Louis Renault (industrialist) - Expropriation

Expropriation

In October 1944, the provisional French government seized Louis Renault's company. The Minister of Information, Henri Teitgen, said at the time this was not a confiscation, rather "it was merely a step to get French industry back into production. Later a commission would examine the books, confiscate war profits, bring charges."

On January 1, 1945, four months after Louis Renault's death, an order of General Charles de Gaulle's provisional government decreed the dissolution of Société Anonyme des Usines Renault and its nationalization, giving it the new name Régie Nationale des Usines Renault (RNUR).

Thus, the company Louis Renault had created and protected from expropriation by the Germans, was nationalized on the official and very thin case of collaboration. Renault was charged posthumously with "guilty enrichment obtained by those who worked for the enemy", a finding delivered without judicial proceedings, thus violating the rule of law and French juridical principles.

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