Is there a more excruciating period in modern French history than what we call France’s “darkest hours”? And is there more wretched a name associated with them than that of Philippe Pétain? After his critically acclaimed biography on General de Gaulle, the British historian Julian Jackson has written a 480-page-long analysis of Pétainism, with the trial of Marshal Pétain at its heart. This is not a pretty story. And if you feel like the American diplomat who refused to attend the trial because he did “not wish to relive the decay of French democracy in a hot courtroom”, this book is not for you. If, however, cowardice, bad faith, dishonour and moral ambivalence is your thing, read on.
It all starts on 24 October 1940 in Montoire with Marshal Pétain and Adolf Hitler shaking hands. This is four months after the “débâcle” of June 1940 and the signing of the armistice between the Vichy regime headed by Pétain and the Third Reich. A few days later, in a radio speech, Pétain addressed the French to explain: “I enter today down the road of collaboration,” adding: “This is my policy. My ministers are responsible to me. It is I alone who will be judged by history.”
