Vichy France and the Jews

Examines the Vichy regime's anti-Semitic policies and practices, and documents French cooperation in the Nazi effort to eliminate the Jews Comparing German Documents With Newly Available French Sources, [the Authors] Conclusively Demonstrate That, Contrary To Postwar Testimony, Vichy Unleashed A Wave Of Antisemitic Laws Independent Of German Pressure. On Coming To Power In 1940, Vichy Policy Began By Banning Jews From Positions Of Public Influence And From The Military, Then Moved On To The Confiscation Of Property And Internment, And Ended By Cooperating In The Deportation From France, And The Death In German Camps, Of Over 75,000 Jews.--jacket. First Steps -- The Roots Of Vichy Antisemitism. Traditional Images Of The Jews ; Second Wave : The Crises Of The 1930s And The Revival Of Antisemitism ; The Reach Of Antisemitism : How Influential Was It? ; The Administrative Response ; The Refugee Crisis, 1938-41 -- The Strategy Of Xavier Vallat, 1941-42. The Beginnings Of German Pressure ; Vichy Defines The Jewish Issue, 1941 ; Vallat : An Activist At Work ; The Emigration Deadlock ; Vallat's Fall -- The System At Work, 1940-42. The Cgqj And Other State Agencies : Rivalries And Border Disputes ; Business As Usual ; Aryanization ; Emigration ; The Camps -- Public Opinion, 1940-42. The Climax Of Popular Antisemitism ; The Distribution Of Popular Antisemitism ; A Special Case : Algeria ; The Churches And The Jews ; The Opposition ; An Indifferent Majority -- The Turning Point : Summer 1942. New Men, New Measures ; The Final Solution ; Laval And The Final Solution ; The Effort To Segregate : The Jewish Star ; Preparing The Deportation ; The Vel D'hiv Roundup ; Drancy ; Roundups In The Unoccupied Zone ; The Massacre Of The Innocents ; The Turn In Public Opinion -- The Darquier Period, 1942-44. Darquier's Cgqj And Its Place In The Regime ; Darquier's Cgqj In Action ; Total Occupation And The Resumption Of Deportations ; Vichy, The Abbé Catry, And The Massada Zionists ; The Italian Interlude ; Denaturalization, August 1943 : Laval's Refusal ; Last Days -- Conclusions : The Holocaust In France. What Did Vichy Know About The Final Solution? ; A Comparative View -- Principal Occupation Authorities Dealing With Jews, 1940-44 (chart). Michael R. Marrus And Robert O. Paxton. Translation Of: Vichy Et Les Juifs. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. What part did Vichy France really play in the Nazi effort to murder Jews living in France? Few questions, from the end of the Second World War to the present day, have so haunted French society. Here for the first time is a detailed and comprehensive account of Vichy's own antisemitic policies and practices. From the summer of 1940 until shortly before the liberation of France in 1944, the Vichy regime, born of defeat at the hands of the Nazis and a policy of collaboration urged by many Frenchmen, introduced and implemented a wide range of measures aimed at Jews living in France. Comparing German documents with newly available French sources, this book conclusively demonstrates that, contrary to postwar testimony, Vichy unleashed a wave of antisemitic laws independent of German pressure. On coming to power in 1940, Vichy policy began by banning Jews from positions of public influence and from the military, then moved on to the confiscation of property and internment, and ended by cooperating in the deportation from France, and the death in German camps, of over 75,000 Jews. This lucidly written and rigorously documented book definitively establishes French cooperation with the Final Solution- cooperation, the authors conclude, that was virtually inparalleled in all of Europe. -- Publisher description