Jean Villard

Jean Villard, also known as Gilles or sometimes called Jean Villard Gilles (born 2 June 1895, Montreux, Switzerland - died 26 March 1982, Vevey, Switzerland) was a Swiss chansonnier, poet and lyricist. He was living in Paris, France before the war and came back to Switzerland where in opened a cabaret located at Rue de la Paix in Lausanne. Called " Le Coup De Soleil " (sunburn) it was open Oct. 19th, 1940 by Jean Villard and Edith Burger. It was the hub of french speaking public, and supporter of the French Resistance. During WW2, Jean villard is accused of being the number one enemy of Germany in Switzerland, by the ambassador of the third reich in Switzerland which asks the Federal Council in Bern to silence Jean Villard whose songs are clearly anti-Nazi.