Jean-Marie Le Pen is Dead, But His Hatred Sadly Lives On

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France's far-right National Front (Front du Nationale), passed away on January 7th at the age of 96.

Le Pen was an overt Holocaust denier. Yet he enjoyed significant support in France earning 14.4% of the vote in the first round of the 1988 French presidential election and a fourth-place finish. Seven years, he would enjoy another fourth-place finish and garner 15% of the vote.

I was actually in France during the first round of the 1995 French presidential elections as I accompanied Jimmy Wray to a Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg. The night before the election we spent the night in a hotel in Reims. Outside the hotel were National Front supporters chanting, "Mort de la Juifs!!!" 

That would be, "Death to the Jews!!!"

In the first round of the French presidential election in 2002, Le Pen finished second narrowly ahead of the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin, a former Prime Minister. This meant Le Pen would face incumbent French President Jacques Chirac in a runoff. Although Chirac soundly defeated Le Pen (82.2% vs. 17.8%) in the second round, the cold fact remained that nearly 1 in 5 French voters were down with Le Pen's views of Jews and the Holocaust. 

Le Pen would revert to a fourth-place finish and just over 10% of the vote in his final presidential election contest in 2007 before daughter Marine would take over the party and eventually rechristen as the National Rally. Although Marine Le Pen would attempt to modernize the party's image even going so far as to expel her father from its ranks in 2015, I think once a Holocaust denier, always a Holocaust denier.

Yes, it is true the National Rally has gained Jewish support in the wake of the French Communists open embrace of anti-Semitism under Jean-Luc Melenchon and French President Emmanuel Macron's utter indifference, I still wouldn't trust Marine Le Pen as far as I could throw her. As I pointed out back in July 2024, Le Pen believes Jews should not wear yarmulkes and denies Vichy France had any role in sending Jews to concentration camps. Yet it will come as no surprise to me if French voters elect Marine Le Pen as President in 2027. As such, it is worth noting the French political establishment has tippy toed around the elder Le Pen's legacy upon his passing by whitewashing it.

Of course, Le Pen's legacy lives on in Germany's AfD which is beloved by the likes of Elon Musk and Vice-President-elect JD Vance. To say nothing of the far-right in Hungary and Poland. Italy's far-right government led by the pro-Mussolini Giorgia Meloni has governed moderately thus far, but she might change her tune with Trump's imminent return to White House.

Jean-Marie Le Pen might have never been elected French President, but his legacy of hatred sadly lives on in France and beyond.