Marshall Philippe Pétain: From World War One Hero to Nazi Collaborator

December 17 |12:15 p.m.

Instructor: Professor Claudia Dunlea

Pétain was the heroic commander- in-chief of the French army in WWI. He eventually became the head of the semi-autonomous puppet government in the unoccupied zone in southern France (Vichy France). For 4 years Pétain collaborated with the Germans, who occupied the rest of the country. The Vichy Regime became a police state and Pétain’s government aided the Germans in the deportation of 75,000 French Jews, most of whom were murdered. After the war, he was convicted of treason and spent his last years in prison.