Vichy France
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Vichy France, or the Vichy regime, was the French government from 1940 to 1944 during the Nazi occupation of the country during World War II. Now known in French as the Régime de Vichy or Vichy, during its existence it referred to itself as L'État Français (The French State).
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Overview
On June 16, 1940, the National Assembly—which had supported the socialist government of the "Front Populaire" in 1936—faced with imminent military defeat by Germany, gave full power to Marshal Philippe Pétain. In 1940, Pétain was known mainly as a World War I hero. Pétain became the last prime minister of the Third Republic; he suppressed the parliament and immediately turned the regime into a non-democratic government collaborating with Germany.
Vichy France was established after France surrendered to Germany on June 22, 1940, and took its name from the government's administrative centre in Vichy, southeast of Paris. Paris remained the official capital, to which Pétain always intended to return the government when this became possible. While officially neutral in the war, Vichy actively collaborated with the Nazis, including, to some degree, with their racial policies.
It is a common misconception that the Vichy regime administered only the unoccupied zone of southern France, while the Germans directly administered the occupied zone. In fact, the civil jurisdiction of the Vichy government extended over the whole of Metropolitan France, except for Alsace-Lorraine, which was placed under German administration (though not formally annexed). French civil servants in Bordeaux or Nantes were under the authority of French ministers in Vichy. But the difficulties of communication across the demarcation line between the two zones, and the tendency of the Germans to exercise arbitrary power in the occupied zone, made it difficult for Vichy to assert its authority there.
This situation actually improved when the Germans occupied southern France on 11 November 1942, in operation Case Anton. Although Vichy's "Armistice Army" was disbanded, thus diminishing Vichy's independence, the abolition of the line of demarcation made civil administration easier. Vichy continued to exercise jurisdiction over most of France until the collapse of the regime following the Allied invasion in June 1944.
The Vichy regime was acknowledged as the official government of France by the United States and other countries, including Canada, which was at war with Germany. Even the United Kingdom maintained unofficial contacts with Vichy for some time, until it became apparent that the Vichy Prime Minister Pierre Laval intended full collaboration with the Germans.
The Vichy government's claim to be the de jure French government was challenged by the Free French Forces of Charles de Gaulle, based first in London and later in Algiers, and French governments ever since have held that the Vichy regime was an illegal government run by traitors.
Within Vichy France, there was a low-intensity civil war between the French Resistance—drawn from the Communist and Republican elements of society—against the reactionary elements who desired a fascist or similar regime as in Francisco Franco's Spain. This civil war can be seen as the continuation of a division existing within French society since the 19th century or even the French Revolution, illustrated by events such as the Dreyfus Affair and the 6 February 1934 riots.
The fall of France and the establishment of the Vichy regime
Template:History of FranceFrance declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 following the German invasion of Poland. After the eight-month Phony War, the Germans launched their offensive in the west on 10 May 1940. Within days, it became clear that French forces were overwhelmed and that military collapse was inevitable. Government and military leaders, deeply shocked by the debacle, debated how to proceed. Many officials, including the Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud, wanted to move the government to French territories in North Africa, and continue the war with the French naval fleet and the resources of the French empire. Others, particularly the vice-premier Henri Philippe Pétain and the commander-in-chief, General Maxime Weygand, insisted that the responsibility of the government was to remain in France and share the misfortune of its people. The latter view called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
While this debate continued, the government was forced to relocate several times, finally reaching Bordeaux, in order to avoid capture by advancing German forces. Communications were poor and thousands of civilian refugees clogged the roads. In these chaotic conditions, advocates of an armistice gained the upper hand and overwhelmed the resistance of those who wished to continue the war. The Cabinet agreed on a proposal to seek armistice terms from Germany, with the understanding that, should Germany set forth dishonorable or excessively harsh terms, France would retain the option to continue to fight. In reality, this was probably a pretextual understanding. Once the government breached the psychological barrier of seeking terms from Germany, the armistice was virtually inevitable.
France's armistice with Hitler
France capitulated on 22 June 1940. The United States would not enter the war until 1941, and the Soviet Union was still in its period of rapprochement with Nazi Germany under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Thus, the United Kingdom was left as the only world power at war with the Axis.
Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned over the decision and, on his recommendation, President Albert Lebrun appointed the 84-year-old Pétain to replace him on 16 June. The Armistice with France (Second Compiègne) agreement was signed on 22 June. A separate agreement was reached with Italy, which had entered the war against France on 10 June, well after the outcome of the battle was beyond doubt.
Hitler was motivated by a number of reasons to agree to the armistice. He feared that France would continue to fight from North Africa, and he wanted to ensure that the French Navy was taken out of the war. He could not know, of course, that the tide of opinion within the French government had turned decisively against this course of action. (Later, on Churchill's orders, British bombers would destroy the French fleet to remove the possibility of its being employed against the Allies.) In addition, leaving a French government in place would relieve Germany of the considerable burden of administering French territory. Finally, he hoped to direct his attentions toward Britain, where he anticipated another quick victory.
Conditions of armistice
The armistice divided France into occupied and unoccupied zones. Germany would occupy northern and western France including the entire Atlantic coast. The remaining two-fifths of the country would be governed by the French government with the capital at Vichy under Pétain. Ostensibly, the French government would administer the entire territory. The French Army was reduced to an "Armistice Army" of 100,000 soldiers, and the 1.2 million French prisoners of war would remain in captivity. The French had to pay the occupation costs of 20 million Reichmarks per day, at the artificial rate of 20 frances to the Mark - fifty times the actual costs of the 300,000-strong occupation garrison. The government had also to prevent any French people from leaving the country.
France was also required to turn over to German custody anyone within the country whom the Germans demanded. Within French deliberations, this was singled out as a potentially "dishonorable" term, since it would require France to hand over persons who had entered France seeking refuge from Germany. Attempts to negotiate the point with Germany were unsuccessful, and the French decided not to press the issue to the point of refusing the Armistice, though they hoped to ameliorate the requirement in future negotiations with Germany after the signing.
The French government broke off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on 5 July 1940 after the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir by British naval forces.
The Third Republic was voted out of existence by a majority of the French National Assembly on 10 July 1940 by 468 votes to 80 and 20 abstentions[1] . The assembly met in Vichy, a city in central France, which was used as a provisional capital. The Vichy regime was established the following day, with Pétain as head of state, with the whole powers (Constitutive, Legislative, Executive and Judicial) in his hand. Pétain was given the power to write a new Constitution but this was never done. He instead put forth three Constitutional Acts that suspended the Constitution of the Third Republic of 1875. These Acts suspended Parliament and transferred all powers to himself. On 12 July, Pétain designated Pierre Laval as Vice-President and his designated successor, and appointed Fernand de Brinon as representative to the German High Command in Paris. Pétain remained the head of the Vichy regime until 20 August 1944. The French national motto, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood), was replaced by Travail, Famille, Patrie (Work, Family, Fatherland), it was noted at the time that TFP also stood for the criminal punishment of "travaux forcés en perpetuité". Pétain's vice-premiers were successively Pierre Laval and François Darlan. Paul Reynaud, who had not officially resigned as Prime Minister, was arrested in September 1940 by the Vichy government and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1941 before the opening of the Riom Trial.
Vichy composition and policies
The composition of the Vichy cabinet, and its policies, were mixed. Many Vichy officials such as Pétain, though not all, were reactionaries who considered that France's unfortunate fate was a kind of divine punishment for its Republican character and the actions of its left-wing governments of the 1930s (see Popular Front). Reactionary writer Charles Maurras judged that Pétain's accession to power was, in that respect, a "divine surprise"; and many people of the same political persuasion judged that it was preferable to have an authoritarian, Catholic government similar to that of Francisco Franco's Spain, albeit under Germany's yoke, than have a Republican government. Others, like Joseph Darnand, were strong anti-Semites and overt Nazi sympathisers. A number of these joined the Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme (Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism) units fighting on the Eastern Front, or even the Waffen SS. Template:Governments of France
On the other hand, technocrats such as Jean Bichelonne or engineers from the Groupe X-Crise used their position to push various reforms that had been postponed during the Third Republic. Many of these (for example, the foundation of the statistics office, which would become INSEE after the war, or Alexis Carrel's "French Foundation for the Study of Human Problems" — Alexis Carrel supported eugenics — which became the National Institute of Demographic Studies - INED -, led by Alfred Sauvy, after the war) were retained and reinforced under France's post-war dirigisme.
Furthermore, some members of the Vichy Government, such as young François Mitterrand, claimed to have used their official positions as "insiders" to further the goals of the internal resistance.
Fascist paramilitaries
In order to enforce the régime's will, some paramilitary organizations with a fascist leaning were created. A notable example was the "Légion Française des Combattants" (L.F.C.) (French Legion of Fighters), including at first only former combatants, but quickly adding "Amis de la Légion" and cadets of the Légion, who had never seen battle, but were supporters of his dictatorial regime. The name was then quickly changed to "Légion Française des Combattants et des volontaires de la Révolution Nationale" (French Legion of Fighters and Volunteers of the National Revolution). Then, Joseph Darnand created a "Service d'Ordre Légionnaire" (S.O.L.), which consisted mostly of French supporters of the Nazis, of which Pétain fully approved.
Implementation of Nazi racial, anti-Semitic laws
As soon as it had been established, Pétain's government took measures against his real or supposed opponents, the métèques (aliens), like the "Francs Maçons" (the Freemasons) and Jews. It created racist laws of Hitlerian inspiration against Jews even more quickly than Hitler had done after his ascent to power in Germany. Indeed, Jewish refugees in France had been interned from September 1939, and camps such as Gurs, Les Milles, or Rivesaltes "left nothing to be desired in terms of neglect and poor diet". In August 1940 the laws against antisemitism in the media (the Law Marchandeau) were abolished.
In October 1940 the Statute on Jews defined a Jewish identity and enforced the exclusion of Jews from the civil service, the armed forces, entertainment, arts, media, and certain professional roles (teachers, lawyers, doctors of medicine, etc.). The police registered all French Jews and added the mention "Jews" on their identity cards (as Giorgio Agamben has pointed out, it is these documents and photos which later helped the police in its raids[2]). A Commissariat-General for Jewish Affairs was created and, mirroring the Reich Association of Jews, the Union Générale des Israélites de France was founded.
The police also oversaw the confiscation of telephones and TSF (télégraphie sans fil) radios from Jewish homes and enforced a curfew on Jews starting from February 1942. It attentively monitored the Jews who didn't respect the prohibition according to which they were not supposed to appear in public places and had to travel in the last car of the Parisian metro.
Furthermore, foreign Jews staying in France were handed over to Germany. In total, the Vichy government helped in the deportation of 76,000 Jews to German extermination camps; only 2,500 survived the war. During the 16 July 1942 rafle du Vel'd'Hiv ("Vel'd'Hiv raid"), French police officers rounded up 12,884 Jews (including 4,051 children which the Gestapo hadn't asked for), and imprisoned them in the Winter Velodrome in unhygienic conditions, from which they were led to Drancy transit camp (run by French constabulary police) and then to the concentration camps. The Gestapo hardly had ordered it to act so; the police eagerly participated in the raid. On 16 July 1995, president Jacques Chraic officially recognized the active participation of French police forces in the 16 July 1942 raid. "There was no effective police resistance until the end of Spring of 1944", wrote historians Jean-Luc Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus[3]
While it is certain that the Vichy government and a large number of its high administration collaborated in such policies, the exact level of such cooperation is still debated. Compared with the Jewish communities established in other countries invaded by Nazi Germany, French Jews suffered proportionately lighter losses. Former Vichy officials later claimed that they did as much as they could to minimize the impact of the Nazi policies, although mainstream French historians contend that the Vichy regime went beyond the Nazi expectations, which originally concerned only foreign Jews staying in France, not French Jews. Maurice Papon, who became Paris' police prefect and was later responsible for the 1961 Paris massacre, was judged in the 1980s, as well as Klaus Barbie, who worked after the war for the CIA.
French collaborationnistes and collaborators
Stanley Hoffmann in 1974,[4] and after him, other historians such as Robert Paxton and Jean-Pierre Azéma have used the term collaborationnistes to refer to fascists and Nazi sympathizers who, for ideological reasons, wished a reinforced collaboration with Hitler's Germany. Examples of are Parti Populaire Français (PPF) leader Jacques Doriot, writer Robert Brasillach or Marcel Déat. The Vichy regime also implemented compulsory work in Germany for young Frenchmen (service du travail obligatoire or STO), a move which pushed some of these young men to join the Resistance instead.
A number of the French advocated fascist philosophies even before the Vichy regime. Far-right organizations, such as La Cagoule, had contributed to the destabilization of the Third Republic, particularly when the left-wing Popular Front was in power. After France's military defeat, some of these sympathisers actively assisted the Vichy regime; some even directly assisted the Nazis in taking Jewish private property, destroying synagogues and other Jewish monuments, and in shipping Jews to Nazi concentration camps. A prime example is the founder of L'Oréal cosmetics, Eugène Schueller, and his associate Jacques Corrèze.
Collaborationists may have influenced the Vichy government's policies, but ultra-collaborationists comprised the majority of the government only until 1944.[5]
With regard to economic contribution to the German economy it is estimated that France provided 42% of the total foreign aid.[6]
Relationships with the Allied powers
The United States granted Vichy full diplomatic recognition, sending Admiral William D. Leahy to France as American ambassador. President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull hoped to use American influence to encourage those elements in the Vichy government opposed to military collaboration with Germany. The Americans also hoped to encourage Vichy to resist German war demands, such as for air bases in French-mandated Syria or to move war supplies through French territories in North Africa. The essential American position was that France should take no action not explicitly required by the armistice terms that could adversely affect Allied efforts in the war.
Shortly after the armistice, the United Kingdom attacked a large French naval contingent in Mers-el-Kebir, killing 1,297 French military personnel. Unsurprisingly, Vichy severed diplomatic relations. Britain feared that the French naval fleet could wind up in German hands and be used against her own naval forces, which were so vital to maintaining world-wide shipping and communications. Under the armistice, France had been allowed to retain the French Navy, the Marine Nationale, under strict conditions. Vichy pledged that the fleet would never fall into the hands of Germany, but refused to send the fleet beyond Germany's reach, either by sending it to Britain, or even to far away territories of the French empire, such as the West Indies. This was not enough security for Winston Churchill. French ships in British ports were seized by the Royal Navy. The French squadron at Alexandria, under Admiral Godfroy, was effectively interned until 1943 after an agreement was reached with Admiral Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet.
Creation of Free French Forces
To counter the Vichy regime, General Charles de Gaulle created the Free French Forces (FFL) after his Appeal of 18 June, 1940 radio speech. Initially Winston Churchill was ambivalent about de Gaulle and he dropped links with Vichy only when it became clear they would not fight. Even so, the Free France headquarters in London was riven with internal divisions and jealousies.
The additional participation of Free French forces in the Syrian operation was controversial within allied circles. It raised the prospect of Frenchmen shooting at Frenchmen, raising fears of a civil war. Additionally, it was believed that the Free French were widely reviled within Vichy military circles, and that Vichy forces in Syria were less likely to resist the British if they were not accompanied by elements of the Free French. Nevertheless, de Gaulle convinced Churchill to allow his forces to participate, although de Gaulle was forced to agree to a joint British-Free French proclamation promising that Syria and Lebanon would become fully independent at the end of the war.
However, there were still French naval ships under French control. A large squadron was in port at Mers El Kébir harbour near Oran. Vice Admiral Somerville, with Force H under his command, was instructed to deal with the situation in July 1940. Various terms were offered to the French squadron, but all were rejected. Consequently, Force H opened fire on the French ships. Nearly 1,000 French sailors died when the Bretagne blew up in the attack. Less than two weeks after the armistice, Britain had fired upon forces of its former ally. The result was shock and resentment towards the UK within the French Navy, and to a lesser extent in the general French public.
Tensions with Britain in Syria, Madagascar
The next flashpoint between Britain and Vichy came in June 1941 when a revolt in Iraq had to be put down by British forces. Luftwaffe aircraft, staging through the French possession of Syria, intervened in the fighting in small numbers. That highlighted Syria as a threat to British interests in the Middle East. Consequently, British and Commonwealth forces invaded Syria and Lebanon, capturing Damascus on 17 June. see (Syria-Lebanon campaign)
One other major operation of British forces against Vichy French territory was the Battle of Madagascar. It was feared that Japanese forces might use Madagascar as a base and thus cripple British trade and communications in the Indian Ocean. As a result, Madagascar was invaded by British and Commonwealth forces in 1942. It fell relatively quickly, but the operation is often viewed as an unnecessary diversion of British naval resources away from more vital theatres of operation.
German invasion, November 1942
President Roosevelt continued to cultivate Vichy, and promoted General Henri Giraud as a preferable alternative to de Gaulle, despite the poor performance of Vichy forces in North Africa—Admiral François Darlan had landed in Algiers the day before Operation Torch with the XIXth Vichy Army Corps, but was neutralised within 15 hours by a 400-strong French resistance force. Nonetheless, Roosevelt and Churchill accepted Darlan, rather than de Gaulle, as the French leader in North Africa. The United States also resented the Free French taking control of St Pierre and Miquelon on 24 December 1941 because, Secretary of State Hull believed, it interfered with a U.S.-Vichy agreement to maintain the status quo with respect to French territorial possessions in the western hemisphere. [1][2]
After Darlan signed an armistice with the Allies and took power in North Africa, Germany violated the 1940 armistice and invaded Vichy France on 10 November 1942 (operation code-named Case Anton), triggering the Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon.
Even though he was now in the Allied camp, Darlan maintained the repressive Vichy system in North Africa, including concentration camps in southern Algeria.