| Summary: | This thesis examines the career of Maurice Papon from his appointment as secretary-general of the prefecture of the Gironde in 1942, through his terms as a prefect in Morocco and Algeria, to the end of the Algerian War in 1962 when he was prefect of police in Paris. Throughout this period, Papon's career was marked by controversy: in the Gironde on account of his involvement in the detaining and deportation of Jews, which led to his conviction in 1998 for crimes against humanity; in North Africa on account of the use of torture and summary execution by units of the army within his jurisdiction; and in Paris on account of the harsh methods used by the police to suppress the Algerian nationalist movement. Papon, who was extensively interviewed for the thesis, regarded himself as a loyal civil servant who was simply doing his duty. The thesis carefully examines his relations to the State, his actions and the circumstances in which he carried them out. In doing so, it presents an historical portrait of Papon and the State which employed him, and an assessment of what both understood by the concept of a civil servant's duty to obey.
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