Gwenn-Aël Bolloré


Gwenn-Aël Bolloré was a French soldier, businessman, author, and publisher.

Biography

At the age of 17, Bolloré decided to join in the Free French Forces in England. He sailed across the English Channel in a small boat and met up with his brother René who had arrived in England few months earlier. He lied about his age and his myopia to enroll in the Free French Kieffer Commandos with whom he participated in Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 by storming the beach and the city of Ouistreham. Bolloré recorded his war memoirs in the book J'ai débarqué le 6 juin 1944: commando de la France libre and was interviewed in the documentary film Les Grandes batailles du passé produced by Daniel Costelle.
Bolloré was interested in oceanography and earned a doctorate degree from the Oceanographic Museum of Odet. As a filmmaker, he produced several short films and a feature film called "Les naufrageurs ". He was vice-president of Papeteries Bolloré from 1952 to 1974 and in the 1960s, he was the CEO of La Table Ronde which published a number of books hostile to the Gaullist policy in Algeria and favorable to the OAS.
He was the brother of Michel Bolloré, René Bolloré, Jacqueline Cloteaux and Vincent Bolloré's uncle.
Bolloré wrote books on fishing and England. He has also published essays and poems.
The Prix Bretagne was established at his initiative in 1961.

Publications