Verdict on Vichy: Power and Prejudice in the Vichy France Regime

453 Pages·2015·16.24 MB·English

by  Michael Curtis

VERDICT ON VICHY

VERDICT ON
VICHY
POWER AND PREJUDICE IN
THE VICHY FRANCE REGIME
MICHAEL CURTIS
Arcade Publishing
NEW YORK
Copyright © 2002, 2014 by Michael Curtis
All rights reserved. No pan of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the
express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews
or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Arcade Publishing, 307 West 36th Street,
11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.
Arcade Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion,
corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created
to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Arcade Publishing, 307
West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected].
Arcade Publishing* is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.*, a Delaware
corporation.
Visit our website at www.arcadepub.com.
10 987654321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover image © Corbis
Print ISBN: 978-1-62872-436-3
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62872-481-3
Printed in the United States of America
To Judy

Count Pozzo di Borgo, a diplomat from Corsica, imagined the
triumphant entrance of the famous French statesman Talleyrand
into Hell, where he was greeted with great pomp and circum­
stance. Satan complimented him on all he had done but added:
'Prince, your zeal has slightly exceeded my expectations
'Oui, le Vél d'Hiv, Drancy, Compiègne et tous les camps de transit,
ces antichambres de la mort, ont été organisés, gérés, gardés par
des Français. Oui, le premier acte de la Shoah s'est joué ici, avec
la compliçité de l'Etat français.'
'Yes, the Vél d'Hiv, Drancy, Compiègne, and all the transit camps,
these antechambers of death, were organised, administered, and
guarded by French people. Yes, the first act of the Shoah [the
Holocaust] was played out here with the complicity of the French
Sute [the Vichy regime].'
French Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, 21 July 2002,
at the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the
Vél d'Hiv round-up of Jews on 16 July 1942

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xi
Preface xiii
List of Abbreviations xxi
Maps xxii-xxiii
Introduction
I
I The Jews of France i8
2 Anti-Semitism in France 34
Vichy: the French State
3 63
4 The new anti-Semitic legal system 105
From definition to detention
5 h i
6 The Aryanisation process 123
7 Detention by Vichy 156
8 Persecution 171
9 Response to persecution 201
IO Between the devil and the deep blue sea 226
il The judgements of Paris 270
12 Servants of the state and the law 301
The Churches and anti-Semitism 322
13
Conclusion 344
Fate of some of the collaborators 355
Select Bibliography 357
Notes 368
Index 398