François de Menthon

A French Patriot

- Livre en anglais -

In the Grand Salon of the Chateau de Menthon, stunning jewel on the shores of Lake Annecy, the numerous visitors are shown the portrait of François de Menthon (1900-1984).

François de Menthon was a man of many talents : a soldier, a law professor, a Catholic leader, a member of the Resistance, a government minister (twice), the Chief French prosecutor at Nuremberg, a deputy in the French National Assembly, the leader of a political party, one of the initiators of the Council of Europe and the Mayor of Menthon-St. Bernard. He was both friend and foe of de Gaulle. Probably his most important role was as de Gaulle’s Minister of Justice.

Menthon and his accomplishments have largely been forgotten in the 21st century. This book is intended to provide the English-speaking ex-patriots and tourists and a new generation of history lovers, with a deeper insight into his contributions to the Haute-Savoie, France and the world.

Lorraine Ruffing has lived in the Haute-Savoie on and off since 1977 while working for the United Nations, Geneva. The definitive work on Menthon is Prof. Laurent Ducerf’s doctoral thesis : François de Menthon : un catholique au service de la République (1900-1984). With the encouragement of the Menthon family, Ruffing and Ducerf set about to transform his exhaustive account of the life of Menthon into one which gives a more intimate picture of François de Menthon as a son, a brother, a husband and a father.