Map 3 The Camps of Vichy France
Bibliographical Essay
Full references to the material used in the writing of this book can be found in the footnotes. The purpose of this essay is to provide a guide to the most important studies on the Occupation period. Where an English translation exists I have cited it. Unless otherwise mentioned, the place of publication of books in English is London and of books in French Paris.
Bibliographies
There are two useful bibliographies: H. Michel, Bibliographie critique de la Résistance (1964) and D. Evleth, France under German Occupation 1940–1944: An Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1991). But so much work has been produced since 1990 that both of these are badly out of date.
For a (not entirely comprehensive) list of clandestine Resistance publications, there is the Bibliothèque nationale’s Catalogue des périodiques clandestins diffusés en France de 1939 à 1945 (1954). For a bibliography of the authorized press see D. Evleth, The Authorized Press in Vichy and German-Occupied France 1940–1944 (1999).
General Studies
J.-P. Azéma, From Munich to the Liberation 1938–1944 (Cambridge, 1979) has been the standard textbook for twenty years. J.-P. Azéma and F. Bédarida (eds.), La France des années noires, 2 vols. (1993) is a collective work on the entire history of the Occupation with chapters by most leading historians of the period. It is accessible and well illustrated. H. Amouroux, La Grande Histoire des Français sous l’Occupation, 8 vols. (1976–91) offers a mass of picturesque detail but no interpretation. At the other extreme, H. R. Kedward, Occupied France: Collaboration and Resistance (Oxford, 1985) is very short but has many insights. I. Ousby, Occupation, the Ordeal of France, 1940–1944 (1997) is a recent study by a non-professional historian. It is readable and perceptive. B. Gordon (ed.), Historical Dictionary of World War Two France: The Occupation, Vichy and the Resistance, 1938–1946 (Westport, Conn., 1998) is a useful reference book, but the selection of entries is somewhat eccentric and somewhat modish (why Casablanca not Le Corbeau, why Antoine Blondin not Yves Bouthillier, why Jean Bazaine not Joseph Barthélemy?). For a more conventional approach see M. and J.-P. Cointet, Dictionnaire historique de la France sous l’Occupation (2000).
Background
It has been one of the arguments of this book that the Occupation can only be understood in the wider context of French history in the previous forty years, if not indeed longer. Obviously any full list of works on this period would be enormous, but it is worth mentioning some which, directly or indirectly, cast light on France’s history after 1940, even if they stop before that date. G. Noriel, Les Origines républicaines de Vichy (1999) is a recent attempt to locate Vichy in a longer prehistory. Some parts of the argument are more convincing than others. F. Monnet, Refaire la République: André Tardieu, une dérive réactionnaire, 1876–1945 (1993), G. Le Béguec, ‘L’Entrée au Palais Bourbon: Les Filières privilégiés d’accès à la fonction parlementaire, 1919–1939’ (unpublished thesis, University of Paris-X, 1989), and K. Passmore, From Liberalism to Fascism: The Right in a French Province 1928–1939 (Cambridge, 1997) all have much to say on the crisis of inter-war conservatism. H. Lebovics, True France: The Wars over Cultural Identity in France 1900–1945 (1992) and S. Peer, France on Display: Peasants, Provincials and Folklore in the 1937 Paris World’s Fair (Albany, NY, 1998) offer perspectives on French representations of national identity. On interwar gender issues see M. Roberts, Civilization without Sexes: Reconstructing Gender in Postwar France, 1917–1927 (Chicago, 1994) and S. Reynolds, France between the Wars: Gender and Politics (1992). On the impact of the Great War on the arts K. Silver, Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War, 1914–1925 (Princeton, 1989). R. Golan, Modernity and Nostalgia: Art and Politics in France between the Wars (1995) tries to extend Silver’s arguments to the whole of the interwar period in a somewhat cruder way. On the legacy of the Great War see A. Prost’s monumental history of the war veterans, Les Anciens Combattants et la société française, 3 vols. (1977). P. Servent, Le Mythe Pétain: Verdun ou les tranchées de la mémoire (1992) is impressionistic but interesting. On anti-liberalism in inter-war French politics Z. Sternhell, Ni droite ni gauche: L’Idéologie fasciste en France (1983) is important even if one rejects the central thesis.
On the so-called nonconformists of the 1930s J. Loubet del Bayle, Les Non-Conformistes des années trente (1969) is informative, but to get inside the mind of members of that generation there is no substitute for reading the memoirs of some of them, especially J.-P. Maxence, Histoire de dix ans 1927–1937 (1939), C. Roy, Moi je (1969), J. Laurent, Histoire egoïste (1976), P. Andreu, Le Rouge et le blanc, 1940–1944 (1977). Another very vivid memoir of the inter-war years (from the standpoint of a committed fascist) is R. Brasillach, Notre avant-guerre (1941). On attitudes towards race, immigration, and demography in the interwar years see G. Noriel, Le Creuset français: Histoire de l’immigration en France (XIX–XX siècles) (1988), R. Schor, L’Antisémitisme en France pendant les années trente (Brussels, 1992), W. Schneider, Quality and Quantity: The Quest for Biological Regeneration in Twentieth Century France (Cambridge, 1990).
The Defeat
J.-L. Crémieux-Brilhac, Les Français de l’an 40, 2 vols. (1990) has superseded all previous books on France’s defeat although even today M. Bloch’s Strange Defeat (1953) remains worth reading. The only published book on the Exodus is J. Vidalenc, L’Exode de mai–juin 1940 (1957) but by far the best study is N. Dombrowski, ‘Beyond the Battlefield: The French Civilian Exodus of 1940’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, New York, 1995).
The Vichy Regime
R. Paxton, Vichy France 1940–1944: Old Guard and New Order, 1940– 1944 (1972) has deservedly become a classic. His first book, Parades and Politics at Vichy: The French Officer Corps under Marshal Pétain (Princeton, 1966) is also excellent. S. Hoffmann, ‘The Vichy Circle of French Conservatives’, in id., Decline or Renewal? France since the 1930s (New York, 1974), provides an excellent conceptual framework for understanding the regime. Y. Durand, Vichy 1940–1944 (1972) is short but full of insights. Fondation nationale des sciences politiques, Le Gouvernement de Vichy 1940–1942 (1972) remains useful although it ignores the link between the National Revolution and collaboration. Although he is best known for his writing on the Resistance, H. Michel’s Vichy année 40 (1966) is possibly his best book, and provides an excellent account of the first year of the regime. M.-O. Baruch, Le Régime de Vichy (1996) is a useful recent short synthesis. On the regime’s last days see H. Rousso, Pétain et la fin de la collaboration: Sigmaringen 1944–1945 (Brussels, 1984).
There is no full-length study of the ideology of the National Revolution, but Pétain’s speeches are the obvious starting point: P. Pétain, Discours aux Francais: 17 juin 1940–20 août 1944 (1989). L. Yagil, ‘L’Homme nouveau’ et la Révolution nationale de Vichy 1940–1944 (1997) tries to analyse Vichy ideology but fails because it takes the discourse of the regime too much at face value. There are now many studies of specific aspects of the regime and its policies. On the working of the administration see M.-O. Baruch, Servir l’État français: L’Administration en France de 1940 à 1944 (1997). On propaganda D. Peschanski has written a number of articles which are collected in his Vichy 1940–1944: Contrôle et exclusion (Brussels, 1997). See also L. Gervereau and D. Peschanski, La Propagande sous Vichy 1940–1944 (1990). There is also a mass of fascinating information in the two published notebooks of Angelo Tasca who worked for Vichy’s propaganda services: La France de Vichy: Archives inédits d’Angelo Tasca, ed. D. Bidussa and D. Peschanski (Milan, 1996) and Vichy 1940–1944: Archives de guerre d’Angelo Tasca, ed. D. Peschanski (Paris, 1986). On the Legion see J.-P. Cointet, La Légion française des combattants 1940–1944: La Tentation du fascisme (1995). On Vichy’s attempts to revive folklore see C. Faure, Le Projet culturel de Vichy: Folklore et Révolution nationale 1940–1944 (1989). On Vichy’s economic policy see M. Margairaz, L’État, les finances et l’éc
onomie: Histoire d’une conversion 1932–1952 (1991) and the relevant chapter of R. Kuisel, Capitalism and the State in Modern France (Cambridge, 1981). On policy towards women see M. Pollard, Reign of Virtue: Mobilising Gender in Vichy France (Chicago, 1998) and F. Muel-Dreyfus, Vichy et l’éternel féminin (1996). On youth policy P. Giolitto’s recent Histoire de la jeunesse sous Vichy (1991) adds nothing to W.-D. Halls’s excellent The Youth of Vichy France (Oxford, 1981). On policy towards sport see J.-L. Gay-Lescot, Sport et éducation sous Vichy (Lyons, 1991). On agricultural policy there is almost nothing except for I. Boussard, Vichy et la corporation paysanne (1980), an almost completely unreadable history of the peasant corporation. On the attempt to apply corporatism to industry see J.-P. Le Crom, Syndicats, nous voilà! Vichy et le corporatisme (1995).
Another way to approach the regime is through biographies. M. Ferro, Pétain (1987) is the best book on Pétain and Vichy, but has little on his career before 1940. For this see R. Griffiths, Marshal Pétain (1970). G. Warner, Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France (1968) is still worth reading but needs to be supplemented by F. Kupferman, Laval 1883–1945 (1987) or J.-P. Cointet, Pierre Laval (1993). H. Coutau-Bégarie and C. Huan, Darlan (1989) is definitely the best biography in terms of documentation provided, but its interpretation is apologetic and often unconvincing. The same authors have also usefully published many of Darlan’s letters and memoranda in Lettres et notes de l’Amiral Darlan, ed. H. Coutau-Bégarie and C. Huan (1992). H. Michel, François Darlan (1993) is also worth reading.
Many participants in the regime wrote memoirs. Although these are self-serving and need to be used prudently, they give a good insight into the atmosphere of the regime. For this purpose the most useful are H. du Moulin de Labarthète, Le Temps des Illusions: Souvenirs (juillet 1940–avril 1942) (1946), P. Baudouin, The Private Diaries March 1940–January 1941) (1948) and J. Barthélemy, Mémoires, ministre de la justice: Vichy (1941–1943) (1989 edn.). Y. Bouthillier, Le Drame de l’armistice, 2 vols. (1950) is rather drier but full of information.
Collaboration and Collaborationism
P. Burrin’s superb Living with Defeat: France under the German Occupation, 1940–1944 (New York, 1997) is now the essential starting point both for the collaboration of the government and for collaboration in daily life. S. Hoffmann conceptualizes collaboration in ‘Self-Ensnared: Collaboration with Nazi Germany’ in id., Decline or Renewal? (New York, 1974), 26–44. E. Jäckel, La France dans l’Europe de Hitler (1968) is an excellent account of the relationship between the Vichy government and the Germans which anticipated many of the conclusions reached by Paxton. J.-B. Duroselle, L’Abîme 1939–1945 (1982) is a history of French foreign policy during the Occupation which slightly nuances their interpretation. A. Milward, The New Order and the French Economy (Oxford, 1970) deals with German economic plans for France and French responses to them. For a local study see E. Papp, La Collaboration dans l’Eure 1940–1944 (1993).
On collaborationism see P. Ory, Les Collaborateurs 1940–1945 (1976), B. Gordon, Collaborationism in France during the Second World War (Ithaca, NY, 1980), and P. Burrin, La Dérive fasciste: Doriot, Déat, Bergery 1933–1945 (1986). It is also well worth reading Déat’s own memoirs, Mémoires politiques (1989), to see how an intelligent man can be so extraordinarily wrong. For an insight into the mind of the collaborationists see P. Drieu la Rochelle, Journal 1939–1945 (1992) and L. Rebatet, Les Décombres (1942). For a more urbane version of collaborationism see A. Fabre-Luce, Journal de la France 1939–1944 (Geneva, 1946). On literary collaboration J. Verdès-Leroux, Refus et violences: Politique et littérature de l’extrême droite des années trente aux retombées de la Libération (1996) has a lot of information, but is weak on analysis. P. Hebey, ‘La Nouvelle Revue française’ des années sombres: juin 1940 à juin 1941: Des intellectuels à la dérive (1992) is useful on the NRF in the war.
French Society under Occupation
J.-P. Azéma and F. Bédarida (eds.), Le Régime de Vichy et les Français (1993) contains numerous contributions on aspects of French society under the Vichy regime. P. Laborie, L’Opinion publique sous Vichy (1990) is an excellent account of public opinion. D. Veillon, Vivre et survivre en France 1939–1947 (1995) gives a clear account of the difficulties of daily life. D. Veillon and J.-M. Flonneau, Le Temps des restrictions en France 1939–1949 (1996) gives a mass of local detail on prices and food shortages. Enormous insights can be gained from reading diaries and journals of the period. Among the most interesting are J. Bobowski, En Guerre et en paix: Journal 1940–1941 (1991); Journal d’un honnête homme pendant l’Occupation (juin 1940–août 1944), ed. J. Bourgeon (Thonon-les-Bains, 1990); H. Drouot, Journal d’un Dijon-nais pendant l’occupation allemande 1940–1944 (Dijon, 1998); J. Guéhenno, Journal des années noires (1947); C. Rist, Une saison gâtée: Journal de guerre et de l’occupation (1983); P. Limagne, Ephémérides de quatre années, 3 vols. (Lavilledieu, 1987); L. Werth, Déposition: Journal 1940–1944 (1992).
Another good approach is through local history. Useful examples include P. Laborie, Résistants, Vichyssois et autres: L’Évolution de l’opinion et des comportements dans le Lot 1939 à 1944 (1980); M. Luirard, La Région stéphanoise dans la guerre et dans la paix (Saint-Étienne, 1980); L. Taylor, Between Resistance and Collaboration: Popular Protest in Modern France, 1940–1945 (New York, 2000); J. Sweets, Choices in Vichy France (New York, 1986); R. Terrisse, Bordeaux, 1940–1944 (1993); R. Zaretsky, Nîmes at War: Religion, Politics and Public Opinion in the Gard, 1938–1944 (University Park, Pa., 1995).
On the experiences of women under Occupation see H. Diamond, Women and the Second World War in France 1939–1948: Choices and Constraints (1999) and S. Fishman, We will wait! The Wives of French Prisoners of War 1940–1945 (1991). M. Bood, Les Années doubles: Journal d’une lycéenne sous l’Occupation (1974) is the diary of an adolescent girl. On the experience of workers under Occupation there is no adequate single book, but many useful articles in ‘Syndicalismes sous Vichy’, special issue of MS 158 (1993), ed. J.-L. Robert, and in D. Peschanski and J.-L. Robert (eds.), Les Ouvriers en France pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale (1992). Surprisingly there is no satisfactory study of business during the Occupation. R. de Rochebrune and J.-C. Hazera, Les Patrons sous l’Occupation (1995) has lots of information but is too anecdotal. R. Vinen, The Politics of French Business (Cambridge, 1991) is ingenious but unconvincing. A. Lacroix-Riz, Industriels et banquiers sous l’Occupation: La Collaboration économique avec le Reich et Vichy (1999), is well documented but marred by too schematically Marxist an approach. A. Beltram et al. (ed.), La Vie des entreprises sous l’Occupation (1994) contains essays of uneven quality, but Rousso’s introductory essay is excellent. C. Andrieu, La Banque sous l’Occupation: Paradoxes de l’histoire d’une profession (1936–1946) manages to make the history of banking under the Occupation surprisingly readable. P. Nicolle, Cinquante mois d’armistice: Journal d’un témoin, 2 vols. (1947) is the diary of a small business leader which contains a lot of interesting gossip about Vichy.
On the Churches the best two general studies are J. Duquesne, Les Catholiques français sous l’Occupation (1996 edn.) which is restricted to Catholics and W. Halls, Politics, Society and Christianity in Vichy France (Oxford, 1995) which includes Protestants and Jews. X. de Montclos (ed.), Églises et Chrétiens dans la Deuxième Guerre mondiale: La Région Rhône-Alpes (Lyons, 1978) has many useful articles. E. Fouilloux, Les Chrétiens entre crise et libération 1937–1947 (1997) is too impressionistic and apologetic. The most recent study M. Cointet, Vichy et l’église (1999) contains some useful information on Church leaders.
Cultural and Intellectual Life
A good starting point are the essays in J.-P. Rioux (ed.), La Vie culturelle sous Vichy (1990). See also G. Hirschfeld and P. Marsh (eds.), Collboration in Fance: Politics and Culture during the Nazi Occupation (Oxford, 1989). G. Ragache and J.-R. Ragache, La Vie quotidienne des écrivains et des artistes sous l’Occupation (1988) is merely anec
dotal. There are many books on cinema. J.-P. Bertin-Maghit, Le Cinéma sous l’Occupation (1989) is the best overview. His Le Cinéma français sous l’Occupation (1980) is a more narrowly focused study of the themes treated in Vichy cinema. F. Garçon, De Blum à Pétain: Cinéma et société française 1936–1944 (1984) and E. Ehrlich, Cinema of Paradox: French Filmmaking under the German Occupation (New York, 1985) offer interesting interpretations. J. Siclier, La France de Pétain et son cinéma (1981) is engagingly personal. On the theatre see S. Added, Le Théâtre dans les années Vichy 1940–1944 (1992). On the visual arts see L. Bertrand-Dorléac, L’Art de la défaite 1940–1944 (1993) and M. Cone, Artists under Vichy: A Case of Prejudice and Persecution (Princeton, 1992). On publishing see P. Fouché, L’Édition française sous l’Occupation 1940–1944, 2 vols. (1987). On writers see G. Sapiro’s exhaustive La Guerre des écrivains 1940–1953 (1999). Sapiro’s study is informed by the sociological approach of Pierre Bourdieu, but applies it with subtlety and intelligence. For the Parisian cultural scene through German eyes see E. Jünger, Premier journal parisien: Journal II, 1941–1943 (1980), Second journal parisien: Journal III, 1943–1944 (1980) and G. Heller, Un Allemand à Paris (1981). For the Parisian scene as witnessed by one of its stars see J. Cocteau, Journal 1942–1945 (1989).
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