Vichy · France · 1940–1944
French authorities made their own anti-Jewish laws and helped carry out Nazi deportation demands.
Explore FrancePublished by WTJPublication updated
1940–1944
Vichy · When exclusion becomes state policy
French authorities made their own anti-Jewish laws and helped carry out Nazi deportation demands.
The classification register
Vichy’s first Jewish statute, dated 3 October 1940, defined people as Jewish through family ancestry and excluded them from public roles and professions. German occupation authorities issued their own measures. Compare the actors: French state policy and Nazi occupation operated together, while each also made its own decisions.
The bus outside the door
During the Vél d’Hiv roundup of July 1942, French police arrested Jewish families at home to serve Nazi demands. People were confined and then sent toward deportation. The bus represents a real administrative operation, not a rescue challenge. Investigate who issued orders and who carried them out; individuals and institutions had responsibilities.
Saliège refuses the collective category
In August 1942, Archbishop Jules Saliège protested the inhumane treatment of Jews in a letter intended for public reading in his diocese. He insisted on the humanity that persecution denied. His intervention matters because religious authority had long helped transmit anti-Jewish ideas and could also be used to challenge the state’s actions.