1. France and the Second World War

2. Workshop structure The Defeat of France and the Occupation
The Vichy Regime and its Values
The Resistance and its Development
The Liberation of France
Contemporary memories of the Second World War

3. War is declared and the phoney war begins.
September 1939: Hitler invades Poland; Britain and France respond
September 1939-May 1940: drôle de guerre/phoney war

4. The German invasion and the defeat of France
May-June 1940: German invasion ‘blitzkrieg’ tactics; defeat in 4 weeks

5. The German invasion and the defeat of France
Civilian exodus: 8 million people take to the roads in France to flee the German advance
1.6 million French men prisoners of war
Collapse of the Third Republic

6. France in defeat
Marshal Pétain requests armistice with the Germans ( 22 June 1940)
"C'est le coeur serré que je vous dis
aujourd'hui qu'il faut tenter
de cesser le combat".
Le Maréchal Pétain, le 17 juin 1940.

7. The Conditions of the Armistice
zones and annexations
November 1942: total occupation

8. Why do you think people supported the Vichy regime in its early days?
Question 1
Why do you think people supported the Vichy regime in its early days?

9. Handout Task 1: Poster work: Vichy ideals and values
How does this poster present the German occupier?
What does it suggest about the relationship between France and Germany in October 1940?

10. Vichy Regime and its Values: The National Revolution
policy of accommodation and negotiation with the invader
Belief in the need to purge France of its Republican past and bring about ‘National Revolution’
‘Famille, travail, patrie’

12. The National Revolution
Values: hierarchy and order
Traditional gender roles
Certain women excluded from the work force
Promoting value of motherhood

13. The National Revolution
Exclusionary measures against Jews
October 1940 and July 1941: anti-Semitic legislation
Propagandist exhibitions
May 1942: Jews forced to wear the yellow star

14. French Collusion in the Holocaust: Deportation of Jews
Final Solution: 76,000 Jews deported from France, 2,500 returned
Destinations: Drancy; Auschwitz-Birkenau

15. Everyday life under Occupation
- Rationing and queuing

16. Early Resistance General de Gaulle makes his appeal: 22 June 1940
« Honour, common sense and the interests
of the country require that all free French
men, where ever they be, should continue
the fight as best they may »

17. Question 2
Why do you think people fond it difficult to support the Resistance in the early months and years of occupation?

18. Resistance Motivations: Patriotic duty
Clandestine press and literature
Motivations:
Patriotic duty
Anti-fascist: opposed Nazi and Vichy ideology
Opposed flouting of human rights
Actions:
Speaking out: clandestine publications; counter- propaganda

19. Handout Task 2: Resistance tracts
How does this tract represent life in occupied France?
What is the role of the writer in wartime according to this poster?
How does the style and structure of the tract reinforce its message?

20. Resistance 1942-3: full scale resistance developing
Coordination and Infiltration: Jean Moulin and the Conseil national de la résistance
1942-3: full scale resistance developing
Free French and internal resistance combine forces
Summer of 1944: resistance infiltrated every area of French life

21. Liberation: Armed struggle
6 June 1944: Liberation, D-Day Landings in Normandy
Role of ‘maquis’ fighters to aid Allies
City fighting but euphoria

22. Liberation: National Celebration
Symbolism of de Gaulle striding down Champs Elysees on 25 August 1945

23. Liberation: National Shame
‘Les tondues’
9,000 suspected collaborators killed June to November 1944
Women targeted – ‘les tondues’
Excesses of liberation; undeclared civil war

24. Memories of the Occupation
1940s-1960s: myths of national resistance 1970s: collaboration resurfaces 1980s: memories of French collusion in the Holocaust : trial of wartime civil servant Maurice Papon

25. Memories of the Occupation
Acknowledgement and recognition 16 July 1995: Jacques Chirac recognises French State collusion in the Holocaust ‘La France, patrie des Lumières et des Droits de l’Homme, terre d’accueil et d’asile, la France, ce jour-là, accomplissait l’irréparable’