ABSTRACT
The German Occupation of France and the collaboration of the Vichy government from 10 July 1940 under the leadership of Marshal Philippe Pétain had dramatic consequences for the zone. Soon after launching its National Revolution based on work, family, fatherland and a return to the land, Vichy made the creation of a green belt in the zone one of its priorities. The redevelopment of the zone provided Vichy with an opportunity to visibly flex its administrative muscles in the national capital while highlighting the ineptitude of its republican predecessors and asserting its control over undesirable social groups associated with the urban periphery. Vichy was primarily interested in using the space occupied by the zone to revitalise Parisian youth through sport. The use of the zone as a metaphor for national identity during the Occupation was inevitably informed by its significance for Vichy, the disappearance of its shantytowns and its implicit association with other zones imposed by German authorities.
