Vichy France (1940-1944)

On June 11, 1940, the government French remained in the hands of Marshal Philippe Pétain, a World War I hero who was tasked with the arduous task of saving France from disaster.

This was proved an impossible task by the collapse of the French front due to German cunning, and British betrayal - which to the However, dessert turned out to be a very wise decision - leaving the Gauls alone to face the mighty Wehrmacht.

Faced with the unstoppable Teutonic advance, Pétain and his government decide to request an armistice, which is negotiated and he ends up signing on June 25, 1940, leaving very little margin for the French, but safeguarding something from territory and independence from Nazi Germany, despite giving it two thirds of its territory under occupation regime -which included the entire Atlantic coast-, and small portions to Italy. fascist.

The remains of France, now in Pétain's hands, were left as what would later become known as "Vichy France."

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Vichy France It is the name given to what was left of the French Republic after the defeat against the Axis in 1940, with its capital in the city-spa of Vichy (hence its name) and that it was organized as a fascist court state, being considered a puppet state of Nazi Germany

Although he did not fight on the Axis side as an aggressor, he had to face attacks from Free French forces led by De Gaulle, and the allied attack on its North African colonies in the framework of Operation Torch to pave the future landing in Europe.

Why was Vichy chosen? To summarize, to say that it was a small and holiday town, away from the great left-wing workers masses who could have made government work difficult, and its large number of hotels (now empty) could accommodate government ministries.

Pétain organized the new French State as an authoritarian dictatorship, with a racist policy and without tolerating any dissent.

It is well known that among the collaborations that the Vichy government made with Nazi Germany, was the deportation of thousands of Jews, and that the government practiced a politics brutal anti-Semitic.

But, in fairness, Pétain was not all of Vichy France, just as Vichy France was not concentrated in Pétain; the aging general was a puppet in the hands of opportunistic military and politicians who thought it would be better to side with the side winner, such as François Darlan (who tried to change sides during the aforementioned Operation Torch but ended up being killed) or Pierre Laval.

The influences of the Vichy government are clear: fascist Italy and Spain. Furthermore, Pétain had been French ambassador to Franco and had no shame in expressing his admiration for the "caudillo."

Not only were political formations banned (especially those on the left), but the political party was also abolished. Assembly, the democracy parliamentarian blaming her for the defeat against Germany, and broke with the alliance with Great Britain and the rest of the Allied countries.

Although Vichy France had an army, this was due to circumstances.

The Germans did not quite trust. Furthermore, this rest of France was to take over the maintenance of the German occupation forces, which meant an extra economic effort.

Pétain's calculation had to be that once the Axis forces won the war, France could make a deal with Germany to go back to what it had been before.

Surely, the old general could not - he did not know or did not want to - foresee the development of the war. And that cost him dearly.

With the success of Operation Torch in November 1942, German troops occupied Vichy France.

If until then Pétain's government had been a mere puppet, from now on he only continued to rule on paper even in the territory that he until then had directly controlled.

Pierre Laval, the new head of the French government to replace the murdered Darlan, was a convinced collaborator, and he redoubled the submission of the French government to Nazi Germany. Laval would be condemned and shot after the war.

At the same time, the resistance increased its acts of sabotage, sensing that the safe Anglo-American landing in Europe was approaching.

And indeed, the Normandy landings and subsequent Allied victories doomed the Vichy regime.

The German occupation authorities effectively liquidated the power of the government and evacuated it to the force. Pétain, Laval and the other members, along with part of their bureaucracy, became prisoners in the golden cage of Sigmaringen Castle.

After the fall of Berlin and the end of the war in Europe, the leaders of Vichy France are persecuted, imprisoned and tried.

As I have already said, Laval, the main collaborator, will be shot after escaping to Spain. Franco and be returned by the authorities of the Spanish fascist regime to France, where he was court.

Pétain was also tried, and despite the fact that he was sentenced to death, this sentence was commuted to that of chain perpetual in view of his advanced age and the services rendered to France in the past, as a hero in the Battle of Verdun.

He was taken to the Île d'Yeu prison (on the French Atlantic coast), from which he only left to die on the same island, where his remains still lie.

Vichy France was the shame of a France that, once liberty and the Republic had recovered, quickly reckoned with its past and sought to magnify the resistance and Free France.

And it is that he already said it historian Henri Amouroux in his work Quarante millions of PétainistesIf in 1940 there were 40 million Pétainists, in 1944 there were 40 million resistant. Something totally impossible, by the way.

Photo: Fotolia - Popaukropa

Themes in Vichy France (1940-1944)