Henri Tasso

{{Short description|French politician}}{{Expand French|topic=bio}}{{Infobox person

| name = Henri Tasso

| image = Henri Tasso 1932.jpg

| caption = Henri Tasso in 1932

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1882|10|08|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Marseille, France

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1944|02|12|1882|10|08|df=yes}}

| death_place = Allauch, France

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| occupation = Politician

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| spouse =Thérèse Gairaud

| children =

| parents =Michel-Théodore Tasso
Dominique Eusébie Marie Montefrestini

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}}

Henri Tasso (8 October 1882 – 12 February 1944) was a French Socialist politician. He served as the Mayor of Marseille from 1935 to 1939. He also served as a member of the National Assembly from 1924 to 1938, and of the Senate from 1938 to 1945.

Early life

Henri Tasso was born on 8 October 1882 in Marseille.{{cite web|url=http://www.senat.fr/senateur-3eme-republique/tasso_henri0331r3.html|title=French Senate: Henri Tasso|author=Sénat français|publisher=|accessdate=1 October 2014}} His parents, Michel-Théodore Tasso and Dominique Eusébie Marie Montefrestini, were Italian immigrants to France.Herrick Chapman, Laura Levine Frader, Race in France: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Difference, Berghahn Books, 2004, p. 94 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9pvo-wkwCosC&dq=%22henri+tasso%22&pg=PA94]

Career

A member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), he served as a member of the National Assembly from 1924 to 1938. He supported the naturalisation of Italian immigrants, even those who were poor and unemployed.Mary Dewhurst Lewis, The Boundaries of the Republic: Migrant Rights and the Limits of Universalism in France, 1918-1940, Stanford University Press, 2007, p. 97 [https://books.google.com/books?id=_yaQUTujhREC&dq=%22henri+tasso%22&pg=PA97]

He served as the Socialist Mayor of Marseille from 1935 to 1939.Martin S. Alexander, Helen Graham, The French and Spanish Popular Fronts: Comparative Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 206 [https://books.google.com/books?id=xHTuWnb7cPYC&dq=%22henri+tasso%22&pg=PA206] On 8 October 1938 a fire burnt down Les Nouvelles Galeries, a department store on the Canebière.Donna F. Ryan, The Holocaust & the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France, University of Illinois Press, 1996, p. 19 [https://books.google.com/books?id=GQO2gmIsKuEC&dq=%22henri+tasso%22&pg=PA19] Shortly after, he was dismissed. Others have argued he was dismissed "because of his inappropriate financial management and chronic overhiring of municipal workers."Junʼichi Kawata, Comparing Political Corruption and Clientelism, Ashgate Publishing, 2006, pp. 183-184 [https://books.google.com/books?id=X3Tb0Glw3G0C&dq=%22henri+tasso%22&pg=PA183]

He also served as a member of the Senate from 1938 to 1944.