Augustin Malroux

Born in Blaye-les-Mines, Tarn, as the son of a miner and a laundress, Augustin Malroux studied at the École normale for teachers at Toulouse.

The following year, he became a deputy in the National Assembly of France and a member of the Permanent Administrative Commission, at the time the decision-making organ of the SFIO.

In December 1938, he presented an amendment to exempt wheat headed to the Spanish Republic from export duties.

In February 1940, he denounced the partiality of the censors – who permitted the publication of explicit appeals to murder Léon Blum – and outrages committed against the principle of laïcité.

With equal vigour, Augustin Malroux made efforts to maintain contact with those Socialist deputies who had been interned or imprisoned.

One man whom he kept abreast of his activities was Louis Noguères, another SFIO deputy who had voted against granting full powers and was placed under house arrest for this by the Vichy regime.

Streets in several towns of Tarn département bear his name, as does the collège of Blaye-les-Mines, opened in 1990 by Lionel Jospin, then Minister of National Education.