Jean-Marie Le Pen: The man who changed France

One of the many dazzling stories that surrounds the life of Jean-Marie Le Pen is the matter of money. In the mid-1970s, the active right-wing extremist was already at the head of the Front National, which he had founded together with a clique of old Nazis. Le Pen was a father of three, a husband, career-conscious and penniless when his Paris apartment suddenly exploded in 1976. The police found kilos of explosives. Where it came from was never made clear. One thing is certain: the drama wasn’t particularly inconvenient. Almost at the same time, coincidence or not, an extremely wealthy friend of Le Pen died. The politician, along with his wife and three daughters, quickly moved into his castle-like property in the posh Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud. He lived there until his death.

At that time, Le Pen presented himself to the astonished relatives as the heir of the deceased. He is said to have gotten the equivalent of around eight million euros this way. A treasure that he had to share – they somehow came to an agreement – but which laid the foundation for everything else: Le Pen could now finance himself and his party if necessary.

The self-confident Breton, born in 1928 as the son of a fisherman and a seamstress in the coastal town of La Trinité-sur-Mer, had already had a lot behind him at the time. Paratroopers in Indochina, then in the Algerian War in 1957. A time that shaped him, also mentally. He had always been national, his hatred for Algeria’s independence from France never faded and won him the loyalty of many like-minded people. He is said to have tortured in Algeria. It wasn’t proven, but it still gained recognition in certain circles. He had been missing his left eye since the early 1980s. It was said that an injury that also allegedly dates back to his time as a combatant – but Jean-Marie Le Pen never distinguished so clearly between anecdotes and facts.

He found political programs pointless. The “wild boar,” as he was also called, relied on his instincts right from the start. Le Pen said things that he knew full well that at least some people wanted to hear: France must remain France. Fewer Arabs, fewer Asians. A country with a proud past that should under no circumstances be poisoned by any Jewish stories. “I’m the only one who can still offer the French dreams,” he said in 1983. His recipe for success.

Anyone who thinks that fake news or “post-truth” politics are new phenomena should watch Jean-Marie Le Pen’s television appearances. In 1984 he appeared on the program “Hour of Truth”; To this day, this could serve as an educational film for all populists: Le Pen let the journalists arrive with a rumble and force. He didn’t answer a single question. Instead, he fired off false claims and numbers that no one could correct in front of the cameras. Result: The show was a ratings hit. More than 40 percent of viewers were then convinced by his xenophobic sayings. “One million unemployed is one million foreigners too many” was one of his most popular slogans. For the first time, members flocked to the National Front.

In June 1984, Jean-Marie Le Pen was elected to the European Parliament. A little later his party sat in the French National Assembly. Little by little, the FN conquered town halls and constituencies. The first big shock for democratic-minded France followed in 2002: Jean-Marie Le Pen slipped into the final vote in the presidential election. At that time he lost heavily against Jacques Chirac. Nevertheless, it was his greatest triumph. The right-wing extremist FN became visible for the first time as a party that could move into the establishment.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was obsessed with the idea that the Front National could only be successful as a rowdy gang. “Nobody wants a moderate FN,” he thundered when others advised him to be moderate. Saying out loud what the French only think quietly – that was his tried and tested motto for a long time. The one-eyed FN leader raved about unequal races and repeatedly emphasized the gas chambers were just an unimportant detail of the Second World War. The latter ultimately led to a break with his youngest daughter, Marine Le Pen. In 1998 she joined her father’s political business. She took over the leadership of the FN from him in 2011. She recognized early on that the old man’s principles no longer worked. She turned to the concept of his internal party opponent: “Dédiabolization” – the Front National should be softened rhetorically and repositioned.

On May 1, 2015, Jean-Marie Le Pen made one last memorable appearance at an internal party party: his daughter, President of the FN, was already on the stage, she wanted to speak – then the old man climbed onto the podium in a red coat, threw his arms in the air and celebrated like old times. Shortly afterwards she finally threw him out of the party. A generational change with symbolic patricide. Or a production? In any case, father and daughter are said to have always gotten along well behind the scenes.

Old Le Pen has found the best possible successor in his daughter – the FN, now Rassemblement National, is doing well under her leadership. Jean-Marie Le Pen died on January 7, 2025 after a stay of several weeks in the hospital in Garches near Paris. He was 96 years old.