Choices in Vichy France: The French Under Nazi Occupation - Hardcover

Sweets, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195037510 ISBN 13: 9780195037517

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1986

Synopsis

Films like The Sorrow and the Pity and Lacombe Lucien, as well as recent scholarship, have replaced the old Gaullist myth of Nazi-occupied France and "a nation of resisters" with a new myth of "a nation of collaborators." John Sweets's provocative assessment challenges both stereotypes.

From evidence gathered at Clermont-Ferrand, the largest town near Vichy, the Occupation capitol, Sweets found the French far less devoted to Petain than some have argued, and far more supportive of de Gaulle than has been suspected. The New Order was emphatically rejected by most of the French, he concludes, and the numbers involved in the Resistance were larger than has been recognized by previous accounts.

Choices in Vichy France is a compelling work of social history. Drawing on extensive archival research, interviews, and private correspondence, Sweets reconstructs the experiences of the individual men and women in Clermont-Ferrand to understand the dilemmas that Occupation set before them. Sweets found that everything was made difficult and complex by the Occupation; few decisions were simple and many had potentially serious consequences. He concludes that our stereotyped notions of "resistance" and "collaboration" are inadequate to describe the reality of people's behavior under the extreme circumstances of war and occupation.

About the Author:

John F. Sweets is Professor of History at the University of Kansas at Lawrence and the author of The Politics of Resistance in France.

An important revisionist study of the German occupation of France

BLOverturns stereotypes about "collaboration" and "resistance"

BL"His research is exemplary...clearly and forcefully written."--Robert O. Paxton

About this title

Reviews

Sweets examines closely the reactions of citizens in a single French city (Clermont-Ferrand) to the Vichy regime and the German occupiers. He presents strong evidence that collaboration was restricted, that passive resistance was widespread, and that active resistance far exceeded the numbers of those formally involved in the resistance movement. His findings challenge arguments by Robert Paxton and others and the impressions presented in Maurice Ophuls's The Sorrow and the Pity that collaboration and active support for Vichy were common. His findings are based on thorough examination of police and prefect reports, newspapers, German army intelligence reports, etc. This well-documented and provocative book is likely to become a key piece in the ongoing debate over popular attitudes during the Vichy era. Frank L. Wilson, Political Science Dept., Purdue Univ., W. Lafayettte, Ind.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195037510
• ISBN 13: 9780195037517
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 316