CHAPTER III COLLABORATION AND RESISTANCE IN VICHY FRANCE Collaboration and Resistance in occupied and unoccupied France as well as in her empire during the Vichy years provide insight into the sentimentality of the Vichy leaders and the populace of Vichy France. There is little doubt that the Vichy government collaborated with the Nazi regime based on exigent circumstances as well as ideological reasons that included the deportation of Jews, communists, and others who were not palatable to the extreme right wing factions of the Vichy government to Nazi Germany for internment in concentration camps. There was also collaboration with the Allies like in North Africa prior to and during the North African invasion as well as collaboration among members of the resistance in France and in her colonies. Another important aspect of collaboration during the Vichy years was the intelligence services in Vichy France. The prevalence of spying for and against the Nazis in southern France after the German invasion during the early summer of 1940 was one of those aspects. In view of the rapid, highly successful invasion by the German army and the rapid capitulation of the French army, Marshal Pétain asked for terms of an armistice between Germany and the newly formed Vichy government. Many people believed that after the signing of the armistice that the German victors and the Vichy regime operated smoothly and without major problems. From the perspective of the Nazis, the collaboration of the Vichy government was crucial. All of this helped establish collaboration between the German’s and the Vichy regime which began with the Vichy regime’s willingness to arrange the arrest of members of the resistance, particularly Communist, some of whom were handed over to the Germans. Additionally, the Vichy government gave the Nazi occupiers substantial help in the deportation of 76,000 Jews to the extermination camps. It is interesting to note that even with this newly established collaboration the Germans remained vigilant because France was viewed as a hereditary enemy unlikely to suddenly give up her traditional anti-German beliefs. Kitson wrote: “The political program of the Vichy government was ideologically similar to that of Nazi Germany. But it sought to impose its policy independently and hankered after its own sovereignty…So behind the diplomatic relations lay a certain tension manifested in aggressive German espionage and French counter-espionage.” Pétain’s regime was above all focused on maintaining French sovereignty and to accomplish that it would be necessary to use the French police forces as a means to secure it. The police were used by the Vichy government to maintain order, target the Allies, and cooperate with German commanders when necessary, however, as historian Simon Kitson wrote: Paradoxically, in southern France and the empire, which remained unoccupied until November 1942, policing did not just target the Allies or the Resistance but also included some ‘anti-German’ missions which have been totally ignored by historiography.” There is a great difference in how Charles de Gaulle viewed the Resistance that occurred in Vichy France and how it has been viewed since the 1970’s. Historian Perry Biddiscombe points out that Vichy represented a last revival of the ancient regime. Biddiscombe was referring to how revolutionary and counterrevolutionary movements had permeated French society since 1789 and the French Revolutionary period. “Charles de Gaulle vehemently denied that such a civil war could take place in his idealized ‘nation of resisters” The point here is that the Resistance in Vichy France was more complex than de Gaulle’s view of a nation of resistance against the Germans but also included resistance against the Vichy regime and resistance against the Allies and others. There is little doubt that collaboration and resistance from many different angles played a vital role in Vichy France but in the end was critically helpful to the Allied cause by providing vital intelligence to the Allies and heroic and perpetual acts of sabotage against the Germans during the Vichy years. In conclusion, it should be noted that collaboration and resistance were two different concepts. In Vichy France there were many different resistance groups even if it is tempting to think of the resistance as a single movement under de Gaulle. Each of these groups had its separate agenda. Collaboration was also varied as there was the collaboration of the Vichy state, by the Marshall so revered by the French, even though he was deeply anti-German. And then there were collaborators, the groups of fascist, whom Pétain and his colleagues sought to suppress, and the collaboration of Vichy officials with the Allies. There were many agendas among the different collaborators
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 11:45:39 +0000
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