ABSTRACT
‘The worst servitude is to deny recognizing oneself as being a serf …’ From a letter of the historian Lucien Febvre, 1942
This chapter treats the position and attitude of the French Conseil d’État as the highest administrative court during the German occupation and the Vichy regime. It introduces the position of the court in the French government system and explains how it continued to function and cooperated with the Vichy government. Resistance and collaboration of judges is examined, such as in relation to anti-Semitic policies. Finally, the chapter describes the post-war fate of the court and how it secured its own survival.
