ABSTRACT
Pierre Laval's habitual smile had a tinge of irony. He seemed to sense that Yves-Frederic Jaffre was referring to a phrase he had once spoken on the radio. Jaffre did not ask why he might have said certain words—only if he had, until the end, the conviction that Germany would win the war. The same day he spoke those words, Charles Rochat, the secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Laval: "But it's a needless risk." Again Laval voiced his innermost feelings and concerns. Both while waiting and during the trial Laval labored long and hard on a memorandum which would present his case in its most positive light to the Court. Pierre Laval loved his cattle and it was with special interest that he wrote that France was the only country in Europe whose livestock had been preserved from German exactions.
