Controversial former French president François Mitterrand had a posthumous triumph when he beat de Gaulle in a recent French poll, writes Lara Marlowe in Paris
For years after François Mitterrand died on January 8th, 1996, commentators dwelled on the corruption and cynicism of France's longest-ruling president.
The list of grievances was long: untruths about his role during the second World War; Mitterrand's protection of the Vichy police chief, René Bousquet; his opposition to Algerian independence; and the reunification of Germany. There were doubts about the sincerity of his left-wing convictions - he first campaigned for the National Assembly in 1946 on promises to rid France of "communist dictatorship and bolshevism". The sinking of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, Mitterrand's use of state resources - including illegal wiretaps - to hide his daughter Mazarine, and 11 years of phoney health bulletins while he was dying of prostate cancer all tarnished his 14 years in office.
On May 10th, 2001, the socialists observed a subdued, almost embarrassed commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Mitterrand's first presidential election.
Since then, in an amazing feat of posthumous revenge, Mitterrand has been rehabilitated. He predicted as much in an interview with Georges-Marc Benamou after he left office: "I will be the last great president," Mitterrand said. "I mean the last one in the tradition of de Gaulle. After, there will be no others. . . Because of Europe, because of globalisation, because institutions must evolve. The president will become a sort of super prime minister. He will be weakened." There could hardly be a better description of the plight of Jacques Chirac.
A poll published in Libération newspaper on January 2nd showed that 35 per cent of French people think Mitterrand was the best president of the Fifth Republic, compared with only 30 per cent for Charles de Gaulle and 12 per cent for Chirac.
MITTERRAND'S OPINION POLL triumph over de Gaulle, the hero of the second World War, shocked the country. "François Mitterrand no more deserved the indignity of his last years than the excessive honours of posterity," Franz-Olivier Giesbert wrote in Le Point. "That his record was not generally negative - far from it - especially on Europe, that he was a fascinating character, changes nothing: in the courtroom of history, General de Gaulle will always win."
Giesbert was vindicated when Le Nouvel Observateur published a poll restoring de Gaulle to his traditional lead. Of those questioned, 39 per cent told "L'Obs" that de Gaulle was the best president; 30 per cent chose Mitterrand. Both leaders were far ahead of Jacques Chirac (seven per cent), Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (six per cent) and Georges Pompidou (five per cent). Sixty-three per cent said they had positive memories of 1981-1995, when Mitterrand was in office. The abolition of the death penalty was judged by 71 per cent to be Mitterrand's greatest achievement, while two-thirds cited his social reforms - the 39 hour working week and retirement at age 60.
"It is the discredit that has fallen on his successor (Jacques Chirac) that lends new lustre to François Mitterrand," Stéphane Denis explained in Le Figaro. "People find him cleverer than Chirac and the darkness of his methods works in his favour - 'At least he knew how to get things done' is what you hear people saying."
WHATEVER THE REASONS, Mitterrand dominated magazine covers and evening television in France this week. The two most intriguing documentaries were The Secret, in which his daughter Mazarine Pingeot recounts her hidden childhood, and Rendez-vous with François Mitterrand, a two-hour compilation of Mitterrand's confessions to a psychiatrist.
This week, at least half a dozen new books were added to the 180 tomes already published about Mitterrand. Three of his most loyal lieutenants are among the authors: the former ministers Hubert Védrine and Pierre Joxe, and Jacques Attali, his special adviser at the Élysée Palace for nine years.
Attali says "the sieve of history" explains Mitterrand's sudden return to grace. Even Michel Rocard, the former prime minister whose career Mitterrand broke, admits that "while he was alive, everyone knew that Mitterrand had made a place for himself in history, because he brought the left to power for a long period, which no one had done in France for a century", and because he gave new impetus to European integration.
Tomorrow, a who's who of French socialists - Lionel Jospin, Laurent Fabius, Jack Lang, Edith Cresson, Roland Dumas, François Hollande - will make the pilgrimage to Mitterrand's place of birth and burial, Jarnac, in the Poitou-Charentes region. The 19th-century house where Mitterrand was born will open to the public for the first time. In Paris, an exhibition of photographs and documents will open at Socialist Party headquarters, where a film of Mitterrand's old speeches will be shown.
In another example of Mitterrand cultism, a tour operator will next month begin selling Mitterrand weekends in Château-Chinon, in the Nièvre district of central France, where Mitterrand based his political career. Though he was mayor of Château-Chinon for many years, Mitterrand did not buy property there. Instead, the politician known for his monarchical lifestyle always stayed in Room 15 of the modest Hôtel du Vieux Morvan. The room, with a view of the valley and hills beyond, measures only 10sq m (108sq ft). It rents for €52 per night and is never vacant.
Residents of Château-Chinon recall the winter night in 1974 when Mitterrand bought a round of drinks for everyone in the bar of the Vieux Morvan. Rumour had it that the then president of the region had just become a father. Hundreds of miles away in Avignon, Anne Pingeot, Mitterrand's mistress, had given birth to their daughter, Mazarine.
But Mitterrand waited nine years - until the third year of his presidency - to sign paternity documents. Even then, Mazarine's existence was kept secret until November 1994 when Paris Match published a cover showing Mitterrand and his 19-year-old daughter leaving a Paris restaurant.
MAZARINE SAID SHE felt "violated" by the cover. But it was also a relief to have the secret out in the open; as a schoolgirl, she recalls other children passing notes in class, saying she was the president's daughter. Today a writer, Mazarine has become the keeper of the Mitterrand flame, writing prolifically about her father, suing those she accuses of defaming him.
Anne Pingeot remains the most mysterious character in the Mitterrand saga. Unlike the president's wife, children, friends and political associates, Pingeot, a curator at the Musée d'Orsay, has never spoken or written about him. At the Hôtel du Vieux Morvan, she is remembered for her long skirts, heavy shoes and walks in the Morvan Mountains. The couple used to eat behind a screen in the hotel restaurant. But when Mitterrand returned to Château-Chinon on election nights, he brought Danielle, his wife since 1944.