View source for Jean-Marie Le Pen

===Early life===
Jean Louis Marie Le Pen was the only son of Jean Le Pen (1901–1942). Jean Le Pen was born in [[Brittany]], like his ancestors, and had started work at the age of 13 on a transatlantic vessel. He was the president of the Association des Anciens Combattants, a fisherman, and a municipal councillor of [[La Trinité-sur-Mer]], a small seaside village in Brittany.<ref>Le Pen, Jean-Marie. p45</ref> Jean-Marie Le Pen's mother, Anne-Marie Hervé (1904–1965), was a seamstress and also of local ancestry.<ref>Le Pen, Jean-Marie. p16</ref><ref name="genea">{{cite web|title=Jean-Marie Le Pen: genealogie|url=https://gw.geneanet.org/pierfit?lang=fr&p=jean+marie&n=le+pen&oc=1|website=geneanet.org|access-date=21 April 2018}}</ref> His mother was a speaker of the [[Breton language]], and Le Pen would say in his old age that his only regret was not to learn the language.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mort de Jean-Marie Le Pen : quel est son plus gros regret avec la Bretagne ? |url=https://actu.fr/bretagne/la-trinite-sur-mer_56258/mort-de-jean-marie-le-pen-quel-est-son-plus-gros-regret-avec-la-bretagne_62084186.html |access-date=12 January 2025 |publisher=Actu.fr |date=7 January 2025 |language=French}}</ref>

Le Pen was born in [[La Trinité-sur-Mer]] on 20 June 1928.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linternaute.com/biographie/Jean-Marie-le-pen/ |title=Biographie Jean-Marie Le Pen |publisher=Linternaute.com |date=20 June 1928 |access-date=21 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816131939/http://www.linternaute.com/biographie/jean-marie-le-pen/ |archive-date=16 August 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref name="BBC-obit">{{cite news |last1=Luckhurst |first1=Toby |title=Obituary: Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of French far right |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c84z7pl4193o |access-date=13 January 2025 |work=www.bbc.com |date=6 January 2025}}</ref> He was [[orphan]]ed as an adolescent ([[Ward of the Nation]], brought up by the state), when his father's boat ''La Persévérance'' was blown up by a mine in 1942.<ref name="genea"/><ref>Le Pen, Jean-Marie, p82</ref><ref>Fauchoux, Marc and Forcari, Christophe. p42</ref> He was raised as a Roman Catholic and studied at the [[Jesuit]] {{ill|Collège-lycée-prépa Saint-François-Xavier de Vannes|lt=Collège Saint-François-Xavier|fr|Collège-lycée-prépa Saint-François-Xavier de Vannes}} in [[Vannes]],<ref>Le Pen, Jean-Marie, p72</ref> then at the {{ill|Lycée Dupuy-de-Lôme|fr}} in [[Lorient]].<ref>Le Pen, Jean-Marie, p94</ref>

In November 1944, aged 16, Le Pen was turned down (because of his age) by Colonel Henri de La Vaissière (then representative of the [[French Communist Party|Communist Youth]]) when he attempted to join the [[French Forces of the Interior]] (FFI).<ref>[http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/elysee_2007/actu.asp?id=10247 Quand Le Pen voulait rejoindre les FFI] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001030819/http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/elysee_2007/actu.asp?id=10247 |date=1 October 2007 }}, ''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]'', 28 March 2007 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> He then entered the [[University of Paris|faculty of law in Paris]], and started to sell the monarchist ''[[Action Française (post 1945)|Action Française]]''{{'s}} newspaper, ''[[Aspects de la France]]'', in the street.<ref name="Base_de_données">{{cite web |title=Jean-Marie Le Pen: Biographies |url=https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/(num_dept)/7607 |website=Base de données des députés français depuis 1789 |publisher=Assemblée nationale |access-date=7 January 2025}}</ref> He was repeatedly convicted of assault and battery (''coups et blessures'').<ref name = "BioRFI"/>

Le Pen started his political career as the head of the student union in [[Toulouse]]. He became president of the ''Association Corporative des étudiants en droit'', an association of law students whose main occupation was to engage in street brawls against the ''cocos'' ([[French Communist Party|communists]]). He was excluded from this organisation in 1951.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biographie et actualités de Jean Marie Le Pen France Inter|url=https://www.franceinter.fr/personnes/jean-marie-le-pen|access-date=10 December 2020|website=www.franceinter.fr|language=fr}}</ref>

After his time in the military, Le Pen studied [[political science]] and law at [[Panthéon-Assas University]]. His graduate thesis, submitted in 1971 by him and Jean-Loup Vincent, was titled ''Le courant anarchiste en France depuis 1945'' ("The [[The anarchist movement in France since 1945|anarchist movement in France]] since 1945").<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHTTk_iM6jUC&pg=PA235|title=La politique mensonge|last=Schwartzenberg|first=Roger-Gérard|date=1998|publisher=Odile Jacob|isbn=9782738105431|pages=235|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tTSNwAACAAJ|title=Le Courant anarchiste en France depuis 1945|last=Le Pen|first=Jean-Marie |date=1971|publisher=Universite de Paris|language=fr}}</ref>