September 1, 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland

September 2, 1939: Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announces that all men in the U.K.

between ages 18-41 will be drafted to fight the Nazis

1940

• May 10, 1940 : The Nazi army invades Holland and Belgium

• June 14, 1940 : the Nazi army enters Paris (photo, right)

June 16, 1940

Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of World War I, is named President of the Council of Ministers (a position with functions very similar to those of a prime minister)

June 18, 1940: General de Gaulle, in London, uses the BBC radio to launch a call to resist the

occupationEnglish translation of de Gaulle's Appeal of June 18, 1940

From de Gaulle’s Appeal of June 18, 1940

“Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.”

June 22, 1940The clearing of Rethondes, in the forest of Compiègne. France signs an armistice with Germany—the same place where Germany had signed the armistice ending World War I. Now, France has been defeated and Germany is the victor.

November 11, 1918 June 22, 1940

July 1, 1940France divided into occupied and unoccupied zones. The

unoccupied zone is under the control of a new government, headed by Pétain, known as the Vichy government, after the

city where its headquarters are located. Pétain and his ministers actively seek to collaborate with Nazi Germany—so

“unoccupied” is a misnomer.

July 11, 1940Pétain is proclaimed Chief of the French State.

The poster reads: Frenchmen! You have not been sold out, betrayed, or abandoned. Come to me with confidence

October 24, 1940: Pétain meets Hitler

Link to video of Pétain meeting with Hitler

Excerpt from Pétain’s speech: The armistice, in the end, is not peace. France has numerous obligations toward the victor. At least France remains sovereign. This sovereignty requires her to defend her land, to extinguish divergent opinions, to put an end to dissidence in her colonies.

This policy is mine. The government ministers are responsible only to me. It is I alone who shall be judged by history.

I have spoken to you as a father until now. Today I speak to you as a leader.

Follow me. Keep your confidence in eternal France.

Under the Vichy government, the new national motto is “Work, Family, Fatherland.” This motto replaces “Liberty, Equality,

Fraternity,” which dates back the French Revolution of 1789. In other words, the Vichy government rejects the

republican values of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

What does “republican values” mean in a French context?

The French Republic arose in 1792 after the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in 1789.Her foundations and principles: The French Republic is "one and indivisible", meaning that she is made up of equal citizens, not separate communities. The Republic thus enables unity to be combined with diversity, the "me" with the "we".

The two resulting principles are those of national sovereignty (top-down sovereignty, that of the nation-states) and popular sovereignty (bottom-up sovereignty, that of the people).

National sovereignty corresponds to the idea that every Nation, that assembly of citizens united by a common history, language and culture, retains control of the decisions which it has to make for the common good.

Popular sovereignty is the essence of democracy: power proceeds from the people, who delegate it temporarily to their elected officials. Popular sovereignty is delegated but remains inalienable. The people are free to decide, to do and undo. Her values: The Republic is not only indivisible but secular, democratic and social. "Social" refers to Equality, "democratic" to Liberty and "Secular" to Fraternity. She assigns priority to the general interest by relying on the public service to afford all the French, wherever they be in France, the benefit of the same access to knowledge, security and mobility. Education, the police and transport are public services. Source: http://www.france-republicaine.fr/french-republic.php

• December 7, 1941: the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor

• December 8, 1941 : The USA declares war on Japan

• December 11, 1941 : Germany and Italy declare war on the USA; the USA declares war on them

Holding camps for Jews, Gypsies, and other “undesirables”

July 16, 1942The Vélodrome d’hiver (Vel d’hiv) Roundup: the largest mass arrest

of Jews in France during the war. 13,152 people were arrested, including 4,115 children, and held in an indoor bicycle arena. No

bathrooms were made available. 5 bathrooms were sealed to prevent escape, 5 others were blocked. Extreme heat. One water

tap. Food & water brought in by the Quakers. 5 days and then deportation. Less than a hundred survived.

September 4, 1942: First law passed concerning the STO, le Service de travail obligatoire. Thousands of Frenchmen deported (against their will) to work in German factories. Many choose to join the Resistance instead.

Propaganda posters: “Youth of France: Make the right choice!” (L); “Bad days are over; Papa’s earning money in Germany! (R)

July 8, 1943: Resistance leader Jean Moulin dies in captivity

1944

• June 6, 1944 : D-Day, “Operation Overlord”—Allied invasion of German-occupied France via the Normandy beaches

• August 25, 1944 : Paris is liberated• December 16, 1944: the Battle of the

Bulge, a last-ditch counteroffensive by the German army

May 2, 1945: the Soviet army takes Berlin

May 8, 1945:the end of the war in Europe

Robert O. Paxton, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University.Paxton is a leading historian of fascism and Vichy France.Here he receives the Grand Vermeil Medal of the City of

Paris, May 11, 2011

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

According to Robert Aron, Histoire de Vichy (Paris: Fayard, 1954)– The politics of the Vichy government were due

to a Nazi Diktat or order– Vichy served as a shield against this Diktat– Vichy played a secret double game, working

with the Allies as well as the Germans

Problem: The only sources available to Aron were transcripts from post-war purge trials

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

• According to Paxton, Aron’s thesis only applies to the circumstances and mentality surrounding the end of the Occupation

• It does not apply to the period of June 1940—end of 1942

• Paxton stresses the fact that he sees Aron’s book as “pioneering” despite its reliance on limited sources

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

• Counterpoints to the claim that Vichy policies resulted from Nazi Diktat:– The German archival sources show that Hitler had

always wanted to spend as little as possible on the occupation of France

– The French archival sources show that the Vichy government actively sought to collaborate with the Nazis

Paxton’s sources: German military archives; the archives of the Vichy government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

• Counterpoints to the “shield” claim– All throughout the Occupation, the Vichy

government sought to make concessions to the Germans

– Vichy’s pursuit of a “National Revolution” in France: The Armistice did not stipulate such a policy and the Nazis did not instigate or want it

– Of the foreigners deported to Germany for forced labor, the number of French men was second only to the number of Russians—there were no special protections for French men

The Law of August 16, 1940: “no one may practice medicine in France if he does not have French

nationality as a native as a result of being born of a French father”

The Vichy government sought a National Revolution.Left side: “laziness, demagoguery, internationalism”

undermine the metaphorical house that is France. Note the Star of David.

Right: Work, Family, Fatherland (instead of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity)

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

• Counterpoints to the claim of a double game:–No proof in the archives of this– The German authorities were aware of

the agreements negotiated between the Vichy government and the USA

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

• The Sorrow and the Pity, a French documentary about the Occupation, comes out in 1971

• Paxton’s Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order is published in 1972 and in French translation in 1973

• Henry Rousso, Le Syndrôme de Vichy: 1944—198-. Paris: Seuil, 1987. First major French historian to tackle the Vichy period.

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

Why did people collaborate with the Nazis?

• Because they agreed with the Nazi/ fascist ideology

• Collaboration d’état: out of national interest

• For personal gain and/or advancement

Je Suis Partout (« I Am Everywhere »), a fascist French newspaperApril 30, 1943 issue

« Do We in France Finally Want to Protect our Race? »

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

• Beginning in the 1970s, Holocaust survivors began to talk more openly about their experiences

• The first anti-Jewish measures undertaken by the Vichy government date from 1940. They originated with the Vichy government and its program of « national revolution. »

Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944. New York: Columbia University

Press, 2001. [1972]

• Since the 2nd edition of Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order was published, more research has been done on the effects of the Occupation on daily life

• What kind of choices did ordinary people have to make under the Occupation? How were they forced to accept it? What made people resist?