Saturday, April 13, 2013

Les Cagoules Blanches: That the KKK Inspired French Copycats Is Not Something You Often Hear About

…either in France or in America…

In its 75 Years Ago section, the International Herald Tribune (then the New York Herald) reprinted a summary of a 1937 report as follows:
1937 Police Investigate French Klan

 PARIS — The French police continued … to search the apartments of persons here and in the provinces who are suspected of membership in the Rightist terroristic society called “Les Cagoules Blanches” (White Hoods), but were unable to find evidence linking the group to any of a series of political crimes which have occurred recently. Investigators remained convinced that the society had had no connection with the bombings on September 11 of the two employers’ buildings in the Etoile district. Police are attempting to connect the French version of the Ku Klux Klan with at least four unsolved mysteries.