- On July 10, 1942, Philippe Pétain obtained full powers and became the French head of state. For Pétain, the defeat of France is above all moral and political. He launched his "National Revolution", authoritarian and conservative, under the slogan "Work, Family, Fatherland". Developing a policy of collaboration with Nazi Germany, which occupied the territory, he was jointly responsible for the faults committed by the Germans and the Militia, such as the deportation of Jews and resistance fighters, during the period of occupation.
- At the Liberation, France experienced a so-called “purging” period. It is a question of punishing those in charge of Vichy and the people who collaborated with the occupier. Women who were "shaved", because they had relations with the Germans, remain a strong image of this purge.
- The whole of society is affected by the purge:we find a spontaneous purge (popular courts), but also legal (courts of justice, High Court of Justice) to judge the military, political, economic actors of the collaboration with the Germans, as well as senior officials.
July 23 - August 15, 1945
Characters
Philippe Pétain
Charles de Gaulle
Procedure
Philippe Pétain stays in Switzerland after the Liberation of France, after having fled the territory. He surrendered to the authorities on April 25, 1945. At the opening of his trial, Pétain read an opening statement in which he justified his choices and remained silent throughout the trial, leaving his lawyers to defend him. The arguments of the defense of Pétain are the absence of responsibility in the French defeat, the completely legal seizure of power conceded by the Council, and the protection provided by Vichy against the Germans (the argument consists in asserting that the Germans would have carried out a harsher occupation without the presence of the Vichy regime).
The detractors (those against him) of Pétain pleaded in order to demonstrate that the Vichy regime was authoritarian, racist and that it would have been possible to continue war, without setting up a system of collaboration, by taking support from the naval fleet for example.
Consequences
- On August 15, 1945, Marshal Pétain was sentenced to death by the High Court. The jurors, however, demand that the condemned be pardoned, in particular because of his advanced age. De Gaulle will go in the direction of the jurors, and pardon Pétain.
- Pétain was transferred to Fort de Portalet, in the south of France, then to Fort de la Pierre Levée, in Vendée. He died there on July 23, 1951, at the age of 95.
- The trial does not provide any real answers about collaboration and the Vichy regime. Despite testimonies from regime officials, contemporaries of the trial and historians today agree that the trial lacked research and depth.
- Three Vichy ministers were also tried at the time of the Liberation:Pierre Laval, Joseph Darmand and Fernand de Brinon. In total, around 100,000 French people have been sentenced for collaboration. Penalties range from deprivation of civic rights (the most numerous) to the death penalty.