Pierre Sudreau

Pierre Sudreau (13 May 1919 – 22 January 2012) was a French politician. He served as minister of Construction (1958–1962), minister of Education (1962), member of the French National Assembly (1967–1981) and mayor of Blois (1971–1989).

His childhood correspondence with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry helped inspire the title character of the 1943 novel ''The Little Prince''. During the German occupation of France in World War II, Sudreau was a resistance fighter in the Brutus Network. He was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp.

After the war, he made a rapid career in civil service and was responsible for the planning of major construction and infrastructure projects during General de Gaulle's government. A convinced pro-European, he presided European Movement France from 1962 to 1968. He was also a lobbyist for the French railway industry and chaired its association FIF from 1963 to 1996. Provided by Wikipedia