ABSTRACT
The Nazi victories in Europe cast a long shadow over all the countries the Germans occupied. For none is this more true than for France. Hitler had allowed a French government to continue to function, and this Vichy regime under Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain enjoyed the support of the great majority of French people in 1940: for them the war was over. Vichy represented adjustment to the new realities and reconstructions, for the ‘old France’ had demonstrated its rottenness in defeat. There appeared to be no real alternative to ‘honest collaboration’, carrying out the terms the Germans had imposed. But where did honour end? Vichy militia and police helped the Germans to arrest other French citizens to be handed over to Gestapo torturers. Then the Jews were rounded up to be sent to their deaths in the east, not only the foreign refugees admitted before the outbreak of war, but French men, women and children. The war produced great heroes in France: men and women risking their lives for the persecuted, and for the Allied cause. But there were tens of thousands of French men and women who served Vichy France, some in important roles, others in minor capacities, from Pierre Laval, the prime minister to the lowliest policeman or civil servant. They made their living serving the state, and the great majority were able to continue their careers after the war, with no apparent stain on their character.
