Verdict On Vichy : Power and Prejudice in the VichyFrance Regime

Rating:
Summary: Why France like to forget this period
Review: I found this book to be one of the most complete history of Vichy France I have read in a long time. The premise of the book appears to be very straight forward, Vichy France was an not only a collaborator ally of Third Reich but continued with unusual zeal, their persecution of the Jews within their borders. Vichy France's zealous anti-Semitic practices apparently surpassed most of Hitler's other allies including Italy. What seem to be so sad was the this phenomonen was not restricted to the government officials but to the French population overall within the Vichy borders. The book also shows how readily Vichy France supported Hitler's Germany and such supports seem to be a collective effort.

The book proves to be well written and superbly researched. It was easy reading as history book goes and I enjoyed the prose and flow of the writing. Its definitely is a very uncompromising look at a nation and people who actions have been overlooked too long simply because some of them were actually our allies during the Second World War.

After reading this book, its pretty clear why every French who lives through this period quickly associated themselves with the resistence movements which many of them were helping to suppressed during the war. Its a sad story of a nation who sold their soul to the devil and used their defenseless Jewish citizens to appleased that devil.