Vichy France and the JewsVichy France and the Jews

"Comparing German documents with newly available French sources, [the authors] conclusively demonstrate that, contrary to postwar testimony, Vichy unleashed a wave of antisemitic laws independent of German pressure. On coming to power in 1940, Vichy policy began by banning Jews from positions of public influence and from the military, then moved on to the confiscation of property and internment, and ended by cooperating in the deportation from France, and the death in German camps, of over 75,000 Jews."--Jacket.
What part did Vichy France really play in the Nazi effort to murder Jews living in France? Few questions, from the end of the Second World War to the present day, have so haunted French society. Here for the first time is a detailed and comprehensive account of Vichy's own antisemitic policies and practices. From the summer of 1940 until shortly before the liberation of France in 1944, the Vichy regime, born of defeat at the hands of the Nazis and a policy of collaboration urged by many Frenchmen, introduced and implemented a wide range of measures aimed at Jews living in France. Comparing German documents with newly available French sources, this book conclusively demonstrates that, contrary to postwar testimony, Vichy unleashed a wave of antisemitic laws independent of German pressure. On coming to power in 1940, Vichy policy began by banning Jews from positions of public influence and from the military, then moved on to the confiscation of property and internment, and ended by cooperating in the deportation from France, and the death in German camps, of over 75,000 Jews. This lucidly written and rigorously documented book definitively establishes French cooperation with the Final Solution- cooperation, the authors conclude, that was virtually inparalleled in all of Europe. -- Publisher description.