From the archives: The execution of Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was shot to-day at 12.32 after a vain attempt to poison himself had delayed his execution. [Laval had been Vichy prime minister, detested notably for a scheme by which one French prisoner of war was released for every three French skilled workers sent to work in Germany. He was convicted of treason.]
When his advocates told him last night that General de Gaulle would not commute the sentence or the Minister of Justice order a retrial, Laval had been composed and cheerful. When this morning at 8.45am, Mornet, the Procurator General, came to him to inform him that he was to be executed at 9.30, Laval was lying in bed.
Without replying, he put his head under the blankets. His advocates thought that he had had a moment of weakness and one of them raised the blanket to ask him to master himself, but saw at once from Laval's appearance that he must have taken poison. He was already losing consciousness. He had in fact drunk from a bottle of cyanide of potassium which he still held, but in his hurry he had not drained the bottle and had not shaken it before drinking. Immediate medical attention prevented his attempted suicide, and half an hour later Laval was again conscious. A letter by his bedside ran as follows:
To my advocates - for their information: to my executioners - for their shame. I refuse to be killed by French bullets. I will not make French soldiers accomplices in a judicial murder. I have chosen my death - the poison of the Romans, which I have carried with me through my long wanderings and which has escaped the searchings of my guards.
I wish to be buried with the Tricolour scarf round my neck. I die because I loved my country too much. My last thought is for France.
While Laval was being restored to the degree of consciousness required by French law for a man to be executed, the firing squad was brought from the Fort of Chatillon, where the execution was originally to have taken place, to the prison at Fresnes. Laval put on one of the white ties which he had worn for years and wrapped the Tricolour scarf round his neck.
Arrived at the place of execution, he said to the Procurator General, "I pity you for the work you have done." Turning to the soldiers he said, "I pity you for having to execute this crime. Aim at my heart. Long live France!" At his request his eyes were not bandaged, but he was not allowed to give the order to fire.