French nationalism during World War II

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French nationalism during World War II experienced divided attitudes towards the Nazi occupier, the

Vichy government
and the resistance.

In a context of both moral, social and political decline in French society that the extreme right flourished during the interwar period . Undermined by political and financial scandals, the Third Republic was at the same time powerless to curb the effects of the crisis which ravaged France in 1931. Nationalist movements multiplied, advocating for some

anti-protestantism or even anti-communism. In 1940, the debacle against the German invader was seen by many French nationalists as the sanction of French decadence and proof that the Republic was incapable of defending the country. The same year, the French placed their destiny in the hands of Marshal Pétain. But the powerful pull of French nationalism
drove others to engage in resistance against the occupying German forces.

French nationalism and the resistance

From the defeat of the

De Gaulle himself was a Catholic, nationalist and conservative.[2] In addition, nationalists and monarchists were among the first resistance fighters in France.[2][3]

Admiration for

germanophobia and nationalism inducing, among some, the rejection of Nazism.[citation needed
]

Georges Groussard (officier) [fr] towards the end of the 1930s. He was one of the figures of the French nationalist resistance.

Within the

Spanish nationalists during the Spanish Civil War) joined the resistance. As soon as Pétain shook Hitler's hand, other nationalists, embittered by the gesture, rallied to the Resistance.[3]
August 1940 saw the founding of the resistance network Combat, a non-negligible part of whose members were nationalists. In the Occupied zone, the Resistance Network was born under the impetus of men from various far-right movements, the OCM (Organisation civile et militaire).[4]

General de Gaulle and would form the resistance movement Confrérie Notre-Dame
, a network of right-wing French Catholics.

François de la Rocque, an right-wing nationalist of the Croix-de-feu and the French Social Party, founded the Klan Network, linked to the Alibi Network, although this was later stopped. by the Gestapo and deported, his network will operate until the Liberation of France.[6] Noël Ottavi [fr] one of the figures of the Croix-de-feu and the French Social Party died during the war because of his resistance activities.[7]

In 1942, Georges Groussard, who had rallied to Vichy, defected and founded the "Gilbert Network", which would work with the British

Secret Intelligence Service
with the aim of providing information on the German occupiers.

Action française and Camelots du Roi, was one of Jean Moulin
's relatives and is secretary during the war.

Another phenomenon is that of the "vichysto-resistants", resistance fighters who approve of the policy of the Vichy regime but reject the German occupation, including Pierre de Bénouville or the future president of the French republic François Mitterrand, who will evolve left-wing after the war.

One of the most famous French nationalists who joined the fight against Nazi Germany was Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, a former sympathizer of the Action Française[8] and commander of the 2nd Armored Division which took part in the Liberation of France and in the German Campaign of 1945. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, also one of the great figures in French military history was also an anti-republican nationalist in the interwar period.[citation needed]

far-right, was a member of the resistance.[9]

French nationalism in collaboration

Jacques Doriot in 1941

Another part of the nationalist movement rallied to the collaboration, the French fascists and reactionaries rallied to Marshal Pétain.

The French Popular Party (PPF) of Jacques Doriot was the main political party of the collaboration with Nazi Germany . Marcel Bucard's Parti franciste also participates in the collaboration with the German occupation.[10]

Some members of

Action française (AF) did not take the same trajectory as many of their former comrades and decided to collaborate, notably Robert Brasillach and the AF theorician Charles Maurras. Lucien Rebatet who had long been anti-German, decided to collaborate with the German occupation.[11]

Vichy regime had campaigned on the extreme right of the interwar period. Some of his former comrades had become resistance fighters while others chose to collaborate. He is finaly killed by a commando from the French Forces of the Interior.[citation needed
]

The French Milice established by Joseph Darnand was one of the most relentless collaborationist forces during the Vichy regime. This was generally made up of far-right activists and opportunists. Early Milice volunteers included members of France's pre-war far-right parties, such as the Action Française, and working-class men convinced of the benefits of the Vichy government's politics. The Milice persecuted Jews and resistance fighters of all political persuasions (including nationalist resistance fighters) in France.[12]

Fascist-type organization , the Milice wanted to be a revolutionary movement, at the same time anti-republican, anti-Semitic, anti-communist, against international capitalism, for corporatism, nationalist and authoritarian.[citation needed
]

Legacy

If in the collective imagination, the collaboration was on the far-right, in reality it was not the only composition and a good number of former

leftists also joined the collaboration with Nazi Germany.[2]

Some collaborators were not politicized and were sometimes mafiosos, like Henry Lafont and his Carlingue.

Documentaries

  • 1939-1945 – Quand l'extrême droite résistait/When the far-right resisted, 2017.[3]

Bibliography

  • Jacques Nobécourt, Le colonel de La Rocque, ou les pièges du nationalisme chrétien, Paris, Fayard, 1996.
  • Albin Michel, ed. (2008). Un paradoxe français, antiracistes dans la Collaboration, antisémites dans la Résistance (in French).
    ISBN 978-2-226-17915-9. {{cite book}}: |newspaper= ignored (help
    ).

References

  1. ^ Jean-Louis Thiériot, « L'Allemagne, passion française », Le Figaro Histoire n°1, avril-mai 2012, p. 40-41.
  2. ^ a b c "Comment peut-on être assez ignorant pour croire encore que les "collabos" venaient tous de l'extrême-droite et les résistants de la gauche ?". Atlantico (in French). 3 December 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "TV – " Quand l'extrême droite résistait "". Le Monde.fr (in French). 3 December 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  4. ^ "QUAND L'EXTRÊME DROITE RÉSISTAIT, 1939-1945". LCP (in French). 3 December 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  5. ^ Guy Perrier (2001). Perrin (ed.). Rémy. L'agent secret de la France Libre.
  6. ^ Jacques Nobécourt, communication à l'Académie de Rouen, 7 février 1998, in ALR, n°59, avril 1998
  7. ^ "Livre-Mémorial de la Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation". www.bddm.org. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  8. JSTOR 44436197
    .
  9. ^ "Roger Holeindre, cofondateur du Front national, est mort". LEFIGARO (in French). 30 January 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  10. ISBN 978-2-36914-241-6
    .
  11. ISBN 978-2-7535-6063-5
    . Retrieved 30 April 2021..
  12. ^ Paul Jankowski, "In Defense of Fiction: Resistance, Collaboration, and Lacombe, Lucien". The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Sep., 1991), pp. 462
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