Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944 by Robert O. Paxton (PDF)

Description

Robert O. Paxton’s classic study of the aftermath of France’s sudden collapse under Nazi invasion utilizes captured German archives and other contemporary materials to construct a strong and disturbing account of the Vichy period in France. With a new introduction and updated bibliography, Vichy France demonstrates that the collaborationist government of Marshal Pétain did far more than merely react to German pressures. The Vichy leaders actively pursued their own double agenda―internally, the authoritarian and racist “national revolution,” and, externally, an attempt to persuade Hitler to accept this new France as a partner in his new Europe.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review Tells us as much of the truth about Vichy as we are likely to have for a long time…. Paxton answers all the basic questions… in an even tone, with a vigorous style, allowing the devastating documents… to speak for themselves. ― New York Times Book Review

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Paxton demonstrates a command of all available materials as he dismantles what was the conventional wisdom, prior to the initial publication of this book in 1972, that Vichy shielded the French from the German occupiers. He carefully weighs the evidence before concluding that Vichy leaders, who were mostly traditionalists, were culpable on various counts, but perhaps mostly for their attempted use of leverage with the German occupiers to defeat their domestic opponents. Time and time again, Vichy leaders, especially Laval, proposed that the “New France” assume a role in the “New Europe” that Hitler was forging. And, time and time again, Hitler and von Ribbentrop dismissed these proposals out of hand.Although Paxton lays out his portrait of Vichy in great detail, he leaves it to the reader to connect the dots. Numerous times, I closed the book and thought about a point that he had just raised. For instance, I have long posited the freedom-loving US, Britain, and the Resistance as the happy middle, surrounded by totalitarian communists in the form of the Soviet Union and totalitarian fascists in the form of Nazi Germany. But the Vichy traditionalists posited the US and the Soviet at the extremes along the freedom continuum, but yoked by urges to reduce men and women to units of production and to wield hegemonic power in the post-imperial era ushered in by the end of WW II. Hmm.At the very end of the book, Paxton constructs a “moral balance sheet.” The ultimate driver of the Vichy leaders was their fear of social disorder as the highest evil. Commoners among the occupied, as well as the occupiers, made peace with men of evil to maintain a degree of normalcy in their lives. In the final paragraph, Paxton addresses the reader directly, noting that readers, as well as the author, will not identify with these commoners, but will instead be tempted to identify with the Resistance, assuring themselves that they too would have resisted. But Paxton warns that we are far more likely to have acted like the Vichy majority. He then sets the hook in the final three sentences of the book:”Indeed, it may be the German occupiers rather than the Vichy majority whom Americans, as residents of the most powerful state on earth, should scrutinize most unblinkingly. The deeds of occupier and occupied alike suggest that there come cruel times when to save a nation’s deeper values one must disobey the state. France after 1940 was one of those times.”Written in the early 1970s, these words alluded to the US occupation of SE Asia. In the introduction to the 2001 edition, Paxton admits that some of his judgments about Vichy were colored by his “loathing” of the Vietnam War. The frightening thought is that, over 40 yrs later, this paragraph is as applicable today to our occupation of Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. Understanding the Vichy experience, we can begin to ask what Vichy dilemmas have we, the occupiers, imposed on these occupied peoples.

⭐In my opinion a very interesting, informative, and useful book. Like many Americans, I have scant knowledge of the workings of French politics and government save to note that, much as we continue to rehash our civil war, the French re-litigate the revolution of 1789. Paxton does and excellent job of putting into perspective who, why, how and when the French civilian population collaborated/survived/resisted the German invasion and occupation from 1940-45. He dissects the various political and social groups at the outbreak of hostilities, their various reactions, and the ways in which the Vichy government came to be a vehicle for the French right to attack their enemies of the center and left. In so doing, they also increasingly collaborated with the Nazi regime, often leading rather than being forced into acts against some portions of the French population.The book was written some time ago (Kindle does not see fit to reproduce the copyrights, so my memory is that it was published around 1971) and is largely based on research in German archives which are available, rather than the French which were largely closed for a 70 year period. It is difficult to avoid the impression that the French archives were closed because a large number of French politicians and civil servants who continued in office, post-war, would have been compromised by their contents. There may now be better books, at least in French, that address this period after access to French archives.Some of the book is slow going. A political system with dozens of splintering, rejoining, and relabeling parties is difficult for a non expert to keep straight. It may help to review an overview of the French government, at least to the point of understanding the relationship of President, Parliament, Prime Minister and the standing bureaucracy that supports them.The Resistance is a small part of the book as it was a relatively small part of the story of France during the occupation. Paxton does make plain that Vichy government fought the French Resistance with as much or more ferocity as did the Germans. For an interesting window into one family’s experience in the resistance, The Cost of Courage by Charles Kaiser is a good read. Kaiser is not a particularly gifted writer, IMO, but does graphically outline the risks, costs, and consequences of joining the resistance.

⭐This book by Robert Paxton has the reputation of being ‘the’ classic work on Vichy France, and deservedly so. It is a wonderfully researched book based largely on contemporary German and French archives and avoiding, where possible, the self-serving post-war press coverage and trial statements.Paxton demonstrates quite clearly that the Vichy Government lead by Marshal Petain was motivated largely by a compulsion to keep the government of France in French hands. Petain made efforts to re-establish French rule in the Occupied Zone, which in retrospect appears faintly ridiculous. The Vichy Government took on willingly more and more tasks often in anticipation of German wishes, rather than following German directives. As time progressed this lead to complicity in some repulsive activities such as helping to facilitate the expulsion of Jews and drafting forced labour to work in Germany.These activities are often cited to demonstrate the fascistic nature of the Vichy Government but Paxton shows that the motivation was largely nationalistic. Petain and many Frenchmen expected Hitler to win the war and wanted to establish France as an equal partner with Germany in the New Europe. Churchill was viewed at the time as an annoying obstacle to peace.Pierre Laval, often painted with some justification as the arch villain of Vichy, was something of a spiv and opportunist although not corrupt as often alleged. Laval was re-instated at the insistence of German Ambassador Otto Abetz after dismissal by Petain and was maintained in power by the Germans until the end of the war. For this he paid the price of a sham trial and execution by firing squad.Paxton concludes that the Vichy Government achieved little or nothing by collaboration compared to fully occupied countries such as Belgium and Holland, Hitler simply utilising their efforts to save the Reich money and manpower. Finally, reference to German plans for the post-war settlement, demonstrate that France was to never to become an equal partner in the New Europe.The result of prodigious research, this is required reading for anybody seriously interested in the truth about Vichy France avoiding all the subsequent myth making and distortion. This book is straightforward, free from hyperbole, and seemingly a very fair description of Vichy France. Highly recommended for all serious students of this period of history.

⭐This is not a an easy read but it is a fascinating one. This version is a reprint with an additional introduction that explores the reaction in France to the original and discusses whether he should change his conclusion in light of more recently available information (essentially no is the answer).The book explains the background to the creation of the Vichy Government and the aims of Petain and his Cronies. It lays bare their motives and how their objectives were thwarted by Hitler et al who only interested in occupying France with as little effort and with the maximum reparations.The idea that France could be a joint partner in a new anti communist Europe, maintain its colonies and have with a new style of French government that put the chaos of the Third Republics democracy firmly in the past.It is interesting to see how much of these changes brought about in this un democratic way were carried over into Post War France by DeGaul.The real measure of this book is the number times I felt compelled to share new insights with my partner as I read it.The analysis of whether France gained easier lives for its subjects by collaboration at the governmental level shows that the reverse is most likely true. Certainly the lives of French Jews were demonstrably worse by the end of the war.Recommended.As an asside I can’t help feeling that if France had moved its governmentto North Africa the Desert campaign would have gone a lot easier for the Britain and we would have been spared the casualties of both sides brought on by the sinking of the French fleet to keep it out of axis hands.

⭐I wanted a book that would explain why the French formed Vichy France and what their mentality was. This book provides part of the answer. It goes into a lot of detail using primary data but falls down by not providing an overview of exactly what happened. Too much time is spent on internal detail on civil servants and the composition of the regime and not enough on why. I was left a bit better informed but not enough.

⭐Very readable and informative. The American English jarred but did not spoil the reading of a very interesting book.

⭐Clearly Robert Paxton is a trailblazer in the study of Vichy and his prose style is elegant and sophisticated. Despite being an avid reader of the topic, I found myself at times a little bogged down by the sheer weight of statistics and details that the author went into on topics such as local government structure, which really were for the true aficionado of the period. However, I appreciated the succinct way in which he concludes each chapter, lest the reader becomes a little distracted from the essential content by the mind-boggling information that is given.

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