1,895 words

Charles de Gaulle in February 1943

Part 1 of 2

Charles de Gaulle is a central figure for the legitimacy of the current French regime, being considered “the most illustrious of Frenchmen” in the twentieth century. He earned this for his role in putting France among the victors of the Second World War and in being the founding father of the Fifth Republic, a semi-presidential regime reputed to be more stable and effective than its parliamentary predecessors.  (more…)

2,159 words

Translated by Guillaume Durocher

Translator’s Note:

The following is the epilogue to Dominique Venner’s Histoire de la Collaboration (Paris: Gérard Watelet/Pygmalion, 2000), 522-26. The title is editorial.

[. . .] Throughout this book, I have sought to place the years of the Occupation and the variegated phenomenon of Collaboration in the wider context of the time, that of the French disaster of 1940 (more…)

The draft Statute on Jews of October 3, 1940, apparently toughened by the hand of Marshal Pétain.

1,988 words

Translated by Guillaume Durocher

Translator’s Note:

The following extracts are translated from Dominique Venner’s Histoire de la Collaboration (Paris: Gérard Watelet/Pygmalion, 2000), 118-22. The title is editorial.

Before creating something new, to ensure that the old regime is genuinely laid low, one begins by driving out those who represent a potential counter-revolution, the risk of a lapse backwards. (more…)

2,509 words

Translated by Guillaume Durocher

Translator’s Note:

The following extracts are translated from Dominique Venner’s Histoire de la Collaboration (Paris: Gérard Watelet/Pygmalion, 2000), 103-12. (more…)

924 words

Translated by Greg Johnson

In the center of all the questions raised by the sinuous and contradictory path of François Mitterrand is the famous photograph of the interview granted to a young unknown, the future socialist president of the Republic, by Marshall Philippe Pétain in Vichy, on October 15th, 1942. (more…)

855 words

Marshal Philippe Pétain, 1856–1951

Translated by Greg Johnson

Pétain, De Gaulle . . . Let us think for a moment about those personages from a far-off time.

First, what a astonishing destiny for Marshal Pétain! To have risen so high and fallen so low! In the long history of France, other great personages were admired, but surely none was loved more before being denigrated so much. (more…)