13 mai 1919
22 janvier 2012
Pierre Sudreau est né à Paris le 13 mai 1919 dans une famille d'industriels. Pensionnaire au lycée Hoche à Versailles, il se lie d’amitié avec Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, après lui avoir confié dans une lettre l’enthousiasme ressenti à la lecture deVol de nuit.
Après des études de droit et de sciences politiques, il est mobilisé en novembre 1939 et affecté à l'École de l'Air, repliée en mai 1940 à Bordeaux-Mérignac. Désireux, à l'annonce de l'armistice de juin 1940, de poursuivre la lutte contre l'occupant, Pierre Sudreau participe à des récupérations d'armes et, après divers contacts, entre au réseau Brutus, fondé par André Boyer et Pierre Fourcaud, où il côtoie notamment Gaston Defferre et Jean-Maurice Hermann. Sous le pseudonyme de Sillans, il devient en 1942, à vingt-trois ans, le responsable du réseau pour la zone nord, engageant pour le seconder ses amis Pierre Bernard, Michel Bauer et André Clavé. Ses activités consistent principalement à transmettre à Londres des renseignements militaires et des informations sur la construction du Mur de l'Atlantique, mais il participe également avec Louis Armand à des sabotages ferroviaires dans le Nord et l'Est.
Infiltrée par un agent double de l'Abwehr, l'organisation subit une vague d'arrestations à l'automne 1943. Pierre Sudreau tombe aux mains de la Gestapo le 10 novembre. Torturé, il est enfermé à Fresnes pendant six mois, avant d'être envoyé à Compiègne et déporté à Buchenwald en mai 1944.
De retour en France, il est, avec d'autres déportés, présenté le 5 mai 1945 au général de Gaulle, qui s'étonne de voir là « ce gosse » et, instruit de son parcours, ordonne « qu'il serve l'État, comme Jean Moulin ». Il est alors nommé sous-préfet hors classe, hors cadres, et sous-directeur du Personnel de la Sûreté nationale, de juin 1945 à février 1946, puis occupe très brièvement, en février 1946, les fonctions de directeur de cabinet de Gaston Defferre, secrétaire d'État à la Présidence du Conseil, chargé de l'Information. Il devient en ce même mois de février 1946, et jusqu’en juin 1947, directeur général adjoint du Service de la documentation extérieure et du contre-espionnage (SDECE), chargé des questions administratives et financières.
Pierre Sudreau est ensuite, de juillet 1947 à février 1949, directeur de l'Administration et des Affaires générales de la Sûreté nationale, puis directeur des Services financiers et du Contentieux du ministère de l'Intérieur, de février 1949 à septembre 1951.
De septembre 1951 à mars 1955, il est préfet du Loir-et-Cher et lance le premier spectacle de son et lumières au château de Chambord. Il est ensuite désigné, d’août 1955 à mai 1958, commissaire à la Construction et à l'Urbanisme pour la région parisienne, sous l'autorité du préfet de la Seine Émile Pelletier. En juin 1958, le général de Gaulle, de retour aux affaires, le choisit comme ministre de la Construction, à l'époque de la résorption des "taudis" et de l'aménagement de la région parisienne, avec la mise en chantier du Réseau express régional (RER) et du périphérique et le lancement du quartier de la Défense. Il est aussi chargé de l'aménagement du territoire et de la sauvegarde du patrimoine architectural, initiant notamment le ravalement des façades parisiennes.
Devenu ministre de l'Éducation nationale en avril 1962, dans le premier gouvernement de Georges Pompidou, Pierre Sudreau, en désaccord constitutionnel avec le général de Gaulle sur le projet de référendum touchant à l'élection au suffrage universel du président de la République, démissionne en octobre 1962. L'année suivante, sur les instances de Louis Armand, il prend les rênes de la Fédération des industries ferroviaires (FIF), dont il sera le président jusqu'en 1996, et joue dès lors un rôle pionnier dans le rayonnement industriel et commercial de la France. Promoteur du TGV, il préside aussi l'association Mer du Nord-Méditerranée de 1964 à 1984, le Groupement pour la promotion de la coopération industrielle entre la France et le Japon, le Comité permanent des foires et manifestations économiques à l'étranger, devenu le Comité français des manifestations économiques à l'étranger (CFME) de 1973 à 1995 et, de 1976 à 1983, occupe les fonctions de vice-président du conseil d'administration du Centre français du commerce extérieur. En 1974, le président de la République Valéry Giscard d'Estaing lui confie la charge de présider le Comité d'étude pour la réforme de l'entreprise. Le rapport présenté en février 1975 préconise notamment la cogestion au sein des sociétés, en réévaluant la place des salariés dans les prises de décisions.
Après son départ du Gouvernement, Pierre Sudreau n'a pas renoncé à la vie politique : député du Loir-et-Cher de 1967 à 1981, il est maire de Blois de 1971 à 1989 et président de la région Centre de 1976 à 1979. Militant activement contre la prolifération des armes nucléaires, pour la construction européenne – il préside l'Organisation française du mouvement européen de 1968 à 1972 – et le rapprochement Nord-Sud, il s'emploie avec la même ardeur à unir les anciens résistants et déportés par-delà leurs sensibilités politiques et leurs antagonismes. Il est à ce titre à l'origine, avec son ami Jean-Pierre Levy, ancien chef du mouvement Franc-Tireur, de la Fondation de la Résistance, créée en 1993, qu’il préside de juin 2006 à juin 2009
Pierre Sudreau est décédé à Paris le 22 janvier 2012.
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