Dominique Venner is an award-winning French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

. Venner is a former militant of the ultra-right and later became a European nationalist before withdrawing from politics to focus on a career as a historian. He specializes in military and political history. He is currently the editor of the La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, a bimonthly history magazine.

Youth

The son of an architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 who had been a member of Doriot's Parti populaire français

Parti Populaire Français

The Parti Populaire Français was a fascist political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II...

 (the PPF), he 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 sack of the office of the French Communist Party on November 7, 1956. Along with Pierre Sidos

Pierre Sidos

Pierre Sidos was a French far right political figure.Sidos' father was active in the collaborationist Milice and he was executed for his involvement. Sidos continued his father's political beliefs and became founder of the Jeune Nation after the Second World War, along with his brothers François...

, 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 de l'Armée Secrète, he was jailed for 18 months in La Santé Prison

La Santé Prison

La Santé Prison is a prison operated by the Ministry of Justice located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is one of the most famous prisons in France, with both VIP and high security wings....

 as a political undesirable. He was freed in 1962.

Political writing and activism

Upon his release from prison in the autumn of 1962, Venner wrote a manifesto entiled Pour une critique positive (Towards a positive critique), which has been compared by some to Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

's What is to be done?

What is to be Done?

What to do? Burning Questions of Our Movement is a political pamphlet written by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in 1901 and published in 1902...

, as it became a "foundational text of a whole segment of the ultra-right". In the manifesto, Venner explored the reasons for the failure of the April 1961 coup and the divide that existed between "nationals" ("nationaux") and "nationalists" ("nationalistes") and called for the ceation 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

Alain de Benoist

Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...

) 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

Lucien Rebatet

Lucien Rebatet was a French author, journalist and intellectual, an exponent of fascism and virulent antisemite.-Early life:...

.
He was a member of Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne

Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne

The Groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilisation européenne , also known by its French acronym GRECE is an ethnonationalist think-tank, founded in 1968 by the journalist and writer Alain de Benoist.GRECE distinguishes itself from other traditionalist conservative organizations in...

(GRECE) (Research and Study Group for European Civilization) from its beginning until the 1970s. He also created, with Thierry Maulnier

Thierry Maulnier

Thierry Maulnier was a French journalist, essayist, dramatist, and literary critic.-Before 1940:...

, 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 (« entreprise à la fois parallèle, concurrente et ouverte vis-à-vis du GRECE»), and the organisation attracted numerous intellectuals, including Robert Aron

Robert Aron

Robert Aron was a French writer who authored a number of works on politics and history.-Early life:...

, 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" (« la subversion mentale ») and supported "Western values" (« les valeurs occidentales »). The IEO dissolved in 1971, the same year Venner ceased all political activities in order to focus on his career as a historian.

Career as a historian

Venner is a specialist regarding weaponry and hunting and has written several books on these subjects. His principal historical works are: 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 prestigious Prix Broquette-Gonin d'histoire awarded by the Académie française

Académie française

L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...

(the French Academy) 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

Philippe Pétain

Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...

's attitude towards the Resistance.

More recently, Venner wrote Histoire et tradition des Européens (History and Tradition of the Europeans) (2002), in which Venner set out what he believed to be the common cultural bases of European civilisation, and in which he 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 glossy magazine devoted to historical topics. The Revue has featured Bernard Lugan

Bernard Lugan

Bernard Lugan is a contemporary French historian and Associate Professor of African history at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, in France. He's also teaching at the French Institute of Defense Studies. He has an academic rank as "Maître de conférences". A specialist of Africa since 1971, he authored...

, Jean Tulard

Jean Tulard

Jean Tulard is a French academic and historian, specialising in the history of cinema, of the French Consulate and the First French Empire.In April 2010, he became Commander of the Légion d'honneur.-References:...

, Aymeric Chauprade, Alain Decaux

Alain Decaux

Alain Decaux was born on 23 July 1925 in Lille, France. A historian by profession, he was elected to the Académie française on 15 February 1979.-Bibliography:* 1947 * 1949 ...

, Jean Mabire, François-Georges Dreyfus, Jacqueline de Romilly

Jacqueline de Romilly

Jacqueline Worms de Romilly, née David was a French philologist, classical scholar and fiction writer. Because she was of Jewish ancestry, the Vichy government suspended her from her teaching duties during the Occupation of France. she was the first woman nominated to the Collège de France, and in...

 and former ministers Max Gallo

Max Gallo

Max Gallo is a French writer, historian and politician.The son of Italian immigrants, Max Gallo's early career was in journalism. At the time he was a Communist . In 1974, he joined the Socialist Party. On April 26, 2007, the French Academy recorded his candidacy for its Seat 24, formerly held by...

 and Alain Decaux

Alain Decaux

Alain Decaux was born on 23 July 1925 in Lille, France. A historian by profession, he was elected to the Académie française on 15 February 1979.-Bibliography:* 1947 * 1949 ...

. He is a co-host of a radio program on Radio Courtoisie

Radio Courtoisie

Radio Courtoisie is a French radio station and cultural associative union created in 1987 by Jean Ferré. Serge de Beketch was also among its founders....

.

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

Critical reception

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 (« l'esthétique de [sa] présentation »), in its originality in the treatment of subjects covered (« l'originalité dans le traitement des sujets »), the depth of its analysis and the quality of its contributors (la « profondeur des analyses » et « la qualité de ses collaborateurs »). Political scientist Gwendal Châton 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" 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 (« s'intègre dans une habile stratégie de conquête d'une nouvelle respectabilité : celle de l'intellectuel » où « il s'agit d'instrumentaliser l'histoire pour la mettre au service du combat culturel »; « le “traditionalisme”, le recours à l'histoire et à la tradition européenne, n'est donc qu'un voile rhétorique masquant une continuité idéologique »). Châton also alleges that Venner uses his historical revues to "manipulate history" in the guise of various rhetorical techniques ( « des manipulations de l'histoire, opérées par l'usage de différentes stratégies rhétoriques »).

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". 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"

Works

• Guide de la contestation : les hommes, les faits, les événements, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1968, 256 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Ils sont fous, ces gauchistes ! Pensées. Choisies et parfois commentées par Dominique Venner, Éd. de la Pensée moderne, Paris, 1970, 251 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Guide de la politique, Balland, Paris, 1972, 447 p. + 12 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Pistolets et revolvers, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 1, Paris, 1972, 326 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Les Corps d'élite du passé (dir.), Balland, Paris, 1972, 391 p. [pas d'ISBN] – Réunit : Les Chevaliers teutoniques, par Jean-Jacques Mourreau, Janissaires, par Philippe Conrad, Mousquetaires, par Arnaud Jacomet, Grenadiers de la Garde, par Jean Piverd, et Cadets, par Claude Jacquemart.
• Monsieur Colt, Balland, coll. « Un Homme, une arme », Paris, 1972, 242 p. + 40 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Carabines et fusils de chasse, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 2, Paris, 1973, 310 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Baltikum : dans le Reich de la défaite, le combat des corps-francs, 1918-1923, Robert Laffont, coll. « L'Histoire que nous vivons », Paris, 1974, 365 p. + 16 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Armes de combat individuelles, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 3, Paris, 1974, 310 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Le Blanc Soleil des vaincus : l'épopée sudiste et la guerre de Sécession, 1607-1865, La Table ronde, Paris, 1975, 300 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Les Armes de la Résistance, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 4, Paris, 1976, 330 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• [Collectif], Les Armes de cavalerie (dir.), Argout, Paris, 1977, 144 p. ISBN 2-902297-05-X. Hors-série n° 4 de la revue Gazette des armes
• Les Armes blanches du III^e Reich, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 5, Paris, 1977, 298 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Westerling
  Raymond Westerling
  Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling , nicknamed the Turk, was a Dutch military officer. He waged a bloody occupation campaign in Sulawesi during the Indonesian National Revolution after the Second World War, and staged a coup d'état ‎ ‎ in Bandung and Jakarta in January 1950.-South Sulawesi:Westerling...
  
   : guérilla story, Hachette, coll. « Les Grands aventuriers », Paris, 1977, 319 p. ISBN 2-01-002908-9.
• Les Armes américaines, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 6, Paris, 1978, 309 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Les Corps-francs allemands de la Baltique : la naissance du nazisme, Le Livre de poche, n° 5136, Paris, 1978, 508 p. ISBN 2-253-01992-5.
• Dominique Venner, Thomas Schreiber et Jérôme Brisset, Grandes énigmes de notre temps, Famot, Genève, 1978, 248 p. + 24 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Les Armes à feu françaises, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 7, Paris, 1979, 334 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Les Armes russes et soviétiques, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 8, Paris, 1980, 276 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Le Grand livre des armes, Jacques Grancher, Paris, 1980, 79 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Histoire de l'Armée rouge. Tome 1 : La Révolution et la guerre civile : 1917-1924, Plon
  Plon (publisher)
  Plon is a French book publishing company, founded in 1852 by Henri Plon and his two brothers.The Plon family were Walloons coming from Nivelle, France. One of their ancestors is probably the Danish typographer Jehan Plon who lived at the end of the 16th century.-History:The Editions Plon were...
  
  , Paris, 1981, 301 p. + 16 p. ISBN 2-259-00717-1.
• Le Mauser 96, Éd. du Guépard, Paris, 1982, 94 p. ISBN 2-86527-027-0.
• Dagues et couteaux, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 9, Paris, 1983, 318 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Histoire des armes de chasse, Jacques Grancher, Paris, 1984, 219 p. + 16 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Le Guide de l'aventure, Pygmalion, Paris, 1986, [pagination non connue] ISBN 2-85704-215-9.
• Les Armes blanches : sabres et épées, Éd. de la Pensée moderne et Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 10, Paris, 1986, 317 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Les Armes de poing : de 1850 à nos jours, Larousse, Paris, 1988, 198 p. ISBN 2-03-506214-4.
• Treize meurtres exemplaires : terreur et crimes politiques au XX^e siècle, Plon, Paris, 1988, 299 p. ISBN 2-259-01858-0.
• L'Assassin du président Kennedy, Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », Paris, 1989, 196 p. + 8 p. ISBN 2-262-00646-6.
• L'Arme de chasse aujourd'hui, Jacques Grancher, coll. « Le Livre des armes » n° 11, Paris, 1990, 350 p. [pas d'ISBN]
• Les Beaux-arts de la chasse, Jacques Grancher, coll. « Passions », Paris, 1992, 241 p. [ISBN erroné]
• Le Couteau de chasse, Crépin-Leblond, coll. «  Saga des armes et de l'armement », Paris, 1992, 134 p. ISBN 2-7030-0099-5.
• Le Cœur rebelle, Les Belles-Lettres, Paris, 1994, 201 p. ISBN 2-251-44032-1.
• Gettysburg, Éd. du Rocher, Monaco et Paris, 1995, 321 p. ISBN 2-268-01910-1.
• Histoire critique de la Résistance, Pygmalion, Collection rouge et blanche, Paris, 1995, 500 p. ISBN 2-85704-444-5.
• Les armes qui ont fait l'histoire. Tome 1, Crépin-Leblond, coll. « Saga des armes et de l'armement », Montrouge, 1996, 174 p. ISBN 2-7030-0148-7.
• Revolvers et pistolets américains : l'univers des armes (avec la collaboration de Philippe Fossat et Rudy Holst), Solar, coll. « L'Univers des armes », 1996, 141 p. ISBN 2-263-02429-8.
• Histoire d'un fascisme allemand : les corps-francs du Baltikum et la révolution (sous-titré du Reich de la défaite à la nuit des longs couteaux 1918-1934), Pygmalion, Collection rouge et blanche, Paris, 1996, 380 p. + 16 p. ISBN 2-85704-479-8.
• Les Blancs et les Rouges : histoire de la guerre civile russe, 1917-1921, Pygmalion, Collection rouge et blanche, Paris, 1997, 396 p. + 16 p. ISBN 2-85704-518-2.
• Encyclopédie des armes de chasse : carabines, fusils, optique, munitions, Maloine, Paris, 1997, 444 p. ISBN 2-224-02363-4.
• Dictionnaire amoureux de la chasse, Plon, coll. « Dictionnaire amoureux », Paris, 2000, 586 p. ISBN 2-259-19198-3.
• Histoire de la Collaboration (suivi des dictionnaires des acteurs, partis et journaux), Pygmalion, Paris, 2000, 766 p. ISBN 2-85704-642-1.
• Histoire du terrorisme, Pygmalion et Gérard Watelet, Paris, 2002, 248 p. ISBN 2-85704-749-5.
• Histoire et tradition des Européens : 30 000 ans d'identité, Éd. du Rocher, Monaco et Paris, 2002, 273 p. ISBN 2-268-04162-X.
• De Gaulle
  Charles de Gaulle
  Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
  
  : la grandeur et le néant : essai, Éd. du Rocher, Monaco et Paris, 2004, 304 p. ISBN 2-268-05202-8.
• Le Siècle de 1914. Utopies, guerres et révolutions en Europe au XXe siècle, Pygmalion, Paris, 2006, 408 p. ISBN 2-85704-832-7.

External links

• La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire’s website