A Particularly Tragic Case of Possible Alzheimer’s Disease, that of Marshal Pétain

Abstract

After World War I and more particularly in June 1940, the prestige of French Marshal Philippe Pétain, considered as the winning general the battle of Verdun, was very high. He became President of Council while the French army was unable to stop the German offensives. But five years later he was sentenced to death for high treason. By rereading his bibliography from a medical perspective, it is possible to find multiple suggestive events and to affirm a posteriori Pétain suffered from a neurodegenerative disorder, whose first signs appeared in the 1930s, suggestive of Alzheimer's disease, which had an impact on French politics. The modern medical knowledge of this disease casts a new light on the behavior of Petain during the last war.

Aging Heads of State: The Politics of Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders

“…The senile and exhausted Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg, worn out by the endless political push and pull of the late Weimar republic, gave in to his ultra-conservative coterie and handed the political power over to former corporal Adolf Hitler in 1933, whom he had loathed so much a little earlier [11]. Years later another war hero, 84-year-old French marshal Petain, head of the Vichy regime, became convinced that a collaboration with Nazi Germany, even against French resistance fighters, was honorable and advantageous [17, 18]. Ominous erratic behavior had been observed in the 1930s, but a clear diagnosis of dementia was only made in 1947.…”

Dementia in custody: A historical and forensic approach

“…4 By the end of WWII, Pétain had been suffering from dementia for several years, perhaps even from before the war began. 5…”

“…4 By the end of WWII, P etain had been suffering from dementia for several years, perhaps even from before the war began. 5 P etain perhaps realised he was losing his sharpness, as in one of his speeches (17 June 1940) he remarked: "Vous avez la m emoire courte." Translated, this means you have a short memory.…”

“…P etain's corpse was not subjected to an autopsy, and the diagnosis of dementia (probably Alzheimer's) remains controversial. 5,7 Famous and exposed largely to the public due to his high official position, P etain's behavioural changes and bizarre attitude, particularly from 1940 onward, are welldocumented. 7 Was Marshal Petain fit for trial by the end of the war?…”