Here’s the Truth on Here’s the Truth

Here I reprint this article in the text of Vaincre as it appears in the Paul Smith Papers. The translation I use is his. The commentaries [in brackets], however, are mine. This article appears to have been published in Vaincre in January of 1943, following an attack on the Alpha Galates organization by au pilori, a pro-German/pro-Occupation publication formed to “pillory” and ferret out secret Jews and Freemasons.

I agree that at first glance, this looks like an attempt by an anti-Masonic organization to root out secret Masons and Jews from the Vichy government. Plantard did write a bizarre histrionic letter to Petain warning of Jews trying to manipulate France into a war against Germany. But strangely, many of the people attacked as “F/M” in this document were neither Masons nor Jews. In fact, there seems an undercurrent of hostility to the Vichy regime and its officials running through the document, and not merely because it was “compromised”.

It is written in careful, guarded, cryptic language. In early 1943, anybody hostile to Jews and Masons could have written quite openly and without fear, as the state policy of the Vichy regime was openly anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic. But there are things in this document which are curious indeed. It lacks the standard features of anti-Semitic diatribes of the period, including attacks on the “racial” attributes of Jews or their supposed control of Bolshevism in Russia.

A certain someone continually suggests I overlook the anti-Semitism in Vaincre. There is no question that its repeated slams against “Judaeo-Masonry” are par for the course and were there to please German or Vichy censors and auditors. But I find it odd indeed to call this group “anti-Masonic” and in fact throughout Vaincre I can find more slams against the Catholic Church than Jews. A clear reading of it shows that the thing it was most hostile to was France being Occupied and divided by the Germans.

At the same time as this was being published, another underground newsletter was being published, also called Vaincre. Its publishers were the Resistance network of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI). I cannot believe Alpha Galates would have been unaware of this and their choice of title.

PROLOGUE

to 'Here is The Truth'

[Commentary: this prologue to “Here’s the Truth” claims to have been written by Auguste Brizeux (although his name is mis-spelled.) He was a Breton poet-nationalist and a Celtic culture revivalist; and most notably he died in 1858, making it very difficult to have authored this prologue. IF THIS IS YOUR STANDARD POLITICAL MANIFESTO, ATTRIBUTING ITS PROLOGUE TO A DEAD PERSON IS A CURIOUS CHOICE.]

People say that "all-powerful Freemasonry has now been reformed", and yet Marqués-Rivière will shortly be presenting on our cinema screens an anti-Masonic film entitled "Occult Forces", while certain grandmasters of F\ M\ will tell you, when you talk to them about such matters: "No, we haven't reformed freemasonry - these are the activities of certain mischievous undesirables who are taking advantage of the present circumstances to put together again their little schemes of days gone by".

[Commentary: the individual referred to here is occultist Jean Marques-Riviere, whose interests in Eastern esotericism led him to make several voyages to Tibet and India. He also seems to have an involvement with the “Polaires” group. The film Forces Occultes was indeed noxious Vichy propaganda, trying to persuade people that Jews and Masons were trying to push France into war with Germany. Marques-Riviere was its screenwriter, but more notably, its director Jean Mamy (Paul Riche) wrote for au pilori.]

That the masses should understand nothing of such matters is perfectly normal, but our own people should acquire at least some understanding of the Great Truth by paying heed to the following brief explanation:

Preparations for the coming of Hitler to France had been going on since 1934, following the setback of 6 February - already at that time people wanted to sweep away this rabble of F\ M\ because by then the Temple had already been built, but the F\ M\ frustrated the manoeuvres of their masters on 6 February 1934, as they did once again in June 1940.

[Commentary: The reference to February 6^th, 1934 is to the “Stavisky Affair,” involving a Jewish financier accused of bribery and impropriety, and how Msr. Maurras of Action Francaise seized upon the incident to lead a series of anti-government riots. June 1940 was the date of the signing of the Franco-German armistice.

Again, this passage is a bit confusing. Is it really expressing approval of Action Francaise or Hitler? Or does it, in fact, suggest that the “little schemes” and “maneouvres” of these “F/M” to bring Hitler into France, are the real problem?]

At present there are three great movements: F\ M\ proper, the Masonic Temple, and finally the "High Initiates of the West".

1° The reconstituted F\ M\ (mixed forces), starting up its little schemes again and trying to sabotage all the Temple's initiatives.

2° The Temple (the dark forces), formed in full agreement by the masters of the old Franco-Anglo-German masonries, and struggling vigorously against, on the one hand, F\ M\ (which has become useless, e.g. the Templar Marqués-Rivière) and on the other the excessively European ideal of Chancellor Hitler (thus rendering impossible any entente with National Socialist Germany while appearing to be in agreement with such an idea).

3° The "High Initiates of the West" (the white forces), whose knowledge enables them to prevail easily over the masters of the Masonic Temple, and whose goal is to free the West from the Judaeo-Masonic yoke and thus participate in the work of renewal by combating with all their might both F\ M\ and the Masonic Temple.

[Commentary: this shows clearly that Alpha Galates is not anti-Masonic in toto. In its cosmology, “chivalric” Masonry, called the “High Initiates of the West”, are the “light forces”. The “Masonic Temple” is called the “dark forces”. And the “F/M” (which would appear to be the Grand Orient) are merely “mixed forces,” perhaps because they sometimes comply with their “masters” in the “dark forces”. And those “dark forces” are the “Temple” of Anglo-German Masons who favor entente with Germany and Hitler. At the time, Germany was increasingly co-opting the Masonic lodges in Europe that it was not shutting down. The “Temple” may be a reference to the Nazis’ art policy of condemning “degenerate” art in their infamous 1930s exhibits and attempting to construct an alternative “cleansed temple of art” in the House of German Art filled only with “Aryan” classicism.]

That's why Pierre de France has decided that it would be useful from now on to devote the last page of each of our monthly issues to documenting the activities of our own people under the title "VOILA LA VERITE" ("Here is the truth").

HERE'S THE TRUTH

No. 1 – Panic.

The F\ M\ de C… T…, a most profligate individual, upon learning of the speech delivered by Pierre de France, has suddenly been seized with panic and has decided to move to England, not wishing, no doubt, to feel indebted to his ancestors, certain "grandmasters of the Alpha", who betrayed the Order and France to the advantage of freemasonry.

We already know that some measures to this effect have been taken at the Red Cross; we can be sure that no obstacles will stand in the way of his escape, since one of the leading lights of this organisation is the F\ M\ de R.C…, father-in-law of C… T…, who also holds a senior position in a bank that is in the pay of freemasonry.

[Commentary: it’s not clear what individuals are being referred to here but it is interesting we twice see the initials R.C. in Red Cross and then this individual; R.C. = Rosy Cross or Rosicrucians. This section of the article is claimed by “Pierre de France,” one of the nationalist guises of the individual otherwise known as Pierre Plantard.

On this page, Vaincre contains an interesting cartoon. The caption is “Those Who Think They are the Masters.” Standing in front of a map of France is a curious figure. He has a prominent nose, but it is not the Semitic hook-nose. His hair looks like stylized horns, and there is a strange insignia over his eyes. He wears a Masonic apron and wears a sword and a cross. The latter two symbols would seem to indicate someone from “roscicrucian” or “chivalric” Freemasonry. Behind him is the ghostly presence of “A.G.” whose hand is on his shoulder. Is Alpha Galates saying they are his secret master, or reminding him not to forget about their presence?]

However, just between ourselves, we would like to remind these gentlemen that no matter where they may be, one day the hour of destiny will sound.

No 2 – A little bit of Modesty.

The Governor of the Alésia Arch informs us that the Jewish F\ M\ Achille Fould, ex-deputy for Lourdes, has just asked the F\ M\ Lamirand, the secretary-general for youth, if he can be appointed to the position of departmental councillor for the Hautes-Pyrénées.

This request was made on 25 December 1942 at an excellent banquet (for which the bread cards were provided by the F\ M\ Lamirand) at the château of the F\ M\ Achille Fould, at Saint-Julien-Beychevelle (Médoc). We would like to wager that within three months we shall be reading in the press about the appointment of the F\ M\ Achille Fould – this is a discreet announcement for the benefit of those of our very dear F\ M\ who are in search of a post.

[Commentary: M. Achille Fould was a member of a dynasty of French Jewish financiers who had inherited the vineyards and cheateau of Beychevelle. The original Achille Fould had been a Napoleonic finance minister. Strangely, “Pierre de France” will claim yet another M. Achille Fould as a coconspirator in his Gaullist “Committees of Public Safety” in 1958.

Georges Lamirand is attacked by name as a “F/M” several times in this ‘manifesto’. Over and over again the government is told to be suppressing the voices of young people. Well, Lamirand, the Youth Minister for Vichy, is actually profiled in the famous film Weapons of the Spirit. The young Christians of the village of Le Chambon presented Lamirand with demands that the Jews of the town be left alone. In response, the Vichy regime ordered the pastor of the village, Trocme, arrested and proceeded with deportations anyway. Are these the young people Lamirand is guilty of ignoring?]

No 3 – In three … lines.

Someone at one of our Arches draws our attention to the fact that, on 17 January, a string of Jews "expelled" from the Midi was skilfully "distributed" in the villages of the Creuse, after being officially assisted \ by the Government.

[Commentary: In three … lines seems like a hint that this passage is coded. The ellipses … would seem to indicate something is missing?

January 17^th is a date some people should recognize from other contexts. According to Mario IANNACCONE, it was a date of importance to the anti-Catholic Masonic movements in France, and referred to as such by Victor Hugo and Maurice Leblanc, who based his “gentleman-burglar” Arsene Lupin on the anarchist bandit Alexandre Marius Jacob, infamous for his blasphemous robberies of cathedrals.

The Vichy government often excused its deportations of Jews to concentration camps in the east by simply saying it was “assisting in their relocation”. This frankly seems like a sly way of commenting on this neutralizing euphemism for genocide.]

No 4 – La France juive [‘Jewish France’].

Do you know to whom fell the copyright and all the profits from the bookshop sales of La France Juive, Edouard Drumont’s monumental indictment of the Accursed Ones? Do you know who is growing fat on this money, shamelessly and without demur?

Why, it’s F\ M\ Bernard Lekah, known as "Lecache"! Bernard Lecache, the former director of Droit de Vivre [‘Right to Life’], an organisation for which so many eminent "current converts" have worked, the founder of the Ligue Internationale in France, Lecache the Jew!…

The story is an instructive one. Married to the granddaughter of Séverine – to whom Edouard Drumont entrusted the task of legally protecting his literary ‘œuvre’ as well the rights to the profits from them – the Jew Lecache became the owner of these rights on Séverine’s death. As a result it was he who, in 1938, gave the publisher Flammarion permission to print La France Juive! Today the F\ M\ Lecache is in North Africa, working in the service of Judaeo-freemasonry.

[Commentary: Bernard Lecache was one of the founders of LICRA, an organization in France committed to combating anti-Semitism. “Severine” was the pen-name of Caroline Remy de Guebhard, a socialist and anarchist-feminist, and one of the defenders of Alfred Dreyfus, who Drumont (among others) attacked. She also was one of the founders of LICRA and Lecache wrote her biography. His enemies did often refer to him, antagonistically, as the Jew “Lekah”.

Much of the rest of the story I can’t seem to confirm. I don’t think Lecache was married to her grand-daughter, nor can I see any possible reason why Drumont would have transferred his literary rights to an ideological opponent. So I can’t see how Lecache could have, in 1938, “given the green light” for Flammarion to republish Drumont’s infamous anti-Semitic work. Even the nature of the accusation is bizarre; it seems to be angry at Lecache primarily for not defending the interests of his people.

Incidentally, at the time this says Lecache was “working in the service of Freemasonry,” he was actually imprisoned in Algeria by the Gestapo.]

No 5 – The fraternal Centre.

The skier’s paradise Mégève has become a centre of black market activity, and a place where certain dark nights are illuminated by the bright lights of cabarets and dance halls. Moreover, our eminencies \ of the Vichy regime, though fattened up by the F\ M\ Lamirand, have come to finish their course of treatment in this chosen land, close to the serene mountain peaks.

Some young people are also coming to take refuge in this promised land, from where they take a plane to England. So Mégève has now become the land of hope and glory, the snowy land of exile of celebrities and a centre of the international brotherhood.

[Here “Pierre de France” seems to be alluding to the fact that, indeed, the ski resort of Megeve was owned by the Rothschild family, and “young people taking refuge in the promised land,” i.e. Jews, were using this as a route of escape to England during WW II.

Is Vaincre here suggesting a route of escape, or trying to help the authorities catch these fugitives? The vagueness AND REFERENCES TO “HOPE” here seems to suggest the former rather than the latter.]

No 6 – L’Action Libératrice

The F\ M\ Jean Dearx has just formed, at Roubaix, a group called "L’Action Libératrice" [‘Liberating Force’] with the support of the local Mayor Victor Provo, M. Kléber Sory and the F\ M\ Roufflard (S.F.I.O., Section française de l’Internationale ouvrière); on this occasion the delegation sent a request to the Jewish F\ M\ Rohabach, secretary to the F\ M\ Lamirand, to have the F\ M\ Robert Laroche, Chief Superintendent of the Lille police, join their numbers.

When can we expect Robert Laroche to be appointed to Roubaix?

[Commentary: the towns of Roubaix and Lille were centers of the clandestine press in the 1940’s. Jean Lebas, the mayor of Roubaix, wrote “L’Homme Libre” (The Free Man), an underground paper attacking the Occupation. “Jean Dearx” looks like a pun on his name, converting it to/from “Jeanne D’Arc”. Additionally, Roubaix and Lille seem to have been centers of the Sillonist movement of Marc Sangnier, a Personalist Catholic youth/worker movement that often was at loggerheads with the Catholic right and the Vichy regime.]

No 7 – The Ram

The spokesman M… D… has boasted to M. Louis Le Fur this week that their movement was going to adopt the sign of the Ram as a way of defining their struggle. Well here we are at last!

The F\ M\ consider the sign of the Ram to be the first zodiacal sign of the year, "The sound of the bell", and Master F\ M\ consider it to be "the symbol of the initiates, the guides of man".

Moreover, in Hermeticism it represents "the instrument (The falling-in of the Milice) breaking down the gates (Arches) of Troy (Trident), the town (City) under siege, the walls (Chivalry) of which were built by Poséidon (the Lily) and in the fortress of which, Pergamum (Summit), is held captive the beautiful Helen (Hell. Henn)".

Our thanks to M… D… for his advice, which we shall certainly take into account from now on.

[Commentary: Does it not seem odd that we suddenly turn from presumed hunts for Jewish Freemasons haunting the Vichy regime to Hermetic codes found in the work of Paul Lecour?

Elsewhere in Vaincre, the work of Paul LeCour is frequently cited, in particular in the story of “The Legend of Ram”. LeCour was fascinated by the precession of the equinoxes and the concept of Zodiacal Ages, and the “Legend of Ram” discusses his conception that the Age of Aries (The Ram) had given way to the Age of Pisces (Christ) but that in turn in our era both were giving way to the “Age of Aquarius”, which LeCour calculated to begin in 1937. Long before the musical Hair was hitting theatres in the 1960’s, LeCour was suggesting the new Age of Aquarius was going to end old institutions like the Church and bring new pan-European ones into existence.

The “Legend of Ram” is also a reference to Rama, the protagonist of the Hindu Ramayana saga, who in the hands of European occultists was transformed into a Celtic Hyperborean warrior chief named “Ram”.

Alpha Galates seems to have gone to great pains to suggest it began in 1937, even though “Pierre de France” was 17 years old at the time. This most likely has to do with its attempts to suggest it coincided with LeCour’s new Aquarian era of Peace, and not with the NATIONAL FRONT regime or any political events in France.

The strange passage here refers to Lecour’s curious Hermetic code-phrasing, showing how current events relate to the saga of the Trojan War, which if you see in its original could look like a cry of concern over the German siege of Paris.]

No 8 – Lamentations.

A man bemoans the delays in the national revolution and demands a system of justice with a government that’s up to the job!

Could this be a forerunner of the new Order?

Unfortunately Maurice Gabolte, the Republic’s Public Prosecutor at the Court of the Seine, the éminence grise of the G\ O\ [Grand Orient], owes his many promotions only to his services to the F\ M\ , so his complaints are purely the result of self-interest.

Did not a certain F\ M\ Hubert Lagardelle assure him one day, while he was compromising his principles in some rather shady matter, that "if I ever become a Minister, then you will be the Minister of Justice"; so if the F\ M\ Lagardelle has forgotten this promise, the éminence grise Gabolte has a good enough memory and the requisite ambition, and so ventures to remind us of his friendly and fraternal presence while bemoaning a lack of … justice.

[Commentary: what “principles” did Hubert Lagardelle compromise in joining the Vichy regime as Minister of Labor? Well, originally he was an anarcho-syndicalist, opposed to the state and capitalism, preferring free autonomous associations of workers. Apparently, in his later life, he moved to the right, and had no problem being part of the Vichy state. Vaincre appears not to approve of this loss of principles.]

No 9 – Definition.

When the F\ M\ say "Young people are our future!" all they mean is "Stop them from being the Present".

[Commentary: Once again, the main accusation of Vaincre seems to be that the state is ignoring its young people. This seems directly leveled at Vichy Youth Minister Georges Lamirand.]

People mentioned in the pages of Vaincre

The following people are mentioned in Vaincre, either as authors for articles, or as members of Alpha Galates. Note that it is possible the articles attributed to them are not by them (in many cases, this seems almost certain), but it is still worth noting who they were, as they would then seem to constitute the type of people the group wanted to present itself as having.

Georges “Count Israel” Monti: Various sources suggest Plantard was this man’s protégé and that he was the founder of Alpha Galates. This appears to be unlikely, given that Monti died from poisoning (some say for espionage) in 1936. However, it’s not impossible that “Pierre de France” met him at the age of 16, perhaps through some type of youth program. Monti was a filmmaker and artist, an amanuensis of the Rosicrucian artist-occultist Josephin Peladan, and a controversial figure as well. Certain sources indicate he also had anti-Semitic leanings, but then also indicate that he joined B’nai B’rith in order to learn the secrets of the Jewish initiates. And that is a most curious name choice…

Maurice “Le Comte de Moncharville”: This gentleman’s actual name appears to have been Maurice Lecomte, and he had no actual title as Count of Moncharville. He seems to have written a PhD dissertation on the heraldry of Monaco. He is identified as Pierre’s predecessor, and also identified as the head of France’s mission to Tibet. So far, I can’t find any evidence that he was on the faculty of Strasbourg or that he headed any French Tibetan mission. But the description of his expedition to Tibet and his meetings with the Dalai Lama are clearly fantastical in nature. Some say the stories in Vaincre of his Tibetan journey are based on Nazi expeditions to Tibet in 1938. However, Vaincre says he was there in 1904-5, which would make his “expedition” overlap precisely with that of the English explorer Francis Younghusband, who appears to have been in Tibet furthering British interests in the Great Game, and who devoted his career to religious ecumenicism.

Camille Savoire: Savoire was a French Mason and a high luminary within the Rectified Scottish Rite, a “chivalric” form of Masonry that claimed Templar origins through the Strict Observance. However, as many sources make clear, Savoire was not hostile to Grand Orient, and was in fact a member. He also was involved in Martinism and close friends with the Martinist Constant Chevillon, murdered by the Gestapo for his supposed involvement in a Synarchist plot against the regime, leveled against him by the “Polaires” journalist Jeanne Canudo.

Louis LeFur: appointed to an educational post by the Vichy regime, LeFur is most noted for his support of pan-European policies. His “Energie” group also involved Robert Schumann, one of the founders of the European Economic Community. In its pages, Vaincre endorses the idea of a Confederation of Europe, stretching from Brittany to Bavaria.

Jean Mermoz: as this heroic aviator died in 1936, it again seems unclear how he could have been involved in this group. He was a right winger and active in Action Francaise. As to exactly why Mermoz’ name appears in these pages, I suspect the main reason is because the name of the plane he crashed into the Atlantic in was known as the Southern Cross, and Alpha Galates chose as its emblem the Cross of the South.

Hans Adolf von Moltke: a disciple of the Anthroposophist Rudolf Steiner, von Moltke seems to have been a conservative aristocrat troubled by the Nazi regime. Along with others of his background, he formed the Kreisau Circle, an organization which tried to subvert Hitler and the Nazis from within Germany.

Gabriel Trarieux d’Egmont: a mystical poet and astrologer, who wove various Theosophical and mystical themes into his poetry.

Jacques Brosse: a Zen Buddhist, ecologist, and poet, Brosse was close friends with Carl Jung, Aldous Huxley, Claude Levi-Strauss, and Jean Cocteau. Brosse experimented with hallucinogenic drugs and passionately argued for nature conservation, in many ways prefiguring some of the central themes of the 1960’s.

Robert Amadou: The noted Martinist and member of Masonic lodge Swiss Grand Loge Alpina, R. Amadou confirms that he did indeed contribute a piece on chivalry to Vaincre, and thus indicates that at least one article is not pseudonymous… however, Amadou insists he had no interest in politics and was not otherwise involved in the affairs of Alpha Galates.

Auguste Brizeux: he often has his name mis-spelled as “Brisieux”. In any case, as stated above, he died in 1858, making the question of the authenticity of his “authorship” of these articles mentioning current events not difficult to answer.

Jean Falloux: Vaincre says his name was a pseudonym for Francis Sadot, and describes at one point his summary “expelling” from the Order – on a date associated with John the Baptist. Falloux appears to have been in a circle of people who were intimate with Sun-Wu Kung, a strange wandering sage who traveled through France, taking the name of the Oriental Monkey King. This circle also included the Gurdjieffian Jewish Surrealist, Yves Klein, and seems to have been connected with Gurdjieff in other ways.

Franchet d’Esperey: A marshal (marechal) of France from 1922 on, he was decorated for valor during WW I and remained an active military commander throughout the 30’s. He died in 1942.

In closing, none of these people were notable for taking anti-Semitic or anti-Masonic stances. And several of them were Masons.

The name Alpha Galates

Galates or Galatia was a land founded by French Celtic Gauls who invaded Asia Minor (Anatolia) around 275 BCE, led by two warriors who were told by an Oracle that this was their destiny. The Gauls appear to have mixed with the native Phrygian peoples of the region. As the Roman province of Galatia, it appears in the New Testament as Paul of Tarsus writes a letter to the Galatians.

“Alpha Galates” would appear to suggest something originating from the land of Galatia. Over and over again, Vaincre shows a strange focus on Celtic culture and Druidism.

The Jews seem to have fared far better under the Celtic cultures of Europe than the Teutonic ones.