Marshal Pétain and Hitler meeting at Montoire in October 1940. Photo courtesy of the BBC and Getty Images.

After the swift German defeat of France in June 1940, Marshal Philippe Pétain signed an armistice with Germany. During the course of the battle, millions fled south to avoid the German advance, a mass movement of people that became known as “The Exodus.” The Germans occupied northern France, and an autonomous government, which was officially neutral but collaborated closely with the German government, was set up in the southern spa town of Vichy under Pétain’s leadership.

At that time, there were approximately 350,000 Jews in France. More than half were refugees from Germany who had sought a haven in France during the 1930s. In an effort to assert its independence, the Vichy government enacted anti-Jewish measures before the Germans could impose their own.  The “Statut des Juifs” (Law of the Jews) was passed in two parts in October 1940 and June 1941. This comprehensive statute excluded Jews from public life; required their dismissal from positions in the civil service, the army, commerce, and industry; and barred them from participation in various professions including medicine, law, and teaching. These laws were followed by a more extensive program of “Aryanization” in July 1941.  The French state confiscated Jewish-owned property, leaving most Jews impoverished, particularly foreign Jews. Deportations of Jews began in the summer of 1942. French police rounded up Jews, especially foreign Jews, in both the occupied and unoccupied zones to fulfill German-imposed quotas. In mid-July 1942, more than 13,000 Jews were rounded up in Paris, where they were held in a sports area for several days without food or water before they were deported to Auschwitz. Over the course of the war, more than 77,000 Jews were deported from France and murdered. Over 8,000 of those deported were children. Of those deported, about 3 percent returned at the end of the war. When teaching our students about the Nazi occupation of France, it is important to note that France was granted a considerable amount of autonomy compared to other occupied countries.  It is also important to discuss the concept of collaboration with our students and to examine the degree to which France collaborated with the Nazis.  By independently enacting anti-Jewish legislation and interning Jews in French camps, the Vichy government collaborated with the Germans in the persecution of the Jews.  However, as anti-Jewish measures escalated and Jews were deported from French-run camps to camps “in the East,” many French citizens began to help Jews and actively hide them. About 75 percent of the Jewish population in France survived, due in part to the aid provided by French citizens. Students might examine the different roles individuals and nations played in resisting the Nazi persecution of Jews.  They might also explore the complexity of categorizing people and governments as perpetrators, collaborators, and bystanders.