1. Albert Gazier escaped arrest by the Gestapo, made his way to England, and represented the trade union movement in General de Gaulle's Free French government.
67 Facts About Albert Gazier
1. 2.
Albert Gazier was Minister of Information from 1950 to 1951 and again for two weeks in 1958.
3.
Albert Gazier was Minister of Social Affairs from 1956 to 1957.
4.
Albert Gazier was born in Valenciennes, Nord, on 16 May 1908.
5.
Albert Gazier's family adhered to Jansenism, and has been traced to a peasant family in 1814 in Taverny, to the north of Paris.
6.
Albert Gazier's parents were Felix Gazier and Victorine Louise Gonet.
7.
Albert Gazier's father taught literature at the Lycee de Valenciennes, and was co-editor of a major edition of the works of Pascal.
8.
Albert Gazier's father was mobilized at the start of the war and became an infantry captain.
9.
Albert Gazier died on 20 September 1916 at Bouchavesnes, in the Somme, when Albert Glazier was 8 years old.
10.
On 24 February 1920 Albert Gazier became a Pupil of the Nation.
11.
Albert Gazier's family moved to Paris, where Albert was admitted to the Lycee Condorcet.
12.
Albert Gazier obtained a baccalaureat in philosophy and mathematics in 1925.
13.
At the age of 20 Albert Gazier obtained a job on 31 May 1928 with the bookstore of the Presses Universitaires de France in the Latin Quarter of Paris.
14.
Albert Gazier enrolled in the Faculty of Law of Paris, and studied in the evenings.
15.
Albert Gazier obtained his license as a lawyer in 1932.
16.
Albert Gazier joined the General Confederation of Labour in 1930.
17.
Albert Gazier created a section for book salespeople within the Union of Employees of the Paris Region, a union affiliated with the Federation of Employees headed by Oreste Capocci.
18.
Albert Gazier joined the French Socialist Party in 1932 as an activist in the Bois-Colombes section.
19.
Albert Gazier did not win, but did obtain the most votes of the Left, ahead of the communist candidate.
20.
In September 1935, Albert Gazier was elected secretary-general of the Union of Employees of the Paris Region, while continuing to work as a bookseller.
21.
Albert Gazier officially left the book shop on 30 April 1936, and became a full-time union employee.
22.
Albert Gazier ran unsuccessfully in the legislative elections of April 1936.
23.
At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 Albert Gazier enlisted voluntarily, despite having been exempted from military service in 1928.
24.
Albert Gazier served for ten months, then was demobilized in July 1940 after the German victory.
25.
Albert Gazier was reconfirmed as secretary general of the Union of Paris Region Employees on 6 October 1940.
26.
Albert Gazier opposed the policies of the Vichy government and of Rene Belin, the former secretary of the CGT who had become a minister.
27.
Albert Gazier was one of twelve union leaders who signed the manifesto of opposition to the occupation in the autumn on 1940.
28.
Albert Gazier's union continued to try to support workers, prevent layoffs and obtain wage increases.
29.
In September 1942 Albert Gazier refused to sit on the high council of the industrial economy.
30.
Albert Gazier was one of the founders of the Liberation-Nord movement of the French Resistance.
31.
Albert Gazier's union became one of the main sources of false identity cards in Paris.
32.
Albert Gazier was named one of the seven secretaries of the clandestine CGT.
33.
In 1942 Albert Gazier escaped arrest by the Gestapo, and in 1943 went into hiding.
34.
Albert Gazier was appointed CGT delegate to Free France, and on 19 October 1943 flew to London.
35.
Albert Gazier waited in a cow shelter near the village of Villevieux until the British airplane landed in a small field guarded by Resistance members, then flew to England with twelve other passengers.
36.
Albert Gazier went on from London to Algiers, where he represented the CGT in the Provisional Consultative Assembly convened by General Charles de Gaulle.
37.
Albert Gazier was part of the team that published the journal Resistance Ouvriere from 24 November 1944.
38.
In January 1945 Albert Gazier was with the CGT delegation that went to Moscow with Benoit Frachon.
39.
Albert Gazier accompanied Frachon to the World Trade Union Conference in London, and was appointed to the executive committee of the World Federation of Trade Unions.
40.
Albert Gazier was elected to the first National Constituent Assembly from 21 October 1945 to 10 June 1946 as deputy for the Seine department.
41.
Albert Gazier was opposed to both the communists and the Gaullists.
42.
Albert Gazier was under-secretary of state for the national economy and finance from 26 January 1946 to 24 June 1946 in the cabinet of Felix Gouin.
43.
Albert Gazier was reelected to the second National Constituent Assembly from 2 June 1946 to 27 November 1946.
44.
Albert Gazier was under-secretary of state for public works and transport from 24 June 1946 to 16 December 1946 in the cabinet of Georges Bidault.
45.
Albert Gazier was elected to the legislature on 10 November 1946.
46.
Albert Gazier was secretary of state for the presidency of the provisional government of Leon Blum from 16 December 1946 to 22 January 1947.
47.
Albert Gazier was a member of the executive committee of the SFIO from 1947 to 1969.
48.
Albert Gazier was Minister of Information from 12 July 1950 to 11 August 1951 in the cabinets of Rene Pleven and Henri Queuille.
49.
Albert Gazier was reelected to the legislature on 17 June 1951.
50.
Albert Gazier argued for participation of the SFIO in the government of Pierre Mendes France in 1954, a minority position.
51.
Albert Gazier did not think it was practical to give autonomy to Morocco and Tunisia while treating Algeria as an integral part of France.
52.
Albert Gazier felt the government had to work out how to give sovereignty to Algeria while being careful to protect the French population.
53.
Albert Gazier was again elected to the legislature on 2 January 1956.
54.
Albert Gazier was Minister of Social Affairs from 1 February 1956 to 6 November 1957 in the cabinet of Guy Mollet and the subsequent cabinet of Maurice Bourges-Maunoury.
55.
Albert Gazier drew up a proposal to limit increases in doctors' fees to the rate of inflation.
56.
Albert Gazier was concerned that the Israelis would respond to the presence of Iraqi troops in Jordan by occupying the West Bank.
57.
Albert Gazier pointed out that while Britain was obliged by treaty to support Jordan, France would have to support Israel, putting them on opposite sides.
58.
Albert Gazier pressed Eden on how he would react to an Israeli attack on Egypt, and Eden said he would not support the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser if that happened.
59.
Albert Gazier was Minister of Information from 17 May 1958 to 1 June 1958 in the short-lived government of Pierre Pflimlin.
60.
Albert Gazier had broken completely with the leadership of the SFIO.
61.
Albert Gazier lost his seat in the October 1958 elections.
62.
Albert Gazier criticized the encouragement of monoculture farming and lack of investment in industrial development.
63.
Albert Gazier said it was certain that the prophecies of Karl Marx would come true if socialist and unionist actions did not put an end to the absolute poverty of the workers.
64.
Albert Gazier supported the appointment of Francois Mitterrand to the leadership of the Socialist Party in June 1971.
65.
Albert Gazier sat on the steering committee and the executive board until 1972, then led the "group of experts".
66.
In 1981 Albert Gazier accepted a position as an adviser to Pierre Mauroy.
67.
Albert Gazier died on 2 March 1997 in Vanves, Hauts-de-Seine.