‘France on Trial’ Review: Marshal Pétain’s Shadow

A French military hero became the figurehead of the collaborationist Vichy regime. His trial in 1945 raised questions that are still unanswered.

In 1940, after an intense six-week battle, the most formidable army in Europe was defeated by a much more flexible and aggressive German military. 

For almost 80 years, France has lived with its memory of that shameful defeat, as well as its ensuing four years of collaboration with the Germans. 

What makes this period of occupation stand out is that the “armistice” signed in 1940 left half of France independently governed by a reactionary coterie of its own politicos and military leaders. 

Their headquarters, though, were not in Paris, where the German administration held sway, but in the spa town of Vichy, in the middle of the country. Their leader was Marshal Philippe Pétain.

Ronald C. Rosbottom Wall Street Journal 25 August 2023

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/france-on-trial-review-marshal-petains-shadow-88838286

A new book revisits the trial of Philippe Pétain in 1945

The Economist 6 July 2023

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2023/06/french-and-german-intelligence-agents.html

Inlägg med etikett Frankrike

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/search/label/Frankrike