Early Career
Roland Gaucher entered politics as a far-left activist, first as a member of the Trotskyist group Fédération des étudiants révolutionnaires (Federation of Revolutionary Students) and then of the Jeunesses socialistes ouvrières (Workers' Socialist Youth), where he met with Robert Hersant and Alexandre Hébert, who would become one of the leaders of the social-democrat trade-union Force Ouvrière (FO).
However, Gaucher shifted to the far-right during World War II, joining Marcel Déat's Rassemblement National Populaire (RNP) Fascist party in March 1942. He was responsible of the RNP's youth organisation, and of its Parisian section from May to November 1943. He criticized the Vichy regime for being too "moderate" and not executing enough persons. At the Liberation, he was in charge of deleting the archives of the National Populaire 's readers, which was the mouthpiece of the RNP. At the end of 1944, according to Marcel Déat's diary, he fled with Marshal Philippe Pétain's men to Sigmaringen in Germany.
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