Vichy France

Vichy France

In September 1939 France declared War on Nazi Germany following its Invasion of Poland.

On May 10, 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Metropolitan France.

On June 22, 1940 Metropolitan France surrendered. to the Nazis.

France was then divided into the Occupied Zone (French: Zone Occupée and German: Besetzte Zone) occupied by the Germans – including Paris and the northern and western parts of France, the Italian Occupation Zone of eastern France (French: Zone d'occupation italienne and  Italian: Occupazione italiana della Francia meridionale) and the Free Zone (French: Zone Libre and German: Freie Zone) governed by the Vichy French Collaborators of the Nazis – in southern France.

The Occupied Zone and the Free Zone were separated by the Line of Demarcation (French: Ligne de démarcation and German: Demarkationslinie) which was 1,000 miles long. Those wanting to cross the Line of Demarcation needed both German and Vichy French Official Permission to do so – sometimes the Line cut Villages in half.

Vichy France (French: Régime de Vichy and German: Vichy-Frankreich) was officially a Fascist Collaborating Country with Nazi Germany.

Vichy France also governed all the French Territories and Colonies around the World:

In the Caribbean:  Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy and Sint Martin.

In South America: French Guiana

In North America: Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

In Africa: French Algeria (Present Day: Algeria), French Tunisia (Present Day: Tunisia), French Morocco (Present Day: Morocco), the Ivory Coast, Dahomey (Present Day: Benin), French Sudan (Present Day: Mali), French Guinea (Present Day: Guinea), Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, French Upper Volta (Present Day: Burkina Faso), French Togoland (Present Day: Togo), Chad, Oubangui-Chari (Present Day: Central African Republic), French Congo (Present Day: Republic of the Congo), Gabon, French Cameroon (Present Day: Cameroon), Madagascar, French Somaliland (Present Day: Djibouti), Comoros and Reunion.

The Middle East: French Lebanon (Present Day: Lebanon) and French Syria (Present Day: Syria.)

In Asia: French Indochina (Present Day: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) and French India (Present Day: Puducherry, India.)

In the Pacific: French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and the New Hebrides (Present Day: Vanuatu.)

Philippe Pétain (a Famous World War 1 Commander) was the Vichy Head Of State who created a Cult of Personality throughout Vichy France known as Petainism (French: Pétainism) and he required all French People in the “Free Zone” to call him Marshall (French: Maréchal.)

The Capital of Vichy France was technically Paris, but since it was Occupied by the Germans the Town of Vichy was used.

The Nazis could still be seen throughout Vichy France from 1940-1942, but “Officially” they had no power over the Internal Affairs in the “Free Zone.”

Vichy France had to pay Nazi Germany 400 Million Francs (or $451 Million US Dollars in 2026) every day for German Occupation Costs which totaled 479 Billion Francs (or $509 Billion US Dollars in 2026 by August 1944.

On June 18, 1940 Charles de Gaulle created the Free French Government-In-Exile to combat the Vichy French Government and the Nazis.

On July 21, 1940 the Vichy French Government withdrew French Citizenship to 15,000 Foreign-Born Jews who had received French Citizenship since 1927.

On July 20, 1940 the New Hebrides declared their allegiance to the Free French.

On August 24, 1940 a Referendum was held in French Polynesia (where only French Men could vote – not French Women or Native People) voted 99% to have the Free French governed them  - not the Vichy French.)

In August 1940 the French Colonies of Chad, Oubangui-Chari (Present Day: Central African Republic), French Congo (Present Day: Republic of the Congo) were liberated by the Free French.

On September 27, 1940 the Vichy French Government held a Census of all the Jews in Vichy France.

On October 3, 1940 Petain (on his own initiative and not forced to by the Germans) created the Law on the Status of the Jews (French: Loi portant statut des Juifs) which defined who was considered a Jew (similar to Nazi Germany’s 1936 Nuremberg Laws) required Jewish Business to display the word “Jew” in French and in German (French: Juif and German: Jude) on them, limited the times when Jews could leave their homes and excluded 3,000 French Jews from the Vichy French Civil Service as well as Radio, the Movies, Education and the Military.

On October 7, 1940 the Vichy French Government ended the Crémieux Decree (French: Décret Crémieux) which made 35,000 Jews in French Algeria French Citizens in 1870.

On October 31, 1940 the Vichy French Government made it illegal for Jews who had fled during the German Invasion (now the Occupied Zone) to return to the Occupied Zone.

Starting in October 1940 the Vichy French arrested and imprisoned 40,000 Foreign-Born Jews and imprisoned them in Concentration Camps in Nexon, Agde, Gurs, Noé, Récébédou, Rivesaltes, and Le Vernet.

In May 1940 Gabon was liberated by the Free French.

On May 28, 1941 the Vichy French Government froze all Jewish Bank Accounts.

On June 2, 1941 Petain created the Second Law on the Status of the Jews (French: second Loi portant statut des Juifs) which expanded the Professions that French Jews were not allowed to be in.

150,000 French Jewish Men, Women and Children throughout Vichy France (Europe, North America, the Caribbean, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific) were stripped of their Jobs, their Livelihoods and Persecuted by these Two Statues.

In July 1941 French Syria (Present Day: Syria) was liberated by the Free French.

In August 1941 Japan (an Ally of Nazi Germany) invaded and occupied the Vichy-Controlled French Indochina (Present Day: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.)

French Men, Women and Children were sent to Japanese Internment Camps.

On December 24, 1941 Saint Pierre and Miquelon was liberated by the Free French.

In May 1942 the Free French took over the Islands of Wallis and Futuna.

In November 1942 the French Island of Madagascar was liberated by the British and the Free French.

In November 1942 the French Colonies of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco were liberated by the Americans and the British.

On November 10, 1942 Nazi Germany invaded and occupied both Vichy France and the Italian-Occupied part of France (fearing the Allies would invade southern France from French North Africa.)

On January 22, 1943 the Vichy French helped the Germans Round-Up 2,000 French Jews in  Marseille and deported them to the Death Camps in German-Occupied Poland.  They then destroyed the Saint Jean District of the City displacing 20,000 Residents.

25,000 French Jews and 50,000 Foreign-Born Jews in France (from the German Occupied Zone, the Italian-Occupied Zone and Vichy France) were arrested and deported by the Vichy French Government, the French Police and some Germans to oversee it all.

The Germans did not want to arrest and deport Jewish Women and Children, but the Vichy French Government told the Germans that it was “inhumane” to separate the Families and that they should all be deported to their deaths together so the Germans agreed with the French.

Of the 75,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children from France deported to the Death Camps only 2,566 of them survived the War.

On January 30, 1943 The Militia (French: Milice) a Paramilitary Group was created in German-Occupied Vichy France.

30,000 Militia helped the Germans arrest and kill Jews and the French Resistance.

On March 23, 1943 French Guiana was liberated by the Free French.

In July 1943 Martinique was liberated by the Free French.

Women in Vichy France were expected to take on “Traditional Family Roles” such as Housewife, Teacher and Nurse, but with so many French Men (2 Million) held as Prisoners-Of-War in Germany most Women in Vichy France had to work to earn the limited Food Rations they were entitled to.

Women were not given the Right to Vote in France until after France was Liberated (in October 1944.)

After the German Occupation of all of France the Germans still allowed the Vichy French Government to run most Internal Affairs in the District while the Germans took over Sole Responsibility of Security.

Vichy France maintained Diplomatic Relations with: Australia, Canada (from 1940-1942),China, the United States (from 1940-1942) and the Soviet Union (from 1940-1941.

The Provisional Government of the French Republic was established on June 3, 1944 (right before the Normandy Landings) and was replaced by the Fourth French Republic (French: Quatrième république française) on October 27, 1946.

The Provisional Government was created in order to show the Other Allies (the Americans, the British and the Soviets) that not all French People Collaborated with the Germans during the War.

The Provisional Government worked to ease the effects of the War while at the same time setting the groundwork for a new French Republic.

On August 9, 1944 the Order of August 9, 1944 Concerning the Re-Establishment of Republican Rule of Law in Mainland France (French: Ordonnance du 9 août 1944 relative au rétablissement de la légalité républicaine sur le territoire continental) of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (French: Gouvernement provisoire de la République française) repealed all Vichy French and German Laws throughout Metropolitan France and all the French Colonies Worldwide.

All the Anti-Jewish Laws were specifically repealed

Paris was liberated by the Americans, the British and the Free French on August 25, 1944.

After Paris was liberated Pétain and his Vichy French Ministers were taken to Sigmaringen, Germany by the Nazis.

On April 26, 1945 the Allies captured Sigmaringen and Vichy France was officially dissolved.

Nazi Germany and Vichy France were defeated in Europe on May 8, 1945.

Japan and Vichy France were defeated in Asia on August 15, 1945.

Charles de Gaulle, Leader of the Free French from 1940-1944 became the Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944-1946 then the Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic from June 1958 – January 1959 and then the President of the Fourth Republic from 1959-1969. He died on November 9, 1970 at the age of 79.

France was admitted to the United Nations on October 24,1945.

From 1944 until 1949 a Legal Purge (French: Épuration légale) was carried out in France to rid the Country of the Vichy and German Collabroators.

300,000 Cases were investigated (with more than half closed.)

6,763 French People were Sentenced to Death (only 791 were actually carried out.)

49,723 French People received the Sentence of “National Unworthiness” (French: Indignité nationale) which put either Temporary or Permanent Restrictions on what the Guilty could and could not do in Civil Life.

Philippe Pétain, the Head of State of Vichy France, was convicted of Treason on August 15, 1945 and sentenced to Death, but due to his age and what he had done for France during World War 1 his Sentence was Commuted to Life in Prison. He died on July 23, 1951 at the age of 95.

The First Official Admission that the French State had been complicit in the Deportation of the 75,000 Jews during World War 2 was made in 1995 by French President Jacques Chirac.

On July 16, 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the Country's role in the Holocaust in France and the Historical Revisionism that denied France's Responsibility for their crimes in sending Men, Women and Children to their death.