Vichy France

After German attack in June 1940 France was divided into two zones: one to be under German military occupation and so-called Vichy France, or formally French State (État français), which was left to the French in full sovereignty, at least nominally. France was the only western democracy subject to Nazi occupation in the wake of military defeat that had an official, indigenous government dedicated to collaborating with the occupier.

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Starting lineup - published: 15.06.19

Position First name Last name Mjesto rođenja Like Dislike
GK Alban LAFONT Ouagadougou

2
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GK Anthony Lopes Givors

0
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DC Florian LEJEUNE Isters

1
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DC Issa DIOP Toulouse

0
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DC Lorient KOSCIELNY Tulle

3
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5
DRC Kurt ZOUMA Lyon

3
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1
DLC Lucas HERNANDEZ Marseille

7
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1
DL Faouzi GHOULAM Saint-Priest-en-Jarez

2
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DL Theo HERNANDEZ Marseille

7
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1
DMC Maxime GONALONS Vénissieux

2
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DMC/DC Benjamin STAMBOULI Marseille

2
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MC Blaise MATUIDI Toulouse

5
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2
MC Corentin TOLISSO Tarare

5
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1
MC Houssem AOUAR Lyon

0
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MC Maxime LOPES Marseille

1
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MRC Jordan FERRI Cavaillon

2
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AMRLC Samir NASRI Septèmes-les-Vallons

1
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1
AMRL/FC Yannick BOLASIE Lyon

1
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FRLC Alexandre LACAZETTE Lyon

10
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1
FC Bafetimbi GOMIS La Seyne-sur-Mer

3
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FC Karim BENZEMA Lyon

9
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FC/SS Nabil FEKIR Lyon

2
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FRLC/SS Antoine GRIEZMANN Mâcon

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aris remained de jure the capital of France during the war. However, since the northern part of the state was occupied by German army, the government was located in Vichy. [1] Vichy regime did not result from a military coup d'tat or some violent usurpation of authority, nor was it imposed by Nazi Germany. Old marshall and hero of the WWI, Phillipe Petain was on the head of the state before Germans had conquered the France.[2] French neutrality, as well as products and labor were of great significance for Hitler and Germns, so they did not want to endanger it by giving power to one of the trivial French fascist bosses. [3]

Vichy represented the revenge of the French Right over parliamentary democracy.[4] The break from the Third Republic (1870-1940) came about in part due to the shock and humiliation of being so rapidly bested by the German military, and French leaders were looking everywhere for an explanation for their defeat. That blame fell squarely on the shoulders of Communists, socialists and Jews. All three elements were believed to have taken advantage of the liberalization that occurred during the Third Republic.[5]

The key component of the Vichy's ideology was anglofobia. Petain had previously stressed that England was always an irreconcilable and eternal French enemy. Binding it with racism and anti-Semitism, they emphasized that the British are degenerate "mixed race" that works for Jewish capitalists against racially pure nations of continental Europe who are building a New World Order.[6]

Pétain wanted to rehabilitate Christian ideals and return to a more conservative mode of life, and to that end there were strong prohibitions against divorce, abortion was made a capital offense, the press was censored, phone calls were monitored and critics of the government were imprisoned.[7] The republican slogan of “Liberty, equality, fraternity” was replaced by “Work, family, fatherland.”[8] The regime had greatest support in the French conservative circules and in the traditional right-wing whose intellectuals were fierce opponents of modernist trends for which they held to operate destructive by their moral and spiritual values. The symbol of modernism was the USA embodying the overwhelming speed of change in society, disorder, the development of materialism, consumerism, etc.[9]

The Vichy government tried to assert its legitimacy by symbolically connecting itself with the Gallo-Roman period of France's history, and celebrated the Gaulish chieftain Vercingetorix as the "founder" of the nation. It was asserted that just as the defeat of the Gauls in the 52 BC Battle of Alesiahad been the moment in French history when a sense of common nationhood was born, the defeat of 1940 would again unify the nation. [10]

Around it clustered a motley crew who either believed a German victory was inevitable, who ardently desired it, or both. Most people, however, just wanted to be let alone and sought to hide behind the Marshal as a guarantee of their security.[11]

However, when the war had not been completed for six months, and since the Nazi nature became clearer, the support of the Vichy regime among the French fell dramatically, and the growing number became members of the La Résistance.[12]

Petain ruled with absolute power until 1942, when Germany took over the previously unoccupied “Free Zone” in southern France and began managing affairs more directly. Before the Nazis ever demanded the Vichy government participate in anti-Semitic policies, the French had enacted policies that removed Jews from civil service and began seizing Jewish property.[13]

 

Other teams from 1942.g.
Sources