Quick Facts
Biography
Pierre Bonny (1895 – December 26, 1944) was a French police officer. As an inspector, he was the investigating officer on the 1923 Seznec case, in which he has been accused of falsifying the evidence. He was once praised as one of the most talented police officers in the country, helping to solve the notorious Stavisky financial scandal in 1934. In 1935, he was jailed for 3 years on corruption charges.
During the Second World War, Bonny joined the French Gestapo, known as the Carlingue. He was executed by firing squad in 1944.
Besides the overwhelming memory of a traitor and unscrupulous collaborator, he commonly incarnates the figure of a corrupt man, the executor of the lower works of the Vichy regime.
He is held to be the basis for the character of Monsieur Philibert in Patrick Modiano's wartime-set novel La Ronde de Nuit.