Work really does set you free, insists unapologetic far-right French lawmaker

A prominent lawmaker in the far-right party of French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen insists he did nothing wrong after repeating the Nazi slogan “work sets you free” in a speech at a rally.

Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a deputy in Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), had last weekend used the slogan whose original German “Arbeit macht frei” had notoriously been inscribed above Nazi concentration and extermination camps, including Auschwitz.

The snippet of footage has now been widely shared on social media.

⚡️????????VIDÉO – À Vierzon, le 19 septembre, le député #RN de la Somme Jean-Philippe #Tanguy a repris l’expression « le travail rend libre », traduction française de la formule « Arbeit macht frei », inscrite sur le fronton des camps de concentration #nazis… pic.twitter.com/Q0rsBnfq3U

— Brèves de presse (@Brevesdepresse) September 23, 2026

Tanguy, 40, a rising star in the party and one of its most prominent figures in the media, says the phrase he used at the rally in Vierzon in central France had been taken out of context.

“It was a speech about how, with a good salary and the means to afford housing… individuals can, quite literally, emancipate themselves and gain freedom,” he tells Europe 1 radio.

When asked if he regretted the phrasing, Tanguy replied: “I am not going to apologize for every accusation.”

However, he does apologize to those with “painful family histories” and to victims of antisemitism “not for what I said — because I said nothing wrong — but because they may have been personally hurt.”

“I respect the suffering and pain of the individuals and families who were tragically scarred by Nazi barbarism,” he adds.

RN co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen made repeated remarks that were antisemitic or played down the Nazi occupation of France in World War II.