As soon as it was established, Pétain's government took measures against the “undesirables”, namely
Jews, métèques (foreigners),
Freemasons, and
Communists. The persecution of these four groups was inspired by
Charles Maurras’ concept of the "Anti-France", or "internal foreigners", which he defined as the "four confederate states of Protestants, Jews, Freemasons and foreigners".[citation needed] The regime also persecuted
Romani people,
homosexuals, and
left-wing activists in general. Vichy imitated the
racial policies of the Third Reich and also engaged in
natalist policies aimed at reviving the "French race" (including a sports policy), although these policies never went as far as
Nazi eugenics.
Personality cultism: Marshal Pétain's portrait was
omnipresent, printed on money, stamps, walls or represented in sculptures. A song to his glory, Maréchal, nous voilà !, became the unofficial national anthem. Obedience to the leader and to the hierarchy was exalted.
Corporatism, with the establishment of a
Labour Charter (suppression of trade-unions replaced by corporations organized by profession, suppression of the
right to strike).
Stigmatization of those seen as responsible for the
military defeat, expressed in particular during the
Riom Trial (1942–43): the
Third Republic, in particular the
Popular Front (despite the fact that
Léon Blum’s left-wing government prepared France for the war by launching a new military effort), Communists, Jews, etc. The defendants of the Riom Trial included Blum,
Édouard Daladier,
Paul Reynaud,
Georges Mandel and
Maurice Gamelin: they were largely successful in rebutting the charges, and won sympathetic coverage in the international press, leading to the suspension of the trial in 1942 and its closure in 1943.
State-sponsored
anti-Semitism. Jews, national or not, were excluded from the Nation, and prohibited from working in public services. The first
law on the status of Jews was promulgated on 3 October 1940. Thousands of
naturalized Jews were deprived of their
citizenship, while all Jews were forced to wear a
yellow badge. The next day, Pétain signed
another edict, this one authorizing detainment of foreign Jews in France. The
Crémieux Decree of 1870 was abrogated on 7 October by Interior Minister
Marcel Peyrouton, stripping
Algerian Jews of their French citizenship as well. A numerus clausus drastically limited their presence at the University, among physicians, lawyers, filmmakers, bankers or small traders. Soon the list of off-limits works was greatly increased. In less than a year, more than half of
the Jewish population in France was deprived of any means of subsistence.[3] Foreign Jews first, then all Jews were at first detained in
concentration camps in France, before being deported to
Drancy internment camp where they were then sent to
Nazi concentration camps.
Clericalism and promotion of traditional Catholic values.
Catholic social teaching of the time, particularly the encyclical Quadragesimo anno of
Pope Pius XI, was influential in the Vichy regime, which was also active in defending traditional Catholic values, eulogising national religious figures such as
Joan d'Arc and restoring some privileges of the clergy that had been abolished by the
1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, though the law was never fully repealed and Catholicism was not reinstated as a
state religion. The
Catholic Church in France welcomed these changes and expressed a certain degree of support towards the regime until 1944, although the Church was also strongly critical of some Vichy policies, such as the deportation of the Jews and institutional racism. However, a consistent number of Catholics took part in the
French Resistance with the support of some segments of the clergy, among whom
Georges Bidault, who later became the founder of the
Popular Republican Movement.[4]
Rejection of cultural
modernism and of intellectual and urban elites. Policy of “return to the earth”.[5]
None of these changes were forced on France by Germany. The Vichy government instituted them voluntarily as part of the National Revolution,[6] while Germany interfered little in internal French affairs for the first two years after the armistice as long as public order was maintained. It was suspicious of the aspects of the National Revolution that encouraged French patriotism, and banned Vichy veteran and youth groups from the Occupied Zone.[7]
Support
"I have never known what the National Revolution was, it was never defined and it was an expression that personally I never used [...] Everyone put his own desire, ideal and the regime that he saw into these words, but the National Revolution was never defined in any form at any time."
The Révolution nationale was never fully defined by the Vichy regime although it was frequently invoked by its most enthusiastic supporters. Philippe Pétain himself was rumoured to dislike the term and only used it four times in his wartime speeches.[8] As a result, different factions formed different views of what it meant which conformed with their own ideological views about the regime and the postwar future.[8]
The Pétainistes gathered those who supported the personal figure of Marshal Pétain, considered at that time a war hero of the
Battle of Verdun. The Collaborateurs include those who collaborated with
Nazi Germany or advocated collaboration, but who are considered more moderate, or more opportunistic, than the Collaborationistes, advocates of a French fascism.
Supporters of collaboration were not necessarily supporters of the National Revolution, and vice versa.
Pierre Laval was a collaborationist but was dubious about the National Revolution, while others like
Maxime Weygand opposed collaboration but supported the National Revolution because they believed that reforming France would help it avenge its defeat.[7]
Those who supported the ideology of the National Revolution rather than the person of Pétain himself could be divided, in general, into three groups: the counter-revolutionary reactionaries; the supporters of a
French fascism; and the reformers who saw in the new regime in opportunity to modernize the state apparatus. The last current would include opportunists such as the journalist
Jean Luchaire who saw in the new regime career opportunities.
The “
Reactionaries”, in the strict sense of the word: all those who dreamt of a return to "before", either:
The supporters were, however, in the minority. Although the Vichy government initially had substantial support from those who were glad that the war was over and expected that Britain would soon surrender, and Pétain remained personally popular during the war, by late autumn 1940 most French hoped for a British victory and opposed collaboration with Germany.[6]
Evolution of the regime
From July 1940 to 1942, the Révolution nationale was strongly promoted by the traditionalist and technocratic Vichy government. When in May 1942 Pierre Laval (a former socialist and republican) returned as the head of government, the Révolution nationale was no longer promoted but fell into oblivion and collaboration was emphasized.[citation needed]
Eugenics
In 1941,
Nobel Prize winner
Alexis Carrel, who had been an early proponent of
eugenics and
euthanasia and was a member of
Jacques Doriot's
French Popular Party (PPF), went on to advocate the creation of the
French Foundation for the Study of Human Problems (Fondation Française pour l’Etude des Problèmes Humains), using connections to the Pétain cabinet (specifically, French industrial physicians
André Gros and Jacques Ménétrier). Charged with the "study, under all of its aspects, of measures aimed at safeguarding, improving and developing the
French population in all of its activities," the Foundation was created by
decree of the Vichy regime in 1941, and Carrel appointed as “regent”.[10]
Sport policy
Vichy's policy concerning sports found its origins in the conception of
Georges Hébert (1875–1957), who denounced professional and spectacular competition, and like
Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the
Olympic Games was a supporter of amateurism. Vichy's sport policy followed the moral aim of "rebuilding the nation", was opposed to
Léo Lagrange’s sport policy during the Popular Front, and was specifically opposed to
professional sport imported from the
United Kingdom. They also were used to engrain the youth in various associations and federations, as done by the
Hitler Youth or Mussolini's Balilla.
On 7 August 1940, a Commissariat Général à l’Education Générale et Sportive (General Commissioner to General and Sport Education) was created. Three men in particular headed this policy:
Jean Ybarnegaray, president and founder of the French and International Federations of
Basque pelota, deputy and member of
François de la Rocque’s Parti Social Français (PSF). Ybarnegaray was first nominated State minister in May 1940, then State secretary from June to September 1940.
Jean Borotra, former international tennis player (member of “
The Four Musketeers”) and also a PSF member, the first General Commissioner to Sports from August 1940 to April 1942.
Colonel
Joseph Pascot, former rugby champion, director of sports under Borotra and then second General Commissioner to Sports from April 1942 to July 1944.
In October 1940, the two General Commissioners prohibited professionalism in two federations (tennis and wrestling), while permitting a three-year delay for four other federations (football, cycling, boxing and
Basque pelota). They prohibited competitions for women in cycling or
association football. Furthermore, they prohibited, or spoiled by seizing the assets of, at least four uni-sport federations (
rugby league,
table tennis,
Jeu de paume and
badminton) and one multi-sport federation (the FSGT). In April 1942, they additionally prohibited the activities of the UFOLEP and USEP multi-sport federations, also seizing their goods which were to be transferred to the “National Council of Sports”.
Quotes
“Sport well directed is morality in action” (“Le sport bien dirigé, c’est de la morale en action”), Report of E. Loisel to
Jean Borotra, 15 October 1940
“I pledge on my honour to practice sports with selflessness, discipline and loyalty to improve myself and serve better my fatherland” (Sportsman's pledge — « Je promets sur l’honneur de pratiquer le sport avec désintéressement, discipline et loyauté pour devenir meilleur et mieux servir ma patrie »)
“to be strong to serve better” (IO 1941)
“Our principle is to seize the individual everywhere. At primary school, we have him. Later on he tends to escape us. We strive to catch up with him at every turn. I have arranged for this discipline of EG (General Education) to be imposed on students (...) We allow for sanctions in case of desertion.” (« Notre principe est de saisir l’individu partout. Au primaire, nous le tenons. Plus haut il tend à s’échapper. Nous nous efforçons de le rattraper à tous les tournants. J’ai obtenu que cette discipline de l’EG soit imposée aux étudiants (…). Nous prévoyons des sanctions en cas de désertion »), Colonel
Joseph Pascot, speech on 27 June 1942