ABSTRACT
The trial of Pierre Laval would have in any case provided ample sensations. It was, after all, the trial of four years of history, among the darkest in the long history of France. Josee Laval had counseled with the head of the Paris bar, the Batonnier Poignard who was punctilious in his duty despite a remarkable resemblance to Adolf Hitler. The examination had closed in fact in August, 1944, at the Liberation and judicially in October, 1945. To the jurors he addressed a simple word: "Jugez," Judge. Baraduc's youthful inexperience was increasingly balanced by his total absorption in the proceedings and by his growing devotion to Pierre Laval. To the contrary, it was the conviction of Pierre Laval and his defense that his acts had as their purpose to protect and defend France and the French from as much evil as could be, given the means were feeble and the occupier strong.
