Dominique Venner (French: [vɛnɛʁ]; 16 April 1935 – 21 May 2013) was a Frenchhistorian, journalist and essayist. Venner was a member of the Organisation armée secrète^[1] and later became a European nationalist before withdrawing from politics to focus on a career as a historian. He specialized in military and political history. At the time of his death, he was the editor of the La Nouvelle Revue d’Histoire, a bimonthly history magazine. On 21 May 2013, Venner committed suicide inside the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.^[2]

Youth[edit]

The son of an architect who had been a member of Doriot’s Parti populaire français^[3] (the PPF), Venner volunteered to fight in the Algerian War, and served until October 1956. Upon his return to France he joined the Jeune Nation (Young Nation) movement. Following the violent suppression of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution he participated in the ransacking of the office of the French Communist Party on 7 November 1956.^[4] Along with Pierre Sidos, he helped found the short-lived Parti Nationaliste (Nationalist Party) and was involved with the Mouvement populaire du 13-mai (Popular Movement of May 13) led by General Chassin. As a member of the Organisation armée secrète, he was jailed for 18 months in La Santé Prison as a political undesirable. He was freed in 1962.

Political writing and activism[edit]

Upon his release from prison in the autumn of 1962, Venner wrote a manifesto entitled Pour une critique positive (Towards a positive critique), which has been compared by some to Vladimir Lenin‘s What is to be done?,^[5] as it became a “foundational text of a whole segment of the ultra-right”.^[6] In the manifesto, Venner explored the reasons for the failure of the April 1961 coupand the divide that existed between “nationals” (“nationaux”) and “nationalists” (“nationalistes”) and called for the creation of a single revolutionary and nationalist organisation, which would be “monolithic and hierarchical” and composed of young, “disciplined and devoted” nationalist militants who would be ready for combat.

In January 1963, he created (with Alain de Benoist) a movement and magazine called “Europe-Action”, which he later led. He went on to found the Éditions Saint-Just, which operated in tandem with Europe-Action, and which was composed of nationalists, Europeanists, members of the Fédération des étudiants nationalistes (Federation of Nationalist Students), former OAS members, young militants and former collaborators like Lucien Rebatet. He was a member of Groupement de recherche et d’études pour la civilisation européenne (GRECE) (Research and Study Group for European Civilization) from its beginning until the 1970s.^[7] He also created, with Thierry Maulnier, the Institut d’études occidentales (IEO) (Institute of Western Studies), and its revue, Cité-Liberté (City-Liberty), founded in 1970. The IEO was an enterprise that worked in parallel and in tandem with GRECE,^[8] and the organisation attracted numerous intellectuals, including Robert Aron, Pierre Debray-Ritzen, Thomas Molnar, Jules Monnerot, Jules Romains, Louis Rougier, Raymond Ruyer and Paul Sérant. The IEO was anti-communist, pitted itself against what it saw as “mental subversion” and supported Western values.^[9] The IEO dissolved in 1971, the same year Venner ceased all political activities in order to focus on his career as an historian.

Career as historian[edit]

Venner was a specialist regarding weaponry and hunting and wrote several books on these subjects. His principal historical works were: Baltikum (1974), Le Blanc Soleil des vaincus (The White Sun of the Vanquished) (1975), Le Cœur rebelle (The Rebel Heart) (1994), Gettysburg (1995), Les Blancs et les Rouges (The Whites and the Reds) (1997), Histoire de la Collaboration (History of the Collaboration) (2000) and Histoire du terrorisme (History of Terrorism) (2002). His Histoire de l’Armée rouge (History of the Red Army) won the Prix Broquette-Gonin of history awarded by the Académie française in 1981.

In 1995, and with the advice of his friend François de Grossouvre, Venner published Histoire critique de la Résistance (Critical History of the Resistance), which highlighted the strong influence and presence of French nationalists in the Resistance (often called “vichysto-résistants”). The work was criticised by some for failing to probe Marshal Philippe Pétain‘s attitude towards the Resistance.^[10]

In 2002, Venner wrote Histoire et tradition des Européens (History and Tradition of the Europeans), in which he set out what he believed to be the common cultural bases of European civilisation, and outlined his theory of “traditionalism” (a concept that, inter alia, assesses the specificities of each society and civilisation).

Venner served as editor in chief of the revue Enquête sur l’histoire (Study of History, or Historical Inquest) until its dissolution in the late 1990s. In 2002, he created La Nouvelle Revue d’Histoire (The New Historical Revue, temporarily renamed the NRH in 2006), a bimonthly magazine devoted to historical topics. The Revue has featured Bernard Lugan, Jean Tulard, Aymeric Chauprade, Jean Mabire, François-Georges Dreyfus, Jacqueline de Romilly and former ministers Max Gallo and Alain Decaux. He was a co-host of a radio program on Radio Courtoisie.

Some of his books have been translated into English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

Critical reception[edit]

As noted above, Venner has been awarded a prestigious prize by l’Académie française for one of his historical works.

When it appeared that the NRH might be dissolved, journalist Christian Brosio (among others) sprang to its defence, claiming the revue was unique in its aesthetic presentation, in its originality in the treatment of subjects covered, the depth of its analysis and the quality of its contributors.^[11] Political scientist Gwendal Châton^[12] has claimed that Venner has “integrated himself in the strategy of seeking out a newfound respectability: that of an intellectual”, which he has used to “instrumentalise history to put history at the service of cultural struggle”^[13] and that Venner’s “traditionalism” and adherence to “European history and tradition” are a mere “rhetorical screen” designed to “mask” an “ideological continuity” from his earlier political activism.^[14] Châton also alleges that Venner uses his historical revues to “manipulate history” in the guise of various rhetorical techniques.^[15]

University Professor Christopher Flood has noted that the revue generally adheres to a right-wing outlook, commenting: “[…] the overall flavour has been persistently, if subtly, revisionist”.^[16]While adhering to Chauprade’s views on the conflict of civilisations, the NRH does not contain explicitly racist themes. In an editorial Venner commented that “The Japanese, the Jews, the Hindus and other peoples possess that treasure that has permitted them to confront the perils of history without disappearing. It is their misfortune that the majority of Europeans, and especially the French, are so impregnated with universalism that this treasure is lacking”^[17]

Suicide[edit]

On 21 May 2013, about 4 p.m., Venner committed suicide by firearm in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris,^[18] which led to the evacuation of approximately 1,500 people from the cathedral.^[19] He had been an opponent of Muslim immigration to France and Europe, as well as what he believed to be the Americanization of European values and — most recently — the legalization of same-sex marriage in France. Despite the choice of Notre Dame as the place of his suicide, Venner was not known to be religious.^[20]

Only hours earlier, he had left a post on his blog, on the subject of forthcoming protests against the legalization of same-sex marriage.^[21] In the post, Venner approves of the demonstrators’ outrage at an “infamous law”, but expresses doubt as to the efficacy of street protests to effect social change. He rebukes the protesters for ignoring the threat of “Afro-Maghreb immigration”, which he predicts will lead to a “total replacement of the population of France, and of Europe.”^[22] He warns, “Peaceful street protests will not be enough to prevent it. […] It will require new, spectacular, and symbolic actions to rouse people from their complacency […] We enter into a time when words must be backed up by actions.”^[22]

In a letter sent to his colleagues at Radio Courtoisie, he characterizes his suicide as a rebellion “against pervasive individual desires that destroy the anchors of our identity, particularly the family, the intimate base of our multi-millennial society.”^[21] He explains his decision to commit suicide inside the cathedral: “I chose a highly symbolic place that I respect and admire.”^[23]According to the rector of Notre Dame de Paris, Venner left behind a letter for investigators.^[24] It was subsequently reported that Venner was suffering from a serious illness at the time of his suicide.^[21]

Shortly after his death was reported, a number of far-right personalities paid tribute to Venner and commended his public suicide. Marine Le Pen issued a tweet: “All our respect to Dominique Venner, whose final gesture, eminently political, was to try to awaken the people of France.”^[25]Bruno Gollnisch described him as an “extremely brilliant intellectual” whose death was “a protest against the decadence of our society.”^[25]

Rolf Peter Sieferle (1949–2016) was a German historian known for applying the methodology of the social sciences to contemporary topics including ecological sustainability and social capital. He was a pioneer scholar of German environmental history. His work was wide ranging, addressing German conservatism around the period of the First World War, Karl Marx, and the fall of Communism. He was an advisor on climate change to the Angela Merkel government.^[1]

Sieferle came of age with the generation of 1968 as a youthful Socialist. By the 1990s, he was increasingly critical of what he viewed as naïve idealism. During the 2015 European migrant crisis, Sieferle wrote, “A society that can no longer distinguish between itself and the forces that would dissolve it is living morally beyond its means,” causing the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to describe him as “embittered, humorless, ever more isolated”.^[1] He committed suicide on 17 September 2016.^[1]

His Finis Germania became a bestseller following his death despite the fact that it has been denounced as an “extremist tract” and deemed antisemitic by the literary establishment.^[1]