The Nazi victories in Europe cast a long shadow
over all the countries the Germans occupied. For
none is this more true than for France. Hitler had
allowed a French government to continue to func-
tion, and this Vichy regime under Marshal Henri
Philippe Pétain enjoyed the support of the great
majority of French people in 1940: for them the
war was over. Vichy represented adjustment to the
new realities and reconstructions, for the ‘old
France’ had demonstrated its rottenness in defeat.
There appeared to be no real alternative to ‘honest
collaboration’, carrying out the terms the Germans
had imposed. But where did honour end? Vichy
militia and police helped the Germans to arrest
other French citizens to be handed over to
Gestapo torturers. Then the Jews were rounded up
to be sent to their deaths in the east, not only the
foreign refugees admitted before the outbreak of
war, but French men, women and children. The
war produced great heroes in France: men and
women risking their lives for the persecuted, and
for the Allied cause. But there were tens of thou-
sands of French men and women who served Vichy
France, some in important roles, others in minor
capacities, from Pierre Laval, the prime minister to
the lowliest policeman or civil servant. They made
their living serving the state, and the great major-
ity were able to continue their careers after the war,
with no apparent stain on their character.
In France the situation changed only gradually
in de Gaulle’s favour, gaining added impetus after
the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June
- The strong French Communist Party now
reversed its policy of collaboration, and the resis-
tance, until then scattered and weak, now with
the adhesion of the communists developed into a
strong movement. As the chances of German
victory receded with defeats in Russia and North
Africa and as the Nazis more and more ruthlessly
exploited the human resources of French labour,
forcing many Frenchmen to work in German fac-
tories, so support for Vichy dwindled. In 1943
the various resistance groups agreed to combine
and, looking to de Gaulle in London for leader-
ship, formed a National Council of Resistance
with the help of a Gaullist emissary parachuted to
France from England. Of course, this did not
mean that all rival political ambitions had ended.
While the communists fixed their eyes not only
on liberation, but on a post-war communist trans-
formation of France, de Gaulle skilfully laid his
plans for frustrating them and for placing himself
at the head of a national government. This meant
controlling the resistance movement and subor-
dinating it to his own administration. With liber-
ation in 1944, the unity based on fighting the
Germans came to an end, and France’s political
future stood shrouded in uncertainty. Would the
communists take power? Would de Gaulle be able
to do so? Or would there be a civil war and an
Anglo-American occupation?
In the event, millions of ordinary people were
now only too happy to identify with a French
hero and to rally around a new saviour to replace
Chapter 29
FRANCE
A VEIL OVER THE PAST