Maurice Papon ( ; 3 September 1910 &ndash; 17 February 2007 ) was a French civil servant who led the police in major prefectures from the 1930s to the 1960s , before he became a Gaullist politician . When he was secretary general for the police in Bordeaux during World War II , he participated in the deportation of more than 1600 Jews . He is also known for his activities in the Algerian War ( 1954 – 1962 ) , during which he tortured insurgent prisoners as prefect of the Constantinois department , and ordered , as prefect of the Paris police , the severe repression of a pro-National Liberation Front ( FLN ) demonstration against a curfew that he had " advised . " In 1961 , Maurice Papon was personally awarded the Legion of Honour by French President Charles de Gaulle , whose government had been struggling with FLN terrorism . Papon was also in charge of the Paris police during the February 1962 massacre at the Charonne metro station , which took place during an anti-Organisation armée secrète ( OAS ) demonstration that had been organised by the French Communist Party ( PCF ) . Forced to resign in 1967 after the suspicious forced disappearance of the Moroccan Marxist Mehdi Ben Barka , he was supported by de Gaulle in being named as president of Sud Aviation company , which co-created the Concorde plane
severe repression
Paris massacre of 1961
Maurice Papon