for the Allies, but publicly they had sided with the Axis. And, added Laval, he had refused to help organize a puppet French government in Germany after the liberation of France. . . .
The Marshal rose to interrupt: "And I refused. . . ."
Then Pierre Laval, his testimony finished, shuffled out under heavy guard.
* Laval and Pétain.