At the Shoah Memorial, the Papon trial told through drawings by Riss never before exhibited

The trial of Maurice Papon (1910-2007) took place from October 1997 to April 1998 in Bordeaux, in front of the Gironde assizes. A six-month closed session at the end of which the former secretary general of the Gironde prefecture under Vichy, former Paris police prefect under General de Gaulle, former minister of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, was sentenced to ten years of criminal imprisonment for “complicity in crimes against humanity”. In question: sInvolvement in the deportation of 72 Jews to Drancy and the death camps was recognized.

Twenty-five years after this trial, the Shoah Memorial in Paris presents until March 3, 2024 a selection of more than 400 drawings executed at the time by Riss, special correspondent for Charlie Hebdo.

Closer to Papon

RHaving escaped the shooting at Charlie’s headquarters in January 2015, Riss is today its director. His collaboration with the satirical newspaper began in 1992. That year, Riss already covered another trial, that of Paul Touvier, former leader of the Lyon Militia during the German Occupation.

Riss will follow the Papon trial from start to finish, making hundreds of court sketches. Lively, precise sketches which transcribe the expressions of Maurice Papon, his gestures and also his words. A reporting drawing, different and more detailed than his satirical drawings usually published in Charlie Hebdo.

The power of testimony

The exhibition also shows sketches of the victims or victims’ relatives who took the stand during this trial. Witnesses that Riss respects in the rendering he makes of them (unlike Papon whom he sometimes caricatures), both in the features but also in the story. “He takes as many notes as possible, not losing a single word of what is said”, notes Laurent Joly, curator of the exhibition, director of research at the CNRS. Already commissioner of the Cabu exhibition on the Vel d’Hiv’ roundup in 2022, it is also the author of a commented version of Riss’s drawings published by Editions Les Échappés. These notes are supported by extracts from filmed sequences of the trial, one of the first filmed in France.

An important milestone

The Papon trial was one of the last of a French official during the Second War whose actions were examined. Riss was aware of this and at the time, he wanted to attend to see “how justice was going to be done” he explains in an interview published by Le Point. “This trial was undoubtedly an important milestone in my life. I understood that you can lend a helping hand to an atrocious regime without necessarily adhering to its ideology. I don’t think Papon was won over to Pétainist ideas, but he put his skills at the service of this regime and that was enough. It inspired me for the rest of my life. I understood that you have to be careful with each decision you make, that you have a moral responsibility in each of your actions.”.

“Riss, the Papon trial” until March 3, 2024 at the Shoah Memorial – 17 Rue Geoffroy l’Asnier, 75004 Paris – Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., every day, except Saturday. Late night until 10 p.m. on Thursday. Free admission.