1405 - Emile Marchais’s Prefect’s jacket. Tailored from khaki cloth. All buttons are modeled after the pre-war Prefectural style. No visible rank insignia. Lined with gray silk-like fabric. This jacket, which comes from the estate of Prefect Emile Marchais, is very unusual. It was custom-made and appears to have been created to serve as an alternative to the Prefect’s standard uniform. It is undoubtedly the only 1941-model jacket ever worn by a Prefect. Note some wear and patina on the garment, as well as a few moth-eaten spots. Condition II+. Émile Marchais was born in Haute-Vienne on November 9, 1899. After studying law, he began his career as a senior civil servant in the office of the Prefect of the Ardennes, then went on to serve in Blois, Châteaudun, and Langres. He was appointed by the Vichy government as subprefect of Alès and later of Montluçon. In September 1943, he was appointed prefect of the Aude. Although not as zealous as his predecessor, he did not attempt to halt the punitive operations carried out by the Milice. In May 1944, he complied with the order from Joseph Darnand, Secretary General for Law and Order, to arrest Spanish Republicans and French and foreign Jews. These individuals owed their survival to the train cars chartered by Émile Marchais only because of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. His successor after the Liberation, Pierre Auge, saved Émile Marchais from the wrath of the purge. Suspended and placed on leave, he was promoted to Secretary General of the Saar Government in Baden-Württemberg, which was occupied by French troops. On July 1, 1946, he was retired. He died in 1958. An unusual, privately tailored khaki prefect’s tunic from Émile Marchais’s estate, with pre-war buttons and no visible insignia or moth damage.