Vichy France

Marshal Pétain was the last French prime minister of the Third Republic, he was known as a World War I hero, who was the victor of the Battle of Verdun. Vichy France was officially independent, but with half of its territory occupied, Pétain co-operated with Third Reich policies. Most French public initially supported the paternalistic regime.

Despite endless “French Resistance” World War 2 propaganda myths, the French people, fearing Communism, were not at all happy to be “liberated” by American / British allied forces. Many French men had volunteered and died with the Germany army; for surviving wives and relatives, horrific allied “liberation” tortures awaited.

Vichy France (French: Régime de Vichy) is the common name of the French State (État français) headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain's cabinet agreed to end the war, signing an Armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940.

“There is a Jewish conspiracy against all Nations, but first against France. This must be disrupted or France will perish as Russia.”.

On 10th July, the Third Republic was effectively dissolved as Pétain was granted full powers by the National Assembly. At Vichy, Pétain established an authoritarian government that reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy, calling for “National Regeneration”, with central planning a key feature.

Labour unions came under tight government control. Conservative Catholics became prominent and clerical input in schools resumed. Paris lost its “Weimar” inspired avant-garde status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and promoted exclusion of Jews, and, after June 1941, anti-Bolshevism. French police were ordered to round up Jews and other “undesirables” such as communists and political refugees. Much of the French public initially supported the government, despite its undemocratic nature and its difficult position with respect to the Germans, often seeing it as necessary to maintain a degree of French autonomy and territorial integrity.

“The only wealth you possess is your labour…France will become again what she should never have ceased to be—an essentially agricultural nation. Like the giant of mythology, she will recover all her strength by contact with the soil.”.

“My country has been beaten, and they are calling me back to make peace and sign an armistic… This is the work of 30 years of Marxism. They're calling me back to take charge of the nation.”.

“Neither Germany nor Italy have doubts. Our crisis is not a material crisis. We have lost faith in our destiny… We are like mariners without a pilot.”.

The occupation also presented certain advantages, such as keeping the French Navy and French colonial empire under French control, and avoiding full occupation of the country by Germany, thus maintaining a degree of French independence and neutrality. Vichy thought the British to be a racially degenerate “mixed race” working for Jewish capitalists, in contrast to the “racially pure” peoples on the continent of Europe who were building a “New Order”. In an interview conducted by Béraud with Admiral Darlan in 1941, Darlan was quoted as saying that if the “New Order” failed in Europe it would mean “here in France, the return to power of the Jews and Freemasons subservient to Anglo-Saxon policy” <-- (he got it the wrong way round: Anglo-Saxon policy subservient to Jews and Freemasons)

Germany interfered little in internal French affairs for the first two years after the armistice, as long as public order was maintained. As soon as it was established, Pétain's government voluntarily took measures against “undesirables”: Jews, métèques (immigrants from Mediterranean countries), Freemasons, Communists, Gypsies (also known as Romani), homosexuals, and left-wing activists. Inspired by Charles Maurras's conception of the “Anti-France” (which he defined as the “four confederate states of Protestants, Jews, Freemasons, and foreigners”).

Milice

The Milice française (French Militia) was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy regime (with German aid) to help fight against the French Resistance. The Milice's formal head was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, although its Chief of operations and de facto leader was Secretary General Joseph Darnand.

It participated in summary executions and assassinations, helping to round up Jews and résistants in France for deportation. The French Resistance considered the Milice more dangerous than the Gestapo and SS because they were native Frenchmen who understood local dialects fluently, had extensive knowledge of the towns and countryside, and knew local people and informants.

Forces occultes

Forces occultes (Occult Forces – subtitled The mysteries of Freemasonry unveiled for the first time on the screen) is a French film of 1943, notable as the last film to be directed by Paul Riche (the pseudonym of Jean Mamy). The film recounts the life of mr Avenel, a young member of parliament who joins the Freemasons in order to relaunch his career. He thus learns of how the Freemasons are conspiring with the Jews and the Anglo-American nations to encourage France into a war against Germany.

The film was commissioned in 1942 by the Propaganda Abteilung, a delegation of NSDAP Germany's propaganda ministry within occupied France by the ex-Mason Mamy. It virulently denounces Freemasonry, parliamentarianism and Jews as part of Vichy's drive against them and seeks to prove a Jewish-Masonic plot. On France's "liberation", its writer Jean Marquès-Rivière, its producer Robert Muzard, and its director Jean Mamy were purged for collaboration with the enemy.

On 25 November 1945, Muzard was condemned to 3 years in prison and Marquès-Rivière was condemned in his absence (he had gone into self-imposed exile) to death and degradation. Mamy had also been a journalist on L'Appel under Pierre Constantini (leader of the Ligue française d’épuration, d’entraide sociale et de collaboration européenne) and on the collaborationist journal Au pilori, and was thus condemned to death and executed at the fortress of Montrouge on 29 March 1949.