Paul Jeauelere

Paul Jeauelere is a French policeman in the small town of Carriveau who, under the Nazi occupation, transforms from a known local figure into an active collaborator, participating in the arrest and deportation of Jewish residents and the enforcement of German policies. His actions represent the moral compromise and betrayal that the occupation inflicted on French society, turning former neighbors into instruments of persecution.

Role in the Occupation and Collaboration

Jeauelere is first introduced as a local gendarme whom Antoine Mauriac had once remarked possessed a mean and cowardly streak. This assessment proves prescient as the occupation deepens. He is present at the initial assembly in the town hall where Sturmbannführer Weldt announces the terms of the armistice, including the surrender of radios and weapons, the imposition of a curfew, and the threat of execution for any act of resistance. As the occupation progresses, Jeauelere becomes a key figure in enforcing these rules, his authority amplified by the German presence. He is seen accompanying a Gestapo officer to the local school, where he helps to identify and dismiss teachers who are Jewish, communist, or Freemasons, a direct result of a list of names Vianne Mauriac was coerced into providing. His collaboration is marked by a visible increase in his personal comfort; he gains weight while the rest of the town starves, and he is seen carrying more food than his family could eat, a stark symbol of his profiting from the suffering of others.

Key Actions: Arrests and Deportations

Jeauelere's most significant and damning actions involve the roundup and deportation of Carriveau's Jewish population. He is the officer who arrives at Rachel de Champlain's home to arrest her, ignoring her protests that she is French and her son is not on the list. He forces her into his car, and when Vianne climbs in to accompany her friend, he drives them to the train station where cattle cars await. At the station, he is part of the French police force that herds women, children, and the elderly onto the trains, using rifles and whips under the supervision of German officers. Later, he is seen arresting Madame Fournier, the former butcher, and her son Gilles, stating that being a French citizen no longer protects Jewish children from deportation. When Vianne intervenes, pleading for the boy, Jeauelere dismisses her, saying, "We don't care where he was born, Madame. He's on my list. He goes." This cold, bureaucratic cruelty defines his role in the machinery of the Holocaust.

Character and Significance

Jeauelere is a figure of profound moral failure, representing the French citizens who chose collaboration over resistance. His actions are not driven by ideological fervor but by a mean-spirited opportunism and a cowardly desire to align with power. He is a direct contrast to characters like Vianne, who risks her life to hide Jewish children, and Isabelle, who actively resists. Jeauelere's presence in the narrative serves as a constant reminder that the occupation's greatest horrors were often carried out by neighbors and countrymen, not just foreign soldiers. His betrayal of the community's trust and his willing participation in the deportation of families, including children, mark him as a symbol of the shameful collaboration that stained Vichy France. He is a flat character, defined entirely by his collaboration, and his function is to illustrate the ease with which ordinary people can become complicit in evil when given the opportunity to wield power over others.