Pierre Laval (28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively.
Following France's surrender and Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government. He signed orders permitting the deportation of foreign Jews from French soil to the Nazi death camps.
After Liberation (1945), Laval was arrested by the French government under General Charles de Gaulle, found guilty of high treason, and executed by firing squad. The controversy surrounding his political activities has generated a dozen biographies.
Read more about Pierre Laval: Early Life, Marriage and Family, Before The War, The First Laval Government, 1934–1936, Trial and Execution