BBC. He wrote and delivered 270 broadcasts on Radio Vichy in a "mesmerising rhetoric and delivery" ... as a "huge media star", according to one source. "There is no doubt Henriot's broadcasts were influential, attracting a large and diverse audience." It was said that "Henriot is listened to by everyone, enemies or supporters. Families shift their meal times so as not to miss him. There is no-one left in the street at the time he speaks." On 6 January 1944, Henriot was appointed as the French Minister of Information and Propaganda. In 1943, Henriot joined the paramilitary Milice "with a deep-seated conviction that Christian civilisation was engaged in a life and death struggle against Bolshevism." Assassination Henriot was a natural target for the Résistance, and on 28 June 1944, in the Ministry building where he lived, he was assassinated by a group of COMAC members of the Maquis, an organisation designated by the French government at Vichy as "terrorists". Disguised as members of the Milice, they had persuaded him to open his door. In retaliation, the Milice assassinated Georges Mandel, a strong opponent of collaboration. Henriot was afforded a state funeral in Paris, presided over by Cardinal Suhard in Notre Dame Cathedral. His coffin was placed, surrounded by French flags and flowers, in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where thousands filed past to mourn him – less than two months before the Liberation of Paris. References External links Website Philippe Henriot BBC History Magazine's Podcast (July 2010) 1889 births 1944 deaths Writers from Reims Politicians from Reims Republican Federation politicians Members of the 15th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic People of Vichy France French fascists French propagandists French anti-communists French male non-fiction writers French collaborators with Nazi Germany Assassinated French politicians People murdered in Paris Christian fascists 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French male writers 1944 murders in France 1940s murders in Paris