Frey, Roger

▪ 1998

      French politician (b. June 11, 1913, Nouméa, New Caledonia—d. Sept. 13, 1997, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France), was a close adviser to French president Charles de Gaulle and a leading figure in the Algerian independence crisis of the early 1960s. Frey, a native of the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, joined with the Free French Forces after the outbreak of World War II, serving as an infantryman in Africa, Italy, and France. Following the war, he was a leading member of the Gaullist Rally of the French People. After de Gaulle's fall in 1947, Frey organized the Union for the New Republic, which restored de Gaulle to power in 1958. Appointed minister of the interior in 1961, Frey was immediately faced with the problem of Algerian independence and the possibility of civil war. The anti-independence forces formed the Secret Army Organization (OAS), a terrorist group composed of French Algerian settlers and deserters from Foreign Legion and paratroop regiments. Frey spearheaded the government's war against the OAS, fighting terror with terror, and brutality on both sides was common. He was also responsible for containing the pro-independence Algerian nationalists, who had been waging a bombing campaign in France since the late 1950s. He crushed the OAS, and Algeria was granted independence in 1962. Frey served as minister of the interior until 1967, when he left to become minister of state. In 1974 he was appointed president of the Constitutional Council, a post he held until 1983.

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