6 juin 1944. Les Alliés débarquent sur les plages de Normandie. Alors que, depuis Londres, le général de Gaulle appelle les Français à combattre pour la libération de leur pays, le maréchal Pétain leur demande de ne pas se soulever contre l’Occupant.
Portrait d’un homme marqué par l’Histoire.
Réalisateur : Laurent Delahousse et Jean-Edouard Choppin.
I give myself to France The salvation of the fatherland lies only in victory and in fighting France, that all of France, must, gather It is with a heavy heart that I tell you today that we must stop the fight. The honour of the French consists in continuing the war alongside their allies and we are determined to do so. I addressed the adversary to ask him to put an end to hostilities. This sovereignty requires it to defend its soil, to extinguish differences of opinion. It’s free. That I went at the invitation of the Führer. It is in honor and to maintain French unity, That I enter today on the path of collaboration. I still have a little bit of sand, what has not changed today, just a little bit more, They are always the same, the Jews. They will be expelled from the national community, Whatever their tricks to stay there This policy is mine, it’s me alone, that history will judge. What role and place did Marshal Pétain and the Vichy regime play in relation to Nazi Germany? How much collaboration existed in a regime that claimed to represent France? This question is still debated today. Let’s start with the facts tonight. On July 15, 1942, the French police, by order of the Vichy government, is preparing to commit one of the worst crimes the country has ever known under occupation. In a few hours, men in French uniform will arrest several thousand Jews in different districts of the capital. So what really happened that day? More than 70 years after the events, the survivors, them, have not forgotten anything. A classmate tells me, you know,
my parents knew a police commissioner who told them he was preparing for a massive arrest of women, of children and old people. There was a rumor going around between us, that is to say, between all these Jewish families who knew each other, by word of mouth. The next morning, The biggest roundup of the occupation begins. 9,000 French police and gendarmes are mobilized. They have the list of all the Jews in Paris, men, but also women and children. Two police officers are in Sarah’s building. His mother, who stood guard, finally fell asleep. HAS 6am, there was a knock on the door, she woke up with a start. What is this ? Police worked. Are you Mrs. Lichtenstein? It was our last name. Yes. And the little girl, she says This is my daughter. And look, he had a list in his hand. She says But she’s not on my list. And he puts me on his list. And my mother said to him: But why are you registering it? It’s like you didn’t find it. You have to leave her. She is a child. Leave her. He didn’t want to know anything. This inspector, he,
he had blinders. We,
what are we going to do? We run quickly and hide in the attics. And they ran after us, They came to look for us in the attics. You pack a suitcase with your valuables and woolens, you take woolens. In two days, 13,000 Jews are arrested in Paris and the suburbs. Gathered in the courtyards of buildings, They are put on buses. Parents completely distraught, at the station, holding little children who were crying and half-awake, It was all morning again. The bus is coming, we are crammed together like animals, with our suitcases in our hands, and we had become less than nothing. Buses stop in front of the winter velodrome, in the west of Paris. Before the war, Veldiv hosted cycling races, a large enclosed space, chosen to bring men together, women and children rounded up during the day. Behind it was painted blue and it gave a gloomy light. The people sitting there on the stands looked like green ghosts. I have nightmares for a long time about these little green ghosts of Veldiv. There will be no riots, no movement of revolt. Because the majority of people locked in the Vélodrome trust the French police. Even if some are starting to ask questions. When we asked the police what they were going to do with us, They told us: We’re going to send you to work in Germany. But what is that? Babies are not taken to work them. It’s not to work that we’re going to have grandchildren. The mother said to me Listen, That’s fucked up You must leave at the first opportunity. And my mother said to me, it’s not possible, There we were lied to. She gave me my food card, she gave me 100 francs, which was a large sum, and then she told me, you escape. Sarah and Léon will manage to elude the police surveillance. Sarah will find her mother who also escapes, but Leon will never see his again. Stay inside. For the thousands of Jews still prisoners of Veldiv, The nightmare has only just begun. The fifth day, people are called by loudspeaker. You are going to leave your seat, you will go to the exit and get on the bus. Joseph and all the others are taken to a Parisian train station where freight trains wait. They make us climb in there, in these cattle cars, with difficulty, because it is not intended for human beings, since it is marked on these wagons, horses in long 8, men 40, There were maybe 200 of us per wagon. They will remain locked up for more than 8 hours, in stifling heat, time to cover the hundred kilometers that separate them from the first internment camps. It was hell. It’s been hell for… The time I spent there, there was barbed wire, there were the watchtowers, the dogs howling. We were locked in barracks, lying on straw. Despite the horror of the conditions of detention, some keep smiling. No German soldiers in sight. The camp is guarded by French police officers. As long as we were supervised by the French police, we had confidence, It seemed to us that nothing serious could happen to us. Ida’s mother was rounded up in the Veldives. Ida, she,
was arrested two years later in the provinces, convinced that she will find her mother in the camp where she is being taken, until she discovers the terrible reality. The most terrible day, It is the day of separation of women and children. Because there, There is a real apocalypse happening at the camp. I was attached to my mother, and I didn’t want her to leave, it’s normal. Then a policeman fired from one side, I was being pulled to the other side. And then finally, afterwards,
it ended with water jets to separate us. We were shouting, we were crying. That’s where I saw my mother for the last time. After this scene of deportation, we no longer existed. We didn’t think anymore. I don’t know how to tell you, we were like dissolved. 9,000 adults rounded up on July 16, 1942 in Paris were handed over to the Germans and sent to the death camps. A few days later, The 4,000 children remaining in the French camps will be deported in turn. More than 4,000 children, There is not one who came back. We have been murdered 4,000 children in the heart of Paris. Joseph and Helen managed to escape. Ida is sent to Auschwitz, but she will be saved by the end of the war. In total, more than 75,000 Jews from France will be deported, with the complicity of the French police and the Vichy government. If we had not felt such confidence in the Republic in France, we would have been suspicious, but we had absolute confidence. Yes,
it lost us because we had confidence. I wanted some, yes,
to Pétain, to the government of the time. There would not have been this government at the time, I wouldn’t have lost my mother, I wouldn’t have lost my childhood. It was a betrayal. France had betrayed me, the country my parents had chosen as their homeland. I was French, I was a French Jew. Yet, until 1995, No President of the Republic has agreed to recognize France’s responsibility. Is it not time to throw away the veil, to forget those times when the French did not love each other? Tearing each other apart and even killing each other. No, The Republic has nothing to do with it. And I believe that France is not responsible for this either. Yes, The criminal madness of the occupier was supported by the French state. It took 50 years for a President of the Republic to acknowledge France’s complicity in the deportation and extermination of the Jews. The essential question is why such a long silence? This is the story we are going to tell you, that of a lie, of a secret buried for decades. It is also the story of a man, that of Marshal Pétain, national hero who ended up betraying the values of his country, a fate that still sows confusion in the minds of many French families. So how? having managed to rewrite history, by hiding these dark years? Why do divisions and unease persist today? To understand well, First we have to go back to 1944, at a time when France was fractured. For four years, Marshal Pétain leads the French state from Vichy and orders obedience to the Germans when the war finally returns to French soil. It is now June 6, 1944. That day, Marshal Pétain is on the road to Saint-Etienne. For over a month, he travels the country to meet the French. But on this June 6, 1944, is not a day like any other, Allied troops landed in the morning. From London, General de Gaulle takes back command. On the radio, he calls all the French. to take up arms. For the sons of France, wherever they are, whatever they are, the end of duty… and sacred. It’s about fighting. It’s about destroying the enemy. A message that worries Marshal Pétain. This call goes against what he has been advocating for four years, submission to the Germans. How will the French react? Upon his arrival in Saint-Étienne, the marshal is reassured. He is cheered by the crowd as in all the cities he has already passed through. France in 1944 is a country that is afraid. They are afraid of war returning to French soil. The war had left French soil in June 1940, it was over. So here comes the war again. Fear, but also the weight of the dictatorship. For four years, Pétain established an authoritarian regime to which a large part of the population submitted. It is a regime that lived in the adoration of a grumbling old man, quavering. All the pictures of him in the news, the marshal, the marshal, the marshal. Pétain is the surviving marshal of the war of 14-18. He is the one to whom victory is attributed, or in any case the victorious resistance at Verdun. And Pétain takes advantage of this. Pétain still remains a reassuring figure, because that is the role he has played since June 1950. And Marshal Pétain’s speech was clear that day. Unlike General de Gaulle, He asks the French to remain neutral. French, Do not aggravate our misfortunes by acts which would cause us to call down tragic reprisals upon you. The circumstances of the battle may lead the German army to take special measures. Accept this necessity. Two men, two speeches, a majority of French people who are asking questions. and then of camps that clash. On one side the resistance, who responds to General de Gaulle’s call. It swells the ranks of the Allied forces and pushes the German army back day after day. On the other hand, the militia, loyal to Pétain and the Vichy regime, and who may soon have to answer for his crimes, looting, torture and summary executions. The resistance at this time is very active, she is organized. And opposite, The Vichy government set up the militia which was largely intended to fight the resistance. For the first time, Marshal Pétain feels the wind changing. This militia was founded under his authority. He therefore risks finding himself very quickly in the wrong camp. Back in Vichy, he is preparing his exit. On August 5, 1944, He wrote a letter to the head of government in which he openly dissociated himself from the atrocities committed by the militia. Innocent hostages were arrested, murders committed, We are constantly being informed of kidnappings and thefts. You will take the necessary measures before the militia leaves in the history of France the most shameful stain of the troubled period we are going through. But the militiamen do not intend to take on the bad role alone. He is their leader, Joseph Darnan, who responded to the marshal a few days later to remind him of his responsibilities. For four years, I received your compliments, your congratulations, you encouraged me. And today, I will be the task of the history of France. We could have started a little earlier. Pétain will not be able to dissociate himself from the militia. So to save his honor, he tries another maneuver. A rapprochement with General de Gaulle, the new hero of this war. On August 11, 1944, Pétain entrusts a letter of mission to Admiral Offan, meet the Gaullists and propose to them, why not, to form a joint government to ensure a transition before new elections. He considers, what would be his dream, that de Gaulle and him, together, parade on the Champs-Élysées. But General de Gaulle will never answer him. So in Vichy, for fear of reprisals, All members of the government are fleeing with the German army. All except one, Marshal Pétain. Leaving of his own free will would make him look like a traitor, so he sets up a scheme to try to prove his loyalty to France. Pétain plans to resist, he has 600 guards around him, he may have the means to resist. But the Germans come to him and say if you don’t follow us, if you resist by force, by arms, we will destroy Vichy On August 20, German soldiers invade the Hotel du Parc. They expect an exchange of fire, but the marshal’s guard is disarmed. At the last moment, Pétain would have decided to surrender. Petain is wearing his shoes. I know, I am your prisoner, and it’s my time to get ready. Marshal Pétain leaves the hotel surrounded by German soldiers. But did he really intend to resist? The day before, He himself warned the people of Bichi to come and witness his arrest in large numbers. He will do everything to ensure that there are as many witnesses as possible at the park hotel on the day of his abduction. He wants to show that he left like a prisoner. He wants to make that a fact. Six days later, General de Gaulle enters the capital in triumph. He parades on the Champs-Élysées in the middle of a cheering crowd. I walked down the Champs-Élysées behind General de Gaulle. I can tell you that I can still hear the sound of the screaming crowd in my ears. All the people were there. Those who were to fart a wind, They rallied to de Gaulle. It was crazy, delusional. De Gaulle now embodies power in the eyes of the French. But to rebuild the state, he needs to gather the country’s forces. So that day, he sets up a myth. A unifying myth in which Vichy France, France of collaboration, has simply disappeared. Paris martyred, but Paris liberated. Freed by his people with the help of his people. The armies of France with the support and assistance. of the whole of France, that is to say of France which is doing well, that is to say of France alone, of the real France, of eternal France. We were all vibrating, What. What they said, it was wrong, but it was beautiful. We wanted to believe. One of the essential elements will consist of reducing, to underestimate the poisoning. mourns the adherence of a part of the French population to Pétain and his policies, especially to Pétain. The Mingolean is a savior. It was necessary, in the interest of France, to make believe that from the start, the vast majority of French people were behind him. During this time, Marshal Pétain continues his journey towards Germany. After a stop in Belfort, The Germans took him across the border towards Singmaringen, a small village in the south of the country where hundreds of militiamen and collaborators have taken refuge. In September 1944, Pétain therefore took up residence with his wife on the seventh floor of the castle. Upon his arrival, The marshal isolates himself and speaks to no one. On the horizon of the castle, we knew he was there, but that’s all. He went out every day dressed the same, he was going for his little walk, he was coming back, he was going up, He tried not to meet too many people because he didn’t feel like talking. In Sigmaringen, Pétain is nicknamed the invisible man. Sometimes, The people of the castle see him when he goes down for his daily walk. He didn’t want to see anyone, he didn’t accept anyone on his floor. When someone wanted to see him, It was practically impossible because he had closed his door. Leave me alone, leave me alone, keep me quiet, I can receive taste. Pétain prefers to stay in the background, because in the courtyard of the castle, a group of collaborationists plots against General de Gaulle. At their head, Fernand de Brinon. A great admirer of Hitler, He was Vichy’s representative to the Germans. For him, the game is not over. He wants to form a provisional government in Syngmaringen, ready to take back power in France if Hitler wins the war. But for that, he needs the support of the marshal. Pétain will never support this government, will never accept being the real leader. He considers himself a prisoner, he considers himself to be outside of all political activity. For six months, Philippe Pétain lives apart from everyone, until April 5, 1945, where a radio announcement will make him jump. On April 24, The High Court of Gilles will meet in Paris to judge the marshal Philippe Pétain. Currently detained in Germany, the trial will be held in his absence. Petain is furious. In 19 days, his trial will begin without him. What he refuses, it will be to be judged without being able to defend one’s honor. From his point of view, he has nothing to reproach himself for, he is not a culprit. He is a head of state who wants to explain himself to the French people, before his judges, to explain how his policy was just necessary and that he helped save France. He then wrote a letter to Hitler asking him to accept to let him return to France. But the Führer does not answer him. He has other concerns. He is losing the war, retired to his bunker, he is living his last hours. We knew it was over. Everyone knew, The Germans first. Everyone in Sigmaringen has only one desire, It is to flee. To flee because they risk being arrested and shot in France. The only idea, it was to get away as far as possible, quickly, to avoid being arrested. That was it. In April 1945, after eight months of exile in Germany, Philippe is a kitzingmaringen with his wife, escorted by the Gestapo. To reach France, he must first cross Switzerland. He was given a wonderful welcome in Switzerland. It’s not a day like any other. It’s his birthday. That day, he is 89 years old. People offer him chocolates, flowers, bottles of wine. The Swiss… must have had or had on the radio a positive view of the marshal’s behavior and there is no doubt, he is cheered as if he were in France. France, however, will give him a completely different welcome. At the same time in Paris, General de Gaulle, appointed head of the provisional government, just learned that Pétain was in Switzerland, on the way to France. And that doesn’t help his case. because he wanted to judge him in his absence. De Gaulle would prefer to avoid a large public trial in Paris, he would prefer to turn the page very quickly. We must put the occupation and the Vichy regime aside. Because if there is a trial, there will be an explanation. And if there is an explanation, there will be defense. And if there is defense, we don’t know what can happen. All the horrors of Vichy will have to be unpacked, it will be more difficult to turn the page. But De Gaulle has not said his last word. He then summoned the Swiss consul to Paris to try to block Pétain in Swiss territory. General De Gaulle therefore explained to the Swiss consul that the best solution, it would be for Pétain to stay in Switzerland. The Swiss agree to keep it. It is still necessary that, from a formal point of view, it seems that France wanted to get it back. The following stratagem, De Gaulle will ask the Swiss for Pétain’s extradition. The Swiss will refuse, France will take offense at this, will show his discontent and Pétain will remain in Switzerland. But on the other side of the border, Marshal Pétain refuses the offer of political asylum. He wants to return to France and he wants to be able to defend himself. From then on, The Swiss do not have the means to hold him back by force. When General de Gaulle received the response from the Swiss government, he is furious. The stratagem failed for the great lady of de Gaulle who told his colleagues that he had annoyed us until the end. The day after, The couple arrives at the French border. And they are unaware that de Gaulle has reserved a tailor-made welcoming committee for them. I am on the French side of the border. We saw cars arriving at the Swiss border. On the French side, An officer is waiting for the car. This is General Koenig, a hero of Free France, sentenced to death by Pétain. It was he who De Gaulle chose to welcome him. Petain got out of the car. General Koenig was waiting for him. And Marshal Pétain, he goes to shake his hand. Koenig gives him a military salute. He refused to shake her hand. The reception is frosty. And Pétain did not expect it. It is therefore as a prisoner that he will continue his journey. Kuenning stopped him. He invited him to get into his car. Madame Pétain wanted to follow. And they left to take the train 6 km away to the new hospitals. All along the way, The Marshal will understand that his image among the French has changed in his absence. As the train makes its first stop at Pontarlier station, The couple begins to hear disturbing noises coming from outside. The chenots had set off firecrackers on the railway tracks to demonstrate. There were slogans in the station, Love Petain Petain at the post Love the traitor Pétain’s wife asks if it is in this station that they are going to be assassinated. She is really afraid that the protesters will come and lynch them. Pétain had not anticipated such a reception. Eight months of absence were enough to free the French from worship, of his person. The fighting is over, The resistance fighters have taken power and the collaborators are considered traitors. The great purge has already begun. This purge was a phenomenon of magnitude. Roughly 1500 people were legally executed. I am not talking about the 8,000 to 9,000 people who were summarily executed. Arrived in Paris, Pétain is arrested. His wife decided to stay by his side and so it was as a couple that he joined the Fort de Montrouge, in the suburbs of Paris. The marshal is locked in a small cell. He will stay there for three weeks. Some days, he hears gunshots. Collaborators sentenced to death for treason are executed in the courtyard of the fort. It is in this deleterious climate that the marshal prepares his defense with his three lawyers. One of them wants to plead senility, but the youngest, Master Izorni, categorically opposes it. He refuses his pitiful defense because, for a very simple reason, Pétain did not return to France for that. He came back to explain himself, This is not to say that he was senile and had two hours of lucidity per day. He takes the marshal aside and says to him, Sir Marshal, France who loves you, Those who followed you, they want to see you standing. You must defend all your actions, even the most unpleasant ones. This is how this 34-year-old lawyer, unknown until now, will win the marshal’s favor. Clétin’s fate now lies in his hands. A trial which is therefore announced, but what trial? That of a man, of a diet, from France which collaborated. How will Pétain defend himself? How will he justify Vichy’s participation? and therefore his, to the crime committed? Another essential question. What state of mind are the French in? Are they ready to hear everything? On General de Gaulle’s side, there is no doubt. He did not want Marshal Pétain in France. He did not want to take the risk of opening all the pages of this recent history. Yet he will be there, in the dock. It’s the big day. Marshal Pétain is to appear before the High Court for collaborating with the Germans. That morning, The public came in large numbers to the Paris courthouse. We are almost at the theater, that is to say, we have invitations, invitation cards that are given to each other to be able to attend a performance, to a hearing. For a week now, The press only talks about it. This is the trial of the century. that of a former head of state, of a former hero who betrayed France. Pétain is criticized for two things. One,
is his seizure of power. It is said that there was a plot against the Republic. That is the first charge. And the second charge, it is intelligence with the enemy, with the signing of the armistice as the central point. We are not going to go into the depths of the history of Vichy for the simple reason that it is not time to do so. We are going to judge someone whose popularity we do not yet know within a France which is completely divided. Inside, the witnesses, Journalists and the public squeeze onto the benches. The greatest journalists are there, there is Joseph Kessel, there is François Mitterrand, There is Albert Camus. When I was in this little box that was just above the journalists, it was overcrowded, overheated. We opened all the windows. I remember, The president asked that we have a little AR. There was a considerable crowd. A few hundred meters away, General de Gaulle is following the trial remotely from his office. He does not intend to make any statements or comments. He has no reason to expose himself, because he had already worked upstream to ensure that Philippe Pétain was condemned. He even chose those who will judge him. De Gaulle did not want, somehow, make the mistake of interfering in this trial, so he knew well that finally, This would result in a death sentence. This is a political trial, it’s obvious, and condemnation, it is programmed. It is programmed to such an extent that this other court of justice is composed almost entirely of opponents of Petain. This is a very special jury. It is made up of 12 parliamentarians who voted against granting full powers to Pétain in July 1940. It is also composed of 12 resistance jurors and 3 magistrates. Finally,
here is the accusation in the person of the prosecutor Mornay, a former Pétinist who changed sides. But the most awaited man, This is the accused. Due to his great age, He was given a secluded chair in the centre of the room. No one has seen him for months. Everyone expects to discover an old man weakened by exile and prison. But his arrival will create a surprise. He is a man who comes straight, head firmly on his shoulders, and vigorous, and not at all the stooped, stuttering old man you might imagine. With his kepidor, his white gloves, There is a kind of spontaneous respect that takes place. He impresses the audience, he impresses the jurors. Marshal Pétain has no intention of keeping a low profile. It is as a statesman that he wishes to appear before the court to make a statement. Petain Philippe, Marshal of France. In his hands, the carefully written notes of his lawyer. In this statement, it recalls both its glorious past, it recalls the First World War, Verdun. He reminds us that he didn’t ask for anything. He was asked to come, he came in 1940. Then he talks about the armistice that was inevitable. He speaks of a new government, what was necessary. He speaks of a collaboration. We couldn’t do otherwise. He is not coming to make some kind of mea culpa, a kind of regret or apology. He comes to say how right his policy has been, was necessary and that in a certain way, he helped save the country. Its line of defense is based on a simple and effective image. The sword and the shield. He was the shield, De Gaulle was the sword. He tried to protect the French, while De Gaulle, him, was fighting the Germans. After this long statement, He announced that he would not answer any questions and would not speak again until the end of the trial. He was silent, but Armorean. There, on his chair during the hearings, the lawyers had done well to ask him to keep quiet, assuming he could answer. He had a lot of dignity in his uniform, but I don’t think he understood everything that was said to him. How do we return it to France? The accused has spoken. The parade of witnesses can begin. The most virulent is called Léon Blum. Mr. Leon Blum. Former President of the Council, imprisoned by Pétain during the occupation, then deported to Germany. For him, The Marshal is nothing but a traitor who abused the trust placed in him by the French. The French trusted him, and him, he took advantage of it. to divert them from the paths of resistance, to lead them to abdication, towards submission. What if Petain had not been there, The French could have resisted the occupier. Pétain listens without reacting. He knew that his former opponents would not spare him. But he had no idea that his own colleagues would also testify against him. On the tenth day of the trial, A surprise witness enters the courtroom. Pierre Laval. The former head of government, the main architect of the collaboration, has just been arrested in Spain. And there, We are really dealing with a completely defeated man. He had lost 10 or 15 kilos. He bursts in there, in the middle of the trial, in an arena atmosphere. So there, the tension is at its maximum, because Laval, It is really the man who is hated. He is the man who publicly declared that he wished for Germany to win and who often collaborated with many Zells. Pétain claims that he never supported his policies. Laval came to reestablish the truth. He recalls that contrary to what is said, The Marshal and he always agreed on the essentials. For example, the famous phrase I wish for the victory of Germany to avoid that of Bolshevism Laval says this phrase, I said it with the marshal’s consent. Hearing these words, Pétain comes out of his silence and rebels. But Laval’s words are confirmed by other collaborators. On August 11, after three weeks of debate. The time for the indictment arrives. Just before the hearing, in the corridors of the palace, for the first time since the start of the trial, Marshal Pétain confesses his concern to his lawyer. Pétain is a little worried, he asks him what will happen. The ornis answer him, Don’t worry, Marshal, Prosecutor Mornay will ask for your head with the greatest courtesy. Mornay’s indictment is absolutely implacable, vindictive. He even attacks Pétain’s personality when speaking. authoritarian personality, vain, seeking power. SO, he hits, he hits very hard. Mornay accuses Pétain of treason against France, and this,
the marshal has difficulty accepting. The accused slumps back into his chair. Petain, he doesn’t have that feeling. He does not think he betrayed France. And the prosecutor concludes without surprise, demanding the death penalty. Pétain then had only one card to play, the plea of his young lawyer, Jacques Isorni. Isorni gets up and there, he pleads with outstretched arms, just above Petain, who is sitting in front of him. He is pale, it is inhabited, he makes the jury experience what the marshal’s agony will be like, this great marshal who served France. It creates a rather extraordinary feeling. People are crying, There are jurors who cry. The lawyer managed to sow doubt in the minds of the jurors, who must now withdraw to deliberate. They will spend the night there. The marshal is guilty, but should we or should we not? The condemned man. President Longibaud then proposed a sentence of 5 years of banishment, that is to say, exile of the condemned. And at that moment, Pierre Bloch, one of the jurors, said that it’s not possible, I demand that we vote immediately on the death penalty. He said marshal or not, he dishonored himself, he went astray with the Nazis during the war, he is no longer a marshal, he is nothing anymore. So it’s a death sentence. The discussion is heated. The debates will last more than 7 hours. The fate of Marshal Pétain is decided by a single vote. At 4am, A bell rang in the courthouse. Everyone heads to the courtroom. The jurors arrive. President Mangebo reads the verdict. A final verdict. The High Court of Justice sentences Pétain to death. to national indignity and confiscation of all his property. When Pétain heard that he was sentenced to death, he turns to his lawyers and says this is unbelievable, it’s incredible He is in complete denial. For him, he did nothing wrong. Pétain’s death sentence is an infamous punishment. This means that France, at that time, condemned the head. The head of state was still judged. I would have been on the jury, I would have voted for the death penalty. I shared everyone’s feeling. It was not a feeling of revenge, but still, we wanted to end it. It was revenge. For General de Gaulle, everything is going as planned. He can now come into play. The high court suggested that the death penalty could be reduced because of the accused’s age. It is therefore up to de Gaulle to decide, and he already knows his answer. De Gaulle will not have him shot. an old gentleman, even though this old man was a horrible person. It will not be executed, Of course, he will be pardoned. You don’t execute a former victor of the Great War. If he were shot, we would have made some, for the Vichy right and that it makes me right, a victim. General de Gaulle therefore signs Pétain’s pardon The sentence is exemplary and at the same time he showed leniency towards the old marshal. Each side can find its victory there. All that remains is to make Pétain disappear, or at least, his representation. The trial ended, de Gaulle leaves instructions. The press waiting for him to leave the palace must not have an image of the condemned man. A few hours after the verdict, An ambulance pulls out from behind the courthouse. No one suspects that Philippe Pétain is hidden inside. Heading towards Villacoublé aerodrome, where General de Gaulle’s personal plane awaits him, to take him to an unknown destination. The trial was therefore not that of the Vichy regime, nor of his participation in the Shoah. For the government, There is no question of France highlighting the betrayal of its values, that of the resistance and of Free France. However, a trace remains, that of a malaise which will settle in without for the moment resurface. New step then, Pétain-Gracier must in no way disturb this hope of national harmony. This face, which occupied people’s minds for four years with the help of propaganda, must disappear. The message is clear, no image, no interviews and exile for those detained like no other, in a normally inaccessible place. A difficult-to-access island off the Vendée coast, a fort surrounded by moats and high walls, permanent military surveillance. This is where Philippe Pétain, at 90 years old, must end his days out of sight. We can no longer approach the fort of Pierre-Levé, it is kept, there are mobile gendarme booths, all around there are patrols, and therefore the strong, it’s impossible to get in. He is really locked up. A hundred gendarmes and guards are mobilized to watch over the fort’s only prisoner. As a precaution, the drawbridge is raised every evening, no one should be able to enter. Journalists who tried to take pictures, but in front of the gendarmes’ barrier, They were turned away and were not allowed to take pictures. We shouldn’t have seen him. Everything is in place to make people forget Philippe Pétain. But a daily detail reminds the inhabitants of Lille of his presence. A silhouette, leaving the travelers’ hotel discreetly every afternoon at the same time, a woman hugging the walls towards the fort. Annie Petain, the marshal’s wife. settled on the island so he could visit him every day. Women, Good, I was above us, Of course. The locals did not approach him, I don’t even know if they would have wanted to talk to the locals. These daily outings of Madame Pétain, This is all that the journalists manage to film. The authorities hope that they will quickly become discouraged, but they stay on the lookout for months and eventually the scoop comes. On November 16, 1947, France Dimanche makes its front page with the first photos of Pétain on Île-Dieu. The leak comes from a ministry. Secret photos and documents stolen from the prison administration. The race for images is on. Leaks will multiply. The journalists of the time, We asked one of the guards to take a photo of the marshal in the courtyard of the fort. And as he was making his little surprise, he took the marshal. From then on, These photos appearing in the press triggered a national debate on the conditions of Philippe Pétain’s imprisonment. A photo of Pétain in detention on the island of Yeux causes a stir, provokes ego. He is an old man, he is old, he is not sick, strictly speaking, but finally, a detention for a man of this age, This is a problem. And so,
there is an image problem. In an attempt to silence the controversy, The government will implement a response. A film crew is sent to the island of Yeux on official duty. His mission? bring back official images to prove that the prisoner is being treated well. My father works in the army’s cinematographic service and he is entrusted with this mission, which is a secret mission, he must not tell anyone about it. My mother doesn’t know what he’s doing, where he is, when he shoots this movie. On November 5, 1948, the team arrives on the island. The filming is going to be difficult. Philippe Pétain and his wife know nothing about it. We will have to convince them on the spot. The cameraman stood at the entrance to the fort to film the exterior, when Madame Pétain arrives for her daily visit. To begin with, the filming took place somewhat without Mrs. Pétain’s knowledge. They’re going to film her when she arrives at the fort, but she realizes that she is being filmed, especially because of the loud noise from the cameras. Mrs. Pétain then decides to turn around to speak to the cameraman. And there, she refuses. She says I don’t want to be filmed, I don’t want this movie to be made But the ex-marshal, him, is willingly convinced. Official filming can begin. Pétain is filmed from waking up to going to bed. Most of the situations are staged. He is filmed walking with the prison staff. We emphasize smiles, good mood, the complicity here with the director. We could almost forget that Pétain is in a prison courtyard. When we move on to the meal sequence, we discover a Philippe Pétain on Sunday, served like in a restaurant, in what could be the kitchen of a small country house. Even the former marshal can’t believe it. Pétain was very happy that my father came to film the meal. He said to him When you come, Sir, the ordinary is improved. That is to say, the meal was better. Pétain really liked this shoot. He questioned my father. Was I okay? Wasn’t I being ridiculous? A number of questions regarding his film performance. A few days later… The team returned to Paris with dozens of reels. The film was edited in the greatest secrecy, at night, in a laboratory in the Paris region. A screening is organized in the presence of the Minister of Justice. And quickly, the decision was made never to broadcast these images. Despite the staging efforts, It’s hard to believe that the former marshal is living a happy life. He is incarcerated with an extremely strict regime anyway. Not allowed to see the marshal for more than one hour a day. No radio, iron bed, a chair, he must make his bed. One hour of walking per day. Philippe Pétain remains an old man who will end his days in prison. And nothing can embellish this image. The political power does not want to show this film because it risks exacerbating wounds that were still raw at the time. Here is a man who wanted to serve the interests of France and who is abandoned in his prison, that we let die. There you have it,
that’s the position of Pétain’s supporters. Following this screening, this movie is hidden, locked in a safe at the Bank of France. A film that will remain secret for 30 years. The former marshal will end his days here, on the Isle of God, to remake the world with the guards without ever expressing the slightest regret about his policies during the occupation. Still convinced of having served France and protected the French. The years go by and the authorities begin to find the time long. Since 1949, we are thinking about his funeral. The government wants a very discreet funeral inside the fort. No ceremony, no photos, burial inside the citadel, in a place not visible from the outside and not even visible from an airplane. Really on the sly. So everything is in place for the funeral, but the former marshal clings to life. He died only two years later, July 23, 1951. Petain had a long life. died at 95 and began a second life while others were retiring. This is a unique biological case, by longevity, He is also a biological case because of the health he had. So here it is, Pétain was a kind of force of nature who did indeed cause problems. And finally, that day, The former marshal will have a public funeral. The government has changed. Henry Cueil, the new chairman of the board, influenced by Pétain’s lawyer, agreed to let him go with honors. We accept a ceremony, There are three bishops who come, we accept the wearing of the military medal on Pétain’s coffin. Under a blazing sun, A thousand people come to attend the funeral. The islanders can’t believe it. We stood on chairs or stools because we weren’t tall. We had never seen that, a procession like that. Because the most astonishing thing, It is this procession which accompanies the remains of the former marshal. Representatives of the church, former soldiers from Verdun and some tricolour scarves, those of far-right deputies, nostalgic for Vichy. No member of the government came, but six years after the war, There is still a Pétinist France and it met that day on Île-Dieu. Petain was adored, was adored, idolized during the occupation and then hated. Engraved on his tomb. Philippe Pétain even regained his title of Marshal of France, yet lost during his trial. Philippe Pétain is dead, But the government has not managed to erase its image. We can see it clearly, at his funeral, There is still a France that continues to honor the marshal. A question might haunt the minds, that of collaboration, but the French will forget, to obscure this debate for two decades. In history textbooks, the collaboration will barely be mentioned. A taboo subject which would however resurface in the 70s with a new generation and then cases like the Paul Touvier case, former head of the Lyon militia who was discovered to have been pardoned by President Georges Pompidou. The collaboration, Vichy and then Pétain who will resurface from the past. After exile, death, the page could have been definitively turned. Well no, The Marshal is back in the news. unexpectedly. Monday, February 19, the cemetery keeper, at 9 o’clock, went to the vicinity of Marshal Pétain’s tomb. They notice that the tombstone is slightly offset by one centimeter and that on the front, fresh traces of cement are visible. So that intrigues him. The tombstone was removed and we see that Marshal Pétain’s coffin has disappeared. In Paris, The Ministry of the Interior was immediately alerted. A few weeks before the legislative elections, This disappearance is very embarrassing for the government. All police forces are mobilized, the mission is classified as a priority. On the standards of the ministry… It was Marshal Pétain after all, who is a character who was kidnapped when his coffin was being found. On the island of Yeux, The investigation is progressing rapidly. A suspicious van was spotted early in the morning. The port register allows you to find its trace. A van registered in the Paris region which had been there since the day before yesterday and which that very morning… by the first boat at 4am, to reach the continent. In a few hours, One of the van’s passengers is identified. He is a merchant from Thiers, in the suburbs of Paris. A marble worker, tombstone specialist, Investigators immediately went to his home. I was in my store and at the end of the hallway, I see 3 or 4 police officers arriving. Michel Dumas was taken to 36 Quai des Orfèvres to be questioned by the inspectors of the criminal brigade. The marble worker plays the innocent, but investigators have proof of his involvement. or in any case of his presence on the island of God on the day of the abduction. He is shown a postcard that he wrote on Monday morning at dawn. There is his writing on the island of god that he sent to one of his acquaintances. I had sent some postcards from Île-Dieu to the family. Someone gave it to the police. When they came back with the map, They said to themselves You see, you were indeed the island-god! Michel Dumas admits his participation. He said he was hired only to extract the coffin, without leaving any traces. He does not know the purpose of the operation, nor the other members of the commando. He is lying. But the inspectors have no leverage. The investigation is stalling. It was not until the next morning that a new lead opened up in the press. A far-right lawyer, Master Tixier Vignancourt, contacted journalists. Tixier Vignancourt is the head of the Republican Alliance, which is the far-right movement that corresponds to what we could call today the National Front. The lawyer claims he received an anonymous call from the kidnappers. A small group of Pétinists who wanted to bring back his remains. in Douaumont, near Verdun, where all the heroes of this battle are buried. Police and journalists immediately set out on this trail. There are roadblocks on all the roads leading to Verdun, in order to really intercept the commando. All vehicles converging on Verdun are systematically checked. The lawyer is much more involved than he claims. He knows the kidnappers, he recruited them himself. Tixier Vignancourt, he is the brain of the commando, He was the one who designed everything. He also went to the island of God to scout out locations. So it was Tixier who thought of everything and built everything. By bringing Pétain back to Verdun, The French far right seeks to rehabilitate the Vichy regime, but the operation is going wrong. In the middle of the night, Master Tixier Vignancourt contacts his henchman. Hubert Massol, He was the one who led the operation on the ground. While all the police are looking towards Verdun, Massol is in Paris. And it was here that he hid Marshal Pétain’s coffin. When he learned that the kidnapping had been discovered, He interrupted the transfer to Verdun to take shelter in the capital. To decide what to do next, The henchman and the lawyer meet in the early morning in the corridors of the courthouse. He first told me, the farm seems difficult. And I don’t know how we’re going to get through this. They are on the trail, I am followed everywhere. They’re going to arrest us. So I told him, listen, I believe that now, we must take the initiative. The lawyer is backed into a corner, but Massol has an idea. Organize a press conference to put pressure on political power. He told me, my poor friend, you can’t do that, you are arrested immediately. I tell him, grave rape, because that’s what we called things, how much is it criminally? And he tells me a minimum of one year. I tell him a minimum of one year, I told him we can do that for market gardening. The idea of going to the police by summoning the press appeals to the lawyer. An arrest would lead to a trial and give the Pétainists the platform they have been dreaming of for 20 years. Tixier-Vignancourt imagines that this trial will be an enormous political trial, since it will not only be the trial of a commando, It will be the Pétain trial that we will reopen. In the early afternoon, Hubert Massol contacts the entire Parisian press. The phone rings in the Europe 1 editorial office. I come across a man who says to me, I am the leader of the commando that removed Marshal Pétain’s coffin. If you want to know more, Meet at Le Cristal café on Avenue de la Grande Armée. I finished and cut. At 5 p.m., Some journalists come at the invitation of Hubert Massol. He is waiting for them at a table in the middle of the café. I am seated to the left of Hubert Massol. I have my microphone, I am asking questions. Why did you do that? So there,
he explains it very very well because that’s actually what he wants to tell. Do you want Marshal Pétain’s remains to be laid to rest at Les Invalides? Waiting for, provisionally, pending the proposal by the President of the Republic, rehabilitation, we insist on it, and the transfer of the ashes to Douaumont, as was the wish of Marshal Pétain. Apart from these claims, Massol does not give any information to journalists, especially since the press conference was quickly interrupted. I hear pimpons, car sirens, police, etc. There is a hubbub at one point, and then several people surround us, standing, and two of them show their police plates. I said Mr. Massol I told him yes Police, I see. Do you know why we are here? I say But Mr. Commissioner, I was waiting for you. Ah, here it is,
the police, it was… I will follow you, sir,
of course. I am arrested. In turn, Hubert Massol was taken to the Quai des Orfèvres for questioning. The police are on edge, The government demands rapid results. Massol feels that he has gone too far and ends up showing them where he hid the coffin. It was perhaps not a very good way to put a president of the republic against the wall. I think that by being more diplomatic we might have achieved something. In the middle of the night, a convoy discreetly leaves the Quai des Orfèvres heading for Saint-Ouen, north of Paris. Of course, Everyone was nervous because we knew we were close to the goal. The coffin is said to be hidden in a parking garage. The police force the padlock. The van is there. And inside, under a pile of blankets. When the marshal’s coffin is discovered, At first we breathe a sigh of relief. We know we are living in a moment, and even though Marshal Pétain is there, there is something. Exhumed from its parking lot, The remains of the former marshal are brought back to the island of God. On February 22, 1973, Philippe Pétain is buried for the second time and once again a ceremony is organized. Twenty years after his first funeral, the same Pétainist France is there. During this time, in Paris, Lawyer Maître Tixier-Vignancourt receives the press. Hubert Massol, the leader of the commando, is part of the Republican Alliance, the movement he leads. But the lawyer continues to deny any involvement. Hubert Massol, do you know him? Yes, I know him. He is even a candidate, Finally, candidates in the 19th arrondissement. He is a level-headed boy, calm, full of common sense. And nothing, but then really nothing, could not have made me think that he would have taken this initiative. Do you condemn Hubert Massol’s act? I don’t know enough yet. I want to see the outcome. So. And at the end, we will see. The outcome. This is the trial of Hubert Massol, so eagerly awaited by the Pétinists. The commando leader is summoned to appear before the judge. The plan seems to be working. I enter the judge’s office. I tell him When do you file a lawsuit? He told me You’re kidding, You don’t think we’ll give you a platform? So you’re going to leave there very nicely, as discreetly as possible. You don’t talk to journalists, you don’t write books. And everything will go very well. Once again, the Pétain file is closed. No trial, no business, but in the early 70s, It is not only the Pétinists who want to reopen the debate on Vichy France. And the authorities have already had to cover up another case, a documentary censored on television, Sorrow and Pity, signed Marcel Ofuls and André Harris. The documentary is set in the city of Clermont-Ferrand. The inhabitants of the time tell of the occupation and we hear for the first time that some of them denounced Jews so that they would be handed over to the Germans. A reality never told until this film. SO, The people who participated in these persecutions were quite numerous, not to mention those who participated indirectly for reasons of personal interest and who were happy to see a competitor disappear. For example, we found 130 letters of denunciation to the Jewish Affairs Commission. And I can tell you, of these 130 letters, Half of them came from doctors. who reported to the Gestapo or to the police station with Jewish questions, such and such, which hindered them in the competition. 600,000 spectators will queue to see the film in a small Parisian cinema. But initially, It was intended for television. After viewing, ORTF officials refused to broadcast it. At the head of this censorship, an angry woman, Simone Veil, Auschwitz survivor. at the time magistrate and member of the ORTF council. Jean Veil,
you are the son of Simone Veil. Your mother’s reaction, It’s that of an angry woman. For what ? Because precisely, This film is focused on a thesis? My mother’s reaction is not actually that of an angry woman, It is that of an administrator who feels responsible for what French television says. and who does not agree with this unique thesis which does not take into account what the nuance was, the different stages, both resistance, but also obviously collaboration. Will she put her resignation into the balance? Yes, absolutely. She thinks of this family who helped her, who protected her? Of course, she is obviously thinking of this family which was surely a right-wing family, maybe even a Pétinist, but who… She had welcomed her, she,
little Jewish girl, 14 years or 15 years, and who hides her in very difficult years while the police are looking for her. In the 70s, This is a generation that will discover this period of history through this film. History books don’t mention it. So it’s also a triggering event for that generation. Yes,
but the period of 70, It is also the period of 68. And I remember another tantrum that Mom had. felt, It was when in the street the students were shouting CRSSS and therefore Mom was always very careful to avoid confusion. When we knew the SS, We cannot say that it is legal for the CRS and in the same way we cannot say that all French people were collaborators, firstly because it is not true and secondly because in advocating such a thesis, we agree with the people who behaved like bastards. Since everyone was acting like a bastard, then we are excused. And this is a situation which is completely harmful and pejorative, pejorative for what the reality of this situation was. So we will have to wait. The film is therefore censored. President Pompidou then Giscard, from 1974, will continue. to keep it under embargo. But the authorities will not be able to hold back this quest for truth initiated by the new generation any longer. It will end up bursting where no one expected it, in the study work of a young American student. In the early 60s, Robert Paxton, a Harvard student, settles in Paris. He is preparing his doctoral thesis on the French army. At the time… France is in turmoil with the Algerian War. But his university professor advised him to focus his research on another period of contemporary history. He told me sir, if you are interested in the french army, the most interesting and least known moment, This is the occupation. Paxton will therefore be interested in Vichy France. American historians of this period are accustomed to working from German archives, documents that he will also consult, and that will change everything. These are archives captured during the fighting, which is a bit curious. This is because no one in France had created archives. The previous books had a French-French vision. Things, Me, I am something else entirely. The French remained of the opinion that the Vichy government was only following German orders. Paxton will discover that reality is more ambiguous. Until June 1941, Hitler gave the Vichy government carte blanche to run the country as it saw fit. The Führer does not want to get involved in French internal affairs. He told Mussolini on June 18 in the meeting, we must make a treaty with the French that is not too demanding, otherwise they will go abroad to continue the war. We Germans and Italians are forced to impose order ourselves. It’s going to cost us a lot of money and me, I want to devote everything to the landing in England. Paxton also studies the national revolution put in place by Pétain. It shows that this political program comes from the theses of the French extreme right and even joins Nazi ideology on certain points. He and his prime ministers Laval and Darland, They were convinced that Hitler had won. And if Hitler can be persuaded that it is in his interest to accept France as a partner, It will be to everyone’s advantage. It was therefore on his own initiative that Pétain ratified anti-Semitic legislation. The Germans didn’t ask him anything. And when French police participate in the deportation of Jews, The Germans never ordered him to kidnap the children. The initiative comes from Vichy and more particularly from Pierre Laval, the head of government. Robert Paxton completed his thesis in the late 1960s and wrote a book from it, published in the United States. I imagined that the writings of a young foreign historian, distant, could not interest the French much. But in 1973, while Pétain is back in the news with the removal of his coffin, A French publisher is publishing Paxton’s book and its release will not go unnoticed. He says things that are completely new compared to the image we have of this period. He will say that the collaboration was wanted by the French, It was not imposed by the Nazis. The Vichy regime collaborated in the Final Solution. It is one of the worst crimes against humanity that can be attributed, Vichy regime. 3 year olds being held by 7-8 year olds, supervised by mobile guards. in deportation wagons. But what infamy, but what an ignominy. People were in disbelief. Some of the contenders made fun of the book. They thought it was a hoax. I received a quantity of letters. Often, French readers told me: You are a foreigner, so you don’t understand anything. A book that rekindles the national debate. And French television ended up devoting its biggest show of the time to it, The screen folders, by Armand Jameau. There was no figure on Pétain, there was nothing. Paxton had just published a book on Vichy. So he had new things to say. So Jameau said, we’re going to do that. And on the day of the broadcast, Tensions are mounting around the program. Production is on alert, the debate might not take place. There are certain threats to the show and the RG have the impression that there will be excesses and that the show will be prevented. This possibility of dialogue, It is considered scandalous. Here, in 1976, It’s still a hot topic, to say the least. This is a real national event that will take place in a few moments on Antenne 2. And once again, on the occasion of the screen files, This evening, Armand Chameau’s file has the following title, petain. The mere mention of the name was enough to spark a storm of protest. The show should start right after this newscast, but in the neighboring studio, that of the screen files, A group of protesters has just invaded the plateau. About thirty students, accompanied by former resistance fighters, want to prevent the debate. They don’t want the show to happen. They don’t want us to talk about Pétain. They are afraid that we will rehabilitate Pétain. Gold, This was not Armand’s intention at all. And Armand Jameau has already planned a plan B. His entire team is moving to another studio, across the stage at the radio house. He will stay with the protesters to distract them. Jamot starts talking to them saying I don’t understand, listen to the show, complain after His father is dead, It is neither a rehabilitation, nor a new prosecution. We are trying to see things clearly. You don’t want to understand that the television fight, Today, This is the fight for freedom. Then suddenly, there is a guy screaming Jamot, collaborators! So this, It was the word that should not have been said. Armand Jameau is losing his temper. Jewish and former resistance fighter, he can’t stand being called a collaborator. Tell yourself, the whore-kills, you weren’t even born at that time. Do you dare call me a collaborator? That settled things down a bit. At that moment, An assistant comes to discreetly inform him that the show is ready to start in the other studio. So it’s time to go. There is one who says anyway, you won’t make your show because we, we are here And we went quietly to the radio house. And there, when we arrived, the show was going off. And then, here it is,
the show took place. Madam, Miss, sir,
good evening. We are significantly behind schedule. And you must excuse us for that. Sitting to the left of the presenter, Robert Paxton is invited as a historian. His book has become a reference. I was nervous. I think this is my first time on a TV show. I was terrified. I was paralyzed with fear. Around him, a line-up of explosive guests, three great resistance fighters facing three leading Pétainists, including Jacques Izorni, Pétain’s former lawyer, and Admiral Offan. former Vichy minister. Paxton enters directly into the debate by recalling that the anti-Jewish laws were initiated by Pétain and not by the Germans. At the time of the law of October 4, 1940 on Jews, There were no German demands at all on this subject. It was a purely French initiative. Paxton’s thesis will quickly make Admiral Offan jump. defender of the memory of Marshal Pétain. Too good faith, everyone said it. This is the position of the church of trial. I would like. incomprehensible. We were at war, we had to keep fighting, even if it costs human lives. Let’s come, let’s come, The real problem is whether there were any English speakers. Are we back to the moment? But no, This will cause the debate to go astray. I don’t do it, I am not a just secretary of France. Let me speak, admiral, you may be a little hard of hearing, but let me speak. Denmark was not at war with Denmark. But let’s not talk, but I will tell you about it. But we’re going to talk about it, we’re getting there, I’m stopping you. So, Mr. Captain, the prices… It was very lively, the debates. People were arguing. It felt like we were in the middle of a near-fight. And while the specialists are tearing each other apart, the standard explodes. The controversy has also spread to French homes. There is a viewer who says I am ashamed to be French, I don’t understand why people are questioning what happened. Four years later, I am outraged by this show. There is nothing in French history as painful as the defeat of 40 and the occupation. I was young and naive, I put my finger on something very, very sensitive. And I would just add one thing, is that I thought that 25 years after the death of Philippe Pétain, We could have spoken about everything that happened in France between 1940 and 1944 with less passion. I said it, I believe, by presenting this show, well I see, I notice, I’m not saying I regret it, because it is a fact, that these patients are not yet appeased. This televised debate reveals that in 1976, France cannot leave the emotional ground on this issue. The reason is, it seems, impossible. The divisions, The fractures are still there in Vichy. And as long as state representatives themselves refuse to take a position, nothing will be able to evolve. After the Pompidou years and the Giscard years, who remain faithful to De Gaulle’s desire not to reopen this case, in 1981, It was the left that came to power with François Mitterrand. Memory activists expect a lot from this change. Will France finally recognize its responsibility? Some people think so and they do not imagine that President Mitterrand will himself find himself at the heart of this French story with an affair that was revealed three years earlier. In October 1978, a new issue of L’Express is on newsstands. Inside, a shock title. Auschwitz, We only gassed the lice This sentence is taken from a long interview given by Louis d’Arquier de Pellepoix, a former Vichy official, refugee in Spain. This is practically the first time that we have realised that there exists in France a phenomenon that we will later describe as negationist. That is to say, there are people who deny the Holocaust. We have no right to say that when we know that 6 million people were gassed because they were Jewish, including 1 million children. We were all very, very shocked by this statement from Darkier and Pellepoix. Because beyond Darkier’s negationist remarks, There is a sentence in this interview that attracts attention. Darkier and de Pellepoix question… A certain René Bousquet, who was head of police under Vichy, and he accuses him of being responsible for the Veldiv roundup. The big roundup, It was Bousquet who organized it, from A to Z. Bousquet was the chief of police, He is the one who did everything. Brand, Bousquet revealed everything that Bousquet had carefully, so far, hidden. And it causes a sensation. And for good reason. After Vichy, René Bousquet became an influential banker and press man. In 1978, he has connections throughout high society. He was on the board of directors of the Midi Dispatch. He was an active member of the Left Radical Party. He was everywhere. We saw him at parties. He is a high-ranking figure who probably had an overwhelming responsibility in the deportation of nearly 75,000 people, of Jews. So,
everything… Everything is there to make the Bousquet affair a major affair. Historians knew that Bousquet had worked for Pétain and Vichy, but he had also helped the resistance. Tried in 1949, he had been acquitted. Even though he had been chief of police in Vichy, he had, from 1943, secured its rear by facilitating, by giving papers to the resistance. Which means that at the time of the purge… He was defended and managed to avoid conviction. Justice spared him in 1949, but in 1978, It is public opinion that condemns it. His tragic behavior came to public consciousness and at that moment, we didn’t want to hang out with him anymore. Abandoned by the business world, René Bousquet resigns from all his positions and tries to be forgotten. But one man will do everything he can to have his trial reopened. This is lawyer Serge Klarsfeld. French political society, in 1945 and the post-war years, condemned Pétain and Laval for what they did against the Jews. But the performers, They were all exonerated. Since the early 70s, The lawyer and his wife track down former Nazis who have fled across the world. But he had not yet taken an interest in their accomplice, from Vichy. And he will set to work, and it is he who will go up, bulk, the files, or who will help justice to mount them. Bousquet could not be tried twice for the same thing. New documents had to be found, but I had no new documents in 1978. For years, the lawyer searches the archives, looking for new evidence against Bousquet. and ends up coming across two unequal documents. The first is the report of a meeting between the head of the Vichy police and German officers, a meeting organized two weeks before the Bel-Div roundup. The Germans do not have the men to carry out the roundup, They need the French police. And when they met Bousquet, which was the flagship of the prefectural administration, well, They trusted a man who impressed them. Bousquet declares himself ready to arrest throughout France a number of Jews of foreign nationality corresponding to the figures desired by us. That day, despite Vichy’s reluctance, Bousquet agrees to take charge of the roundups with the state police. The second document is a secret telegram from Bousquet addressed to the prefect of the free zone. He orders the deportation of young children. Children under 4 years old were up to there, exempted and their families from deportation. He lowered the age to 2 years. A number of Jewish families left the free zone for Drancy and Auschwitz. In September 1989, armed with this new evidence, The lawyer files a complaint against René Bousquet for crimes against humanity. Once again, The Vichy regime is back in the news. And once again, This does not please the powers that be. At the Elysée, François Mitterrand has just started his second term. For eight years, he worked for the memory of the victims of the Shoah, but like its predecessors, he doesn’t want us to talk about Vichy again. He wished that… Bousquet’s file is sent to a dead end, that is, the high court of justice which no longer existed. François Mitterrand, through its Ministers of Justice, slowed down the investigation into the Bousquet case. Which meant that the government did not want a trial. But Serge Klarsfeld has no intention of giving up. François Mitterrand wants to prevent him from going all the way. Never mind, the lawyer enters into open conflict with the head of state. He looks forward to his next position on this subject. And all this will happen very quickly on July 14, 1992, during the traditional Garden Party at the Élysée. It is the year of the 50th anniversary of the Veldiv roundup. This question will therefore be addressed during the traditional interview. And that day, The President of the Republic refuses to admit France’s responsibility for the deportation. Mr. President, You know that some people expect the French state to recognise its responsibility for these crimes. But what does that mean? In 1940, there was a French state. The French State, It was the Vichy regime. It was not the Republic. And to this French State, we must demand accountability. But on the legal level, We can say that the Republic did what it had to. What did François Mitterrand say? The Republic did not recognize the crimes of Vichy, This has been the official position since almost 1944. The Republic is not responsible for what Vichy did. The Republic did not apologize. He was, Mitterrand, the President of the Republic. Everyone forgets that Marshal Pétain’s first victim, This is the Republic. The Republic, It disappeared when Pétain took power and reappeared when General de Gaulle was at the town hall. Between the two, it’s Vichy, the French state. And these are crimes of this state. And the President of the Republic, as long as he is in power, cannot declare criminal, nor to say that the Republic has a responsibility for what were the crimes of Vichy. But others have difficulty understanding this position, and Serge Larsfeld will take advantage of it. Two days later, François Mitterrand is to attend the Veldiv commemoration. An important event, He is the first president of the Fifth Republic to attend. People are waiting for it. There is 1000 or 1500 people who are present, the tribune, personalities, and Mitterrand arrives. In the middle of the crowd, Serge Larsfeld has placed his activists. The arrival of the president provokes a wave of protest. It’s not the whole crowd that whistles, Mitterrand. They are committed activists. It was our activists who whistled at the President of the Republic. It was our conscience that dictated that we make this scandal. The violence was not just verbal. We felt like anything could happen. including the President of the Republic being molested. Finally, it was terrible. The scene turns into a settling of scores. The troublemakers are physically attacked, when suddenly, a voice resounds, that of Robert Banater. I ask for nothing, no applause. I ask only for the silence that the dead call for. I was next to him. Badinter got angry. He took the microphone. He started shouting and berating these young people. You have shamed me! You made me ashamed thinking about what happened there! You have shamed me! What I noticed, it’s that at that moment, These screams were obscene. It was about deaths. And he found himself, There were Jewish activists shouting political slogans as if we were at a rally. And for me, It was sacrilege. Already, entirely, we have a very strong emotion. This is sacrilege. It was in… What ? Are the dead listening to us? The words of the former Minister of Justice will make us forget François Mitterrand. who will not speak that day. Serge Larsfeld failed to force his hand, so he will attack him on another ground. The lawyer discovered that the president had been placing flowers on Marshal Pétain’s tomb every November 11 since 1986. He is not the first president to do so, but unlike its predecessors, François Mitterrand does it every year. Pétain was born in 1916, it made sense to him, important marshals. I think he has a generational reaction, that is to say that we cannot consider that Pétain’s personal history, who was an important man in the history of France, like it or not, begins in June 1940. This story began long before. We must give Pétain his entire biography, even if it doesn’t make us happy to know that he was a hero before being a bastard. This honor rendered by the Republic to Pétain, Master Clarsfeld finds him unbearable. SO, he joins the island-god, accompanied by around forty activists. On November 11, 1992, We were at Île-Dieu with the Union of Jewish Students of France and we made sure that the wreath was not laid. Protesters wait in front of the cemetery with their protest placards, but that day, No one comes to lay a wreath and the activists leave on the last boat. Has François Mitterrand given up? Not really. As soon as we left, by helicopter, The prefect of the department arrived with the wreath of François Mitterrand and placed it on Pétain’s tomb. This is unacceptable. A President of the Republic who is going to lay flowers on the grave of a guy who, like Pétain, shook hands with Hitler in Montoir. But it should be banned, but violently. We held a big demonstration the next day at the Veldiv site and I ordered a gigantic wreath in the shape of Francisque for François Mitterrand from the biggest florist in Paris. with all my gratitude, Philippe Petain. It was a very big scandal and Mitterrand was smart enough to fix scandals. From this day forward, The president will no longer place flowers on Marshal Pétain’s tomb. But Serge Schlassfeld will achieve a more important victory. Chance or coincidence, at the same time, The courts have just agreed to reopen the Bousquet trial. I was relieved because the justice system published the final indictment. By reading these 50 pages, we realized that Bousquet would have been convicted. Would have been sentenced. Because this trial will never take place. René Bousquet was murdered in his home, This morning, in Paris, by a 54 year old man, Christian Didier, who had undergone several psychiatric treatments. The murder was the work of a fanatic seeking notoriety. The same day, he surrenders to the police. A crazy act that will deprive, in a way, France of the great trial of the final solution and the role of Vichy in the final solution. René Bousquet is dead. But François Mitterrand is not quite finished with this story. A year after the assassination, The President of the Republic will for the first time have to account for his past during the war. It all started with a book and a photo published in September 1994. A French youth signed by Pierre Péan shows on the cover François Mitterrand received by Marshal Pétain in October 1942. He had 18 months left in Vichy. He was even decorated with the Francisque before joining the Resistance. François Mitterrand in Vichy. François Mitterrand and Francisque, it existed before. But it was written by newspapers and by people from the extreme right. It was believed that it was the opposition to François Mitterrand who, to destabilize him, to discredit him, circulated, if you want, this rumor. So this, This is the first fundamental revelation. And François Mitterrand does not deny having received the Francisque. Petain’s hands. For the younger generation, It’s a shock. The image of François Mitterrand is eternal, even if fundamentally, The fact that he led a resistance movement between 1943 and 1944 is certainly much more important than the role he may have played in Vichy. But here it is, he didn’t tell the whole truth, he hid a number of things. But Pierre Péan reveals another secret, even more disturbing. The relationship between François Mitterrand and René Bousquet. On the sidelines of the book… A photo resurfaces in the press. It shows François Mitterrand in his country house in Lachais in 1974. He is surrounded by friends and among them, Rene Bousquet. As President of the Republic, François Mitterrand continues to receive Bousquet at the Élysée, perhaps on the sly, but he sees it, he dines with him. People were only talking about that, the world had stopped and this was an opportunity to show François Mitterrand with his finger. Even the socialists. And this, It had deeply affected him. At the time, François Mitterrand, seriously ill, completes his second term. This book, This is one controversy too many. He summons the president of France Télévisions to the Élysée, Jean-Pierre Elkabbach. It is a man that I see tired, but determined, angry and decided to take action. I’ve had enough, I am being attacked, This time I will speak. So I’m ready to do a TV show on Monday. Two days later, The interview is to take place live from the Elysium. But François Mitterrand is ill. One hour before the broadcast, Jean-Pierre Elkabbach is called to get tangled up. I saw a scene I will never forget. He was there, elongate, but lying like a recumbent figure, both hands on the body. I say to myself but it’s not possible, we’re going to do the show in an hour. He is lying there, perhaps dying, in full suffering. We were a little anxious, but we felt he had to do this show. It reflected what Mitterrand was. He had given an appointment to the French, he had to be there. Mr. President, Good evening. There is… exceptional moments, here is one. It still has a terrifying effect, physically. Gradually, he takes over, we see the strength he has, pugnacity. Make Bousquet, This caused confusion everywhere and a real kind of embarrassment. But in your camp, anger and indignation. It all depends on what you’re talking to me about. Exactly, of your relationship with Bousquet, we’ll talk about it right away. When did you meet him? I knew him, I don’t know anything about it, but necessarily in the 50s. Was he a close friend of François Mitterrand? But no,
he was not a close friend. Or a friend? We say friendly ardor. Listen, we say what we mean. No but you, your truth. Chronology rules. Bousquet becomes a free citizen again, well-informed in political and financial circles, bank. Since the 1950s, for 30 years, he will live like this in Paris. And that’s why you told Péan that you saw him with pleasure? It was a little bit interesting. I listened to him, I pushed him, he answered me with annoyance, an anger. But we were live, there was no choice, he had to answer it. Once again, if I may, you do not regret a little part of negligence or levity? Because from 1978, when we started saying… Don’t leave the weight. Yes,
don’t leave the weight or others. No, from what point, It is not a witness for me. Yes,
but the judicial investigations begin. We’re starting to get our noses into business. Klarsfeld’s complaint is 89. The president turns a deaf ear. He hides behind the judicial chronology. But his arguments do not pass. On Bousquet, he did not have the language of the heart. It was basically quite cold. And I think a lot of people would have liked something where he just spilled his guts. We are dealing with a man of his generation. It does not understand memory return. He does not understand why people want to retry Bousquet. He answers completely off the mark. What feeling do you have or do you have for Marshal Pétain? If you remember. At that moment, we lived a lot on the idea, silly but very widespread, that Pétain and De Gaulle agreed. So this is to tell you that things are more complicated than we think. Jean-Pierre Elkabbach ended up asking him the question that had been recurring for 50 years. Why has no president agreed to recognize France’s responsibility? François Mitterrand is at the end of his career. He has nothing left to lose. And the victims are demanding it. Maybe it’s time to settle this matter. Once again, Why the Republic? Why should France not ask for forgiveness for the crimes and horrors that have been… committed at that time, sometimes in his name. No, The Republic has nothing to do with it. And I believe, me,
making myself aware, that France is not responsible for it either. That it was activist minorities who seized the opportunity of the defeat to seize power and who are responsible for these crimes. Not the Republic and not France. Do you encourage all historians? So I will not make any apologies on behalf of France. François Mitterrand answered everything, but did not give in on anything. He is the last French president to have gone to war. The last one to wish that we forget this cumbersome past. Unfortunately, it is not convincing. There will always be something left. This case Bousquet will leave an indelible mark. The Vichy issue has been resurfacing for years. I don’t understand, I don’t want it, I’m not interested. Eight months after this interview, It is Jacques Chirac who takes his place at the Élysée. A new president is therefore a new hope for all those waiting for an official recognition of the truth. A few weeks after his election, Representatives of the Jewish community go to the Élysée. I will welcome the delegation and then we will enter the president’s office. We sit around his coffee table. Jacques Chirac received us very warmly. I come back to talk to him about the commemoration of the roundup of the 20th book which is to take place 15 days later. He is surprised because he does not have the information at that time. He turns to Christine Albanel, who is his advisor. He says,
Christine, What do I have in my diary? So, okay, I get up, I’m leaving, I walk across the office, I’m going to a private secretary to look. Indeed, if it is registered, it is not registered. And I said to him, you see, your schedule is free. you could come and it would be an event. And I said to him, You would be the first President of the Republic to speak in these circumstances. And you know, he is very spontaneous, Jacques Chirac. He says,
yes, I’m coming. And he said,
Christine, here we go. Jacques Chirac told me, yes,
so I’m going and you have to give me a nice speech. And I said to him, Don’t you think that the time has come to tell the truth about the occupation? And he said to me, he said yes to me, quite, it must be done. Write it in this sense. To begin his seven-year term, Jacques Chirac wants to stand out from his predecessors, particularly François Mitterrand. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are not two men of the same generation. François Mitterrand had a complex and contrasting history compared to this period. Jacques Chirac, him,
on the other hand, has neither past nor passive. With Chirac, it was another approach, that of someone who was a child during the war and who saw things a little more like us. After a few days, The advisor proposes a first version of the text. He reads the speech aloud, as always, and he makes small corrections, here and there. And then he says do you think I’m going far enough? I tell him yes, I think you’re going far, I think you are saying very important things. The speech is ready, but it will remain secret until the day of the commemoration. Jacques Chirac did not let anything slip before. He wants, in communication, create the event. And he doesn’t let any information leak about what he’s going to say. These dark hours will forever stain our history and are an injustice. to our past and our traditions. I listened and drank in his words. Until the last second, I didn’t believe it. Yes, the criminal madness of the occupier was, everyone knows it, seconded by the French, supported by the State. I don’t even yet measure the historical significance of what Jacques Chirac has just said. I’m almost stunned. I could not imagine that one day a President of the French Republic would recognize that the French State had been complicit in the PIB. All right. That day, accomplish the irreparable. Breaking his word, she delivered her protégés to their executioners. Tears came to my eyes because it was the culmination of a long, long, long way. I would say just one word, Finally, with an exclamation mark, we could turn the page. I don’t know if this general condemnation today of the Vichy regime and therefore of Pétain… and definitive, if this is the verdict of history, if the tribunal of history has finally spoken, These courts are constantly reopening. I believe that the Pétain file remains open, that many people think that the traditional parties will no longer do the thing, we need to have a new start, a strong man like that, a providential man. I don’t think that feeling has completely disappeared. And we must continue to put pressure on what Vichy was. the weight of these crimes. We do not know enough to what extent the Vichy regime was built on xenophobia and to what extent this xenophobia is always ready to flare up again. Positions taken by a President of the Republic from a new generation, Jacques Chirac, then Nicolas Sarkozy, and on July 22, 2012, Francois Hollande, which is in the same line. A complex French history, troubled, and discordant voices, even today, on the legal nature of the Vichy regime. On the other hand, no doubt, no debate possible on what the collaboration was, on the persecutions and crimes committed during those dark hours that some would have liked to forget. The story, his memory, this memory, don’t have… To repent only, but to never lie to ourselves or forget, because current events remind us daily that the worst is still alive. So, Thank you for following this document and see you soon.
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IMMONDE POURRITURE à oublier..
Maréchal nous voila.
한국에서 시청합니다. 요즘 유튜브는 번역하기 버튼이 있어서 그냥 한국어로 씁니다.
목숨을 걸고 저항하라고 말하는건 쉽습니다. 페탱이야말로 프랑스에 남아서 본인의 책임도 아니었지만 프랑스인들의 목숨과 문화유산을 지키려 한 사람이라고 생각합니다.
물론 저는 실제로 처음부터 투쟁했던 드골의 투쟁심이 존경스럽고. 라발은 페탱과 다른 악질 반역자라고 생각합니다.
3공화국에서 패전직전에 권력과 패전의 책임을 페탱에게 넘긴 정치인들이야말로 어이없습니다. 그들은 패전의 책임을 넘겨주고는 전후에 뻔뻔하게 돌아오다니요. 70인의 반대표를 준 사람들을 제외하고는 부끄러워했어야합니다. 또 독일-소련 불가침조약으로 공산주의자들은 전쟁당시 사보타주를 해서 독일의 승리에 공헌했습니다. 뻔뻔하게도 바르바로사 작전부터에서야 레지스탕스로 활동하며 전쟁의 최대 공로자로 포장하고요… (1941년 6월~1944년 파리해방때까지)
1939년부터 싸워왔던 드골같은 사람들이야말로 진짜였고, 프랑스 내부에서 논란이 있지만 제일 어두울 때의 프랑스인들을 지키려 했던 페탱은 재평가를 받아야합니다
Maréchal fout le camp de là comme on chantait dans les écoles durant l'Occupation paraît-il.
On a tendance à négliger le fait que nous étions sous l'occupation de l'armée hitlérienne, mais cela n'est qu'un détail ; ce serait la même chose avec un autre régime.
Quand es que vous ferais un documentaire sur la politique intérieur de vichy en parlant d’autres choses que les juifs et la milices
Quand on veut parler de Petain
Il faudrait ne pas parler immédiatement que d'une seule chose et en faire la seule chose.
France Télévision, machine à faire tourner les Français en rond pendant qu'on les dépouille systématiquement.
Как вы думаете, почему так долго молчали о роли Франции в депортации евреев во время Второй мировой войны?