The Purge: The Purification of the French Collaborators After World War II

338 Pages·1986·7.11 MB·English

by  Herbert R. Lottman

THE PURGE

THE PURGE
HERBERT R. LOTTMAN
WILLIAM MORROW AND COMPANY, INC.
New York
Copyright @ 1986 by Herbert R. Lottman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, mcludiri.g photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Permissions Department, William
Morrow and Company, Inc., 105 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lottman, Herbert R.
The purge.
Includes index.
1. World War, 1939-1945-Collaborationists-
France. 2. France-History-1945- . 3. Revenge.
4. Violence-France. I. Title.
D802.F8L58 1986 940.53'44 86-2370
ISBN 0-688-04940-0
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
BOOK DESIGN BY BERNARD SCHLEIFER
Acknowledgments
THE AUTHOR IS GRATEFUL to many persons whose cooperation and
guidance made this work possible, above all to the Archives de
France, and personally to Mme. Chantal de Tourtier-Bonazzi,
director of the Section Contemporaine, and Mme. Sylvie Nicolas; to
Mme. Fran~ise Mercier and Mme. Lucienne Nouveau of the Insti
tut d'Histoire du Temps Present, where the author also had fruitful
discussions with Marcel Baudot and Jean Leclerc. To the Fondation
Nationale des Sciences Politiques (and Mme. Nicole Richard), the
Archives Departementales du Rh~ne in Lyon, the Archives Departe
mentales de Ia Haute-Savoie in Annecy, the Commission d'Histoire
de Ia Guerre 1939-1945 in Lyon. Special thanks to the Societe des
Gens de Lettres, the Archives de 1' Assemblee Nationale, the Min
istere des Relations Exterieures, and the Service Historique de
l'Armee de Terre (all in Paris).
Among others who offered testimony, or opened their files, may
I thank Raymond Aubrac, Andre Bay, Jean Bernard and Roland
Blayo in Lyon, Andre Cellard, Jean Chaintron, Pierre de Chevigne,
Jean Comet, Geoffroy de Courcel, Jacques Debt1-Bridel, Michel
Henry Fabre, Charles Fournier-Bocquet, Adrien Galliot, Renato
Grispo, Serge Klarsfeld, Henri Krischer, Joseph Lambroschini,
Gilles de La Rocque, Pierre Laroque, Raymond Lindon, Fran~is
de Menthon, Pierre Mouthon, Joe Nordmann, Pierre Pere, Roger
Peyrefitte, Robert Poirson, Maurice Rolland, Rene Tavernier,
Pierre-Henri Teitgen, Alexis Thomas, Adolphe Touffait, Raymond
Triboulet, Claude Urman, Robert Va ssart, Charles Zambeaux.
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Note on Usage
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS refer either to a Comite Departemental de
Liberation or to a Comite Departemental de Ia Liberation (em
phasis mine); I have used the shorter form except in direct quota
tion. The abbreviation is CDL.
FFI, standing for Forces Fran~aises de l'Interieur, was often
used to refer to the non-Communist resistance only, i.e., to all com
bat units except the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans Fran~ais (FTP). In
the later stages of the liberation the FFI included the FTP. In some
places the non-Communist elements of the FFI were referred to as
the Secret Army (Armee Secrete).
Among other frequently used abbreviations:
CNR-Conseil National de Ia Resistance
PPF-Parti Populaire Fran~ais (Jacques Doriot)
RNF-Rassemblement National Populaire (Marcel Deat)
L VF-Legion des Volontaires Fran~is contre le Bolchevisme,
a French unit which fought with the German army; not to be
confused with the Legion Fran~se des Combattants, Vichy's
veterans' movement