Robert Brasillach is a fascinating figure.
For those unaware, he was an intellectual who openly held Fascist sympathies in Vichy France expressed in the newspaper Je suis partout which he edited. Infamously, he was executed by the state for his role as editor, which included publishing the names and addresses of various Jews and members of La Resistance. He later spent his time promoting collaboration and German victory, and also called for the execution of political opponents in his paper. His execution is controversial because his crimes, rather than militaristic or political, were intellectual, raising serious questions about the role of speech in wartime and the degree which one could be held culpable for the content of one's words.
On one hand, he called for the execution/deportation of thousands of people. He wasn't a passive agent who merely spoke his mind. He backed up his calls for execution by literally doxxing the Jews and dissenters during that time. On the other hand, other collaborators guilty of similar crimes were given meager sentences while he faced the highest possible penalty.
So tell me. How culpable do you believe Brasillach was? Were his deeds worthy of execution? Would you have acquitted Brasillach? Tried him for crimes against humanity the same way you would a military general?
>>1421848
Who were the similar criminals?
I wouldn't have executed any of them, I would have put them in prisons, thrown away the keys and see what happens. Not because they're fascists, but because what they did resulted in innocent people being executed.
If they get killed in their for being traitors in the prisons, so be it, and the same goes for if they don't.
>>1421848
He did basically the job of an informator. I dont see intellectual work about those deeds. Maybe about the rest of what he did, but denuncing people is sure not an intellectual work.
It's not because someone is labelled, or an intellectual overall, that all he does is intellectual work.
>>1421848
Aiding genocide is a heinous crime and those other collaborators should have been given harsher sentences.
The handling of the Rwandan genocide was quite exemplary: People such as Kabuga, Ruggiu and Bemeriki who were involved with RTLM, the radio responsible for broadcasting calls for genocide and giving out the position of groups of Tutsi to massacre, were charged with complicity in genocide or public incitement to commit genocide and ended up in prison (except for those still on the run.)
>>1421848
>his crimes, rather than militaristic or political, were intellectual
Did any Jews were killed with the help of what Brasillach published (like information on whereabouts or incitement)? If yes, then his crimes weren't "intellectual". He was an accessory to murder, plain and simple.
>>1421866
>Who were the similar criminals?
Julius Streicher. Never killed anyone, his antisemitic publication did much to dehumanize Jews in the German society.
I used to think his punishment was excessive, but I didn't know about this:
>publishing the names and addresses of various Jews and members of La Resistance
Fuck him, he had it coming.
