French Nazis or Nazi collaborators in France.

French Presidents                                                        Significant  Prime Ministers

• Paul Deschanel (1920)

  
  

  Alexander  Millerand  (1920–24)
  
• Gaston Doumergue (1924–31)
  
• Paul Doumer (1931–32)                              
• Albert Lebrun1932–40)                                                   Léon Blum 1938          
• German Occupation and Vichy Government              Paul Raynauld  1940
•    Marshal Petain    1940-1944                                 Francois Dahlan 1941 to 1942
•                                                                                 Pierre Laval 1940 also 1942 to1944
• Forth Republic(1946–58)                           Charles de Gaul 1944 to1946  1958 to 1959
  
•                 Vincent Arbol  (1947–54)                    Léon Blum  1946- 1947            
• • Rene Coty (1954–59
  • Fifth Republic (1958– )

  • Charles de Gaul1959–69)                   10 years

    Georges Pompidou (1969–74)                 5 
    
  • Valarie Giscard d'estaing (1974–81)   5
    
  • Francois  Mitterrand (1981–95)             14
    
  • Jacque Chiraq (1995–2007)                   12
  • Nichola Sarkozy (2007–12)                        5          
  • Francois Hollande(2012–17)                      5
  • Emmanuel Macron (2017– )               6 ?
    
  • 
    

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A taste of Intrigue  The multiple lives of Francois Mitterand  by Phillip Short   

In 1959 he became the youngest minister since Napoleon Mitterand represented epitomised decadence that sold out French Indochina and was preparing the same for North Africa. Brasserie Lip was where people like Hemingway and Jean Stare  to Verlaine and Chagall met. He was shot at by a assassin but it was a set up for political purposes.

Half the leaders of the resistance had been part of Vichy at one time as had de Gauls own ministers. De Gaul the wartime hero gave France back it pride after the Occupation, ended the war in Algeria and took the first essential steps to conciliation with Germany. He projected Frances  Grandeur. No one ever used tu to de Gaul or Mitterrand. de Gaul said no to Petain no to NATO no to Britain for the European Community he was a monolith

 In 1981 Mitterrand  became a popular socialist  President and was in power for 14 years. He transformed France into a modern democracy legitimised the Left and with Helmut Kohl pushed Europe to political union with a common currency and reunified Germany and shaped Europe for a generation to come. He was a lapsed catholic maintained 2 homes and 2 families one legitimate one adulterine. He projected Frances imperfection. His ambiguity was his strength and weakness. He had political friends from communists  to fascist before the war. He made the system work when the president from one camp had to work with the legislature of another called Cohabitation. His story was not written it was in action.

Born in Jarnac , Cognac country north of Bordeaux. Catholics in a protestant area. where the 16C Wars of Religion were still raw. 1934 obtained his baccalaureate (matric) and went to Paris.  1934 saw 30,000  right wing try to storm Parliament. He befriended African students and took them to visit his Jarnac family home. In the 1930 few believed African countries could rule themselves this was generally not accepted at the time. He had many anti-semitic acquaintances and it was a widespread feeling but he became fast friends Jewish of left wing Georges Dayan from Oran, Algeria . He only became took notice of the situation when the Anschluss showed that appeasement was a failure. Military service was compulsory in France unlike Britain and America and it was now extended to 2 years.

The French army in the 1930 had bourgeoisie officer corps on the one side and cannon fodder on the other. He  a soldier and unlike  his brothers who were officers saw that France was unprepared for the war and knew the reason. Architects of appeasement and Edouard Daladier  were retiring at this stage . The Germans crossing the Ardennes in such strength had a traffic jam that took 2 weeks to sort out , the French General staff disbelieved their own intelligence and squandered the time.

Francois regiment fought with valour and he won the Croix de guerre and became a sergeant at Verdun he was wounded buy shrapnel .

With the defeat 1.8 million soldiers were captured and the Germans kept them believing that peace would be declared and they would go home. He was in Stalag IXA at Ziegenhain.  In the camp there was a Jew who when asked said "I am a Jew and so?"but he spoke German and the Germans respected him. As a POW Mitterand  lectured on literature subject off the cuff. In escaping he knew to have razor blades and shoe polish for the correct appearance. He escaped 3 times the 2nd time he got to Lorraine where the French couple who owned the hotel denounced him. He finally escaped and went to Vichy where it was safer for him.and he had friend's there. He had a job in the documentation of the French War Veterans Legion. This was later taken over by proGerman elements and later provided manpower for the Milice.

Petain stood for Work Family , Motherland of the monarchist tradition , De Gaul was unknown.Vichy was recognised by the US ,Australia , Canada and about 30 other countries even the UK had informal relations. The French officers corps paraded as though they had won the war. Petainist  tracked down Gaulists, Communists who also served as a cover for the launch of the first military resistance  networks.

The King of Nazi Paris  :Henri lafont and the Gangster of the French Gestapo by Christopher Othen

Free sample 263pg  Year ?

The Bonny -Lafont gang.  This group of crooks and corrupt cops and fallen celebrities' had been led by the orchid loving thief Henri Lafont and his disgraced policemen sidekick Pierre Bonny. He reigned at his headquarter 93 rue Lauriston. In the gang was the Alexandre Villaplane Captain of the 1930 football world Cup team and the head of the French connection heroin smuggling team. Also Infamous wartime serial killer Marcel Petiot.

The gangs paramilitary unit the Brigade Nord - Africaine , Lafont's Moroccan mercenaries stayed in 74 rue Lauriston.

 Note in the Warsaw ghetto you had Abraham Gancwajch a Jew who spied for the Germans till he vanished in 1943 perhaps executed by the Germans when his usefulness ran out. In Amsterdam Dries Riphagen a Dutch Nazi did the same and was a big name in the underworld, crooks and fascist collected a bounty on Jews they arrested. He eventually fled to  Argentina where he managed to avoid extradition by cosying up to the Peronists.

The US used Lucky Luciano to smooth the 1943 Sicily invasion. Eddie Chapman who was agent Zigzag.

By 1944 he was the most powerful Frenchman in Paris able to pressure the most senior SS to release prisoners, however this came tumbling down when the allies arrived.

The allies called them the Bonny -Lafont gang and they called themselves the "Carligue" The locals called them the French Gestapo. Henri Chamberlin was a barely literate racketeer, and unsuccessful small crook in and out of prison.  The war transformed Chamberlin from a wanted man into Godfather of Nazi |Paris.  Bonny was a police inspector. His role in the Stavisky Affair got him front page attention as the investigation sparked riots and he was kicked out of the police for corruption. 

They looted Jewish properties on behalf of the German, dealt on the black market, scammed illegal gold deals, stole priceless arts, infiltrated resistance groups and sprung anyone from prison for the right price. They got immunity in exchange for a cut in the profits, by their handler. Maurice Chevalier came to ask a favor. Jewish scrap metal dealer Joseph Joinici had deals to finance.

  Chamberlin married his long time girlfriend Rebecchi Arzia and the couple had a son and daughter.

 The Abwehr was established after the loss of WW1 by Prussian Officers as an intelligence outfit. At the time of WW2 it was under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and it supplied the Polish uniforms for the false flag attack on German radio in Gleiwitz giveing the panzer tanks the excuse to start the war..Because the Germans lack the manpower to administer the whole country they held the industrial north and Atlantic coast. The Free zone was under Marshall Petain run from Vichy and the Italian held the land near the Alps.Alsace Lorraine became part of Germany. The Germans hoped this plan would sooth Britain into a peace deal and stop rogue military leaders from fighting on in Germany.

 Chamberlin knew every sleazy nightclub and gangster bar in the city and Redecke proposed that he be his protege as an Abwehr agent. Everyone working for the Nazis in Paris was about  to get the opportunity to get rich.

The Vichy government was ordered to pay 20 million Reichsmarks a day towards German occupational cost and sell to Germany everything that Germany needed. 

Criminals would make good buyers and he went to the prison and as a German agent accessed the files of recent fraud cases and he became the "caid" or Gang boss. Some prisoners families paid Chamberlin and were freed.

The Abwehr head did not like dealing with criminals so Chamberlin was sent to Normandy  to let the situation cool off. Here he took on the name Henri Lafont. There Colonel Lorscheder  asked him to find the Belgian spymaster Otto Lambrecht who was in Toulouse.  Chamberlin went to Toulouse with other criminals and asked his underworld friends and kidnapped Lambrecht which closed down his entire operation. This made him a key Nazi player.

The collapsing economy meant that local businessmen were lining up to offload good and the criminals made a fortune supplying sugar, bread, tobacco anything that the public couldn't get. Black Marketeer and thieves who were reluctant to deal with the Germans dealt with Monsieur Henri.

Paris was the holiday place for  German soldiers on leave and the music halls and plays struggled to cope with the demand.

In Vichi only people who were lucky enough to have relatives on farms who sent them parcels of food avoided starvation. Chamberlin a citizen of the German Reich was untouchable as a Black Marketeer.

Executed in December 1944 by firing squad with Villaplane and Bonny. This quick execution resulted in many other important collaborators escaping justice and making good careers later.

Dairy of the Dark Years 1940-1944  by Jean Guehenno 1947 

Collaboration Resistance and daily life in Occupied Paris 

The author was 50 June 17th 1940 after 6 weeks of fighting 84 year old Marshal Petain was appointed premier of France. The  Armistice of 22June was in violation of the agreement with England. The foundation of collaboration with the Nazi occupation had been laid.Up to 90,000 men had lost their lives and double that had been wounded.  WW1 had left 1.3 million dead and 4 million wounded.  In WW1 by the end of 1914 almost all the fellow students from his school were dead.

There was a feeling of shame and humiliation. The loss was through military incompetence and gross deficiency of French military intelligence.  Petain ascribed the disaster to lack of military preparedness and decadence of the Third French Republic. Too few children, weapons and too few allies. Petains program was going back to agriculture, craftsmen and old trades unquestioning authority to bosses, but the fruit of their labour was going to the Germans.

For a writer silence signified refusal to collaborate. He refused to contribute a  word to be under control of the censors. If any thing only to the underground. The diary is a testimony to the inner life of an intellectual teacher scholar resisting pressure. Defeat could not change his way of thinking. A well known fascist sent him his latest book with a friendly dedication. Find an intense living freedom inside ourselves  He had no way of telling the book writer what he though of it. In himself was the France that cannot be invaded. The diary is not quotidian but on Sunday he met up with well known literary figures and they formed what was known as Intellectual Resistance. Lettres Francaises a underground left wing magazine developed. He was not involved in the resistance as he said it was really a youth movement  but he was a known public figure and too well known.

He was demoted to teaching junior high classes by the Vichy Education Ministry in 1943. Of 60students there were 2 or 3 informers as a result of the Moral Order, but a resistance group was at work in the class. About 20 were drafted into Compulsory Work Service, not one agree to go to Germany and went into hiding or joined the first armed groups of the marquis in the countryside.

The Crime of Marshal Petain was to make dishonour a temptation for the whole nation. Propaganda portrayed  other exhaused from fighting while Patains wisdom had save the French.

Vs and Hs were made out of metro tickets. 

Americans in Paris by Charles Glass 2009  free sample 3/6/23

1940 June to 1944 August  the 4  years France was under German occupation. Was it possible to survive to liberation day without compromising or collaborating. Nearly 30 000 American lived in France before WW2. The largest expatriot community in continental Europe.

September 1939 the US Ambassador to Paris William Bullitt advised US citizens to leave France immediately. 5000 ignored him and remained. US citizens cultural feeling for France date back to Lafayette fight for US independence in 1776. A year or 2 in Paris was a vital component in the education of many socially acceptable young American's. 

Josephine Baker the black dance was not interned thanks to her fame in fact she smuggled documents out of France in her sheet music.

Sylvia Beach attempted to keep her English language bookshop Shakespeare & Co. that had started in the 20s.and was the centre of where writers and artist met. It also acted as a private library, as the American matrons who ran the US library censored books allowed.

Teddy Roosevelts daughter Alice worked for the American Library of Paris. The American Hospitals chief surgeon Dr. Sumner Jackson. A collection of Black American , homosexuals lesbians and bohemians felt freer in Paris that in the more repressive USA. Maurice Chevalier had a Jewish wife.

Refugees from countries now occupied by German fled to France. People escaping Paris in refugee columns on the roads were bombed by German planes  Paris was declared an open city and would not be bombed like Warsaw: American were allowed to go unhindered initially. A few US consuls disaboyed State Dept orders and issued visas to Jewish refugees and routes to reach N and S America.

Black American's were not all protected by the US Consul and the Jazz Trumpeter Arthur Briggs was sent to a concentration camp in 1940. Black musicians were immediately banned from giving concerts.

The departing French government effectively appointed  William Bullitt as the effective mayor of Paris, but the Germans regarded him hostile to Germany. As a condition of his staying on her asked for police and firemen stay at their posts.

Standard Oils man in Paris William de Witt set the oil stocks alight at the request of  the French General staff.

The Embassy issues over 1000 red documents to indicate which houses and businesses belonged to American Citizens. A disgusting sentiment was heard - that at least the Germans would bring order. It was apparent that the German had a blueprint ready from long before to suite conditions encountered.

Italy seeing that Germany would win the war declared war on France.

Arthur Koestler was both anti Communist and anti Nazi and managed to sneak out to Spain.

Alice Toklas  and Gertrude Stein survived the war in Paris. Also  present had been Hemingway, Scot Fitzgerald , Thornton Wilder and John dos Passos. Also English poets like W H Auden and Steven Spender. Paris was cheaper to live in with freedom to write uncensored and they could drink without prohibition.

James Joyces Ulysses was first published in Paris as US and British publishes refused it.  In Vichy de Gaul was unpopular amongst his colleagues as he wanted to continue military resistance in the North African colonies.

1940June a 100,000 French soldiers wer dead and 2 million were prisoners.

Hitler's French volunteers by Christophe Leguerandias.2016  246 pages Free sample   31/5/23

 1941 June After the launch of Operation Barbarossa and with lengthening lines of communication in north Africa  the Germans formed unit  of volunteers taken from non German Countries.

Legion des volontaires francais LVT This was set up by the German ambassador in Paris. Many believed the struggle against communism must take place on home soil with the Pro- German organizational help. These 15000 volunteers Himmler considered trustworthy and took a sworn oath to Hitler to fight to the wars conclusion. Frenchmen from Alsace - Lorraine were forced into various branches in the German army.. There were Frenchmen who fought for Mussolini. There were in France members of the Hilfspolizei ( Auxiliary police) Then French in the Abwehr in plain cloths (German military intelligence. There were also White Russians fighting with the Germans.

They thought that they would be able to fight in French uniforms but could not since France was not at war with Russia and this was forbidden by the Hague conventions. However they  retained their flag and the weapons current n the French army.  Many felt they had a crusade to fight for France to deserve a place in the Europe tomorrow. 1942 they were at Camp Kruszyna.

1943 the French government funded propaganda to recruit to make up for the losses. Many on home leave found themselves targets of attacks. Colonel Edgar Pusud arrived in Russia as head of the Legion and their main base in Germany was the Greifenberg Barracks.  Later on they were integrated into other German units some who objected to this were sent to concentration camps for disiplining. Many would fall in the Battle of Pomerania while other were defending Hitler in his bunker till the end. Most finally landed up in captivity in the Soviet Union.

Life under Nazi occupation: The struggle to survive in WW2  by Paul Roland 261pg     Free sample

800 till 1806 Holy Roman Empire.

1871 till 1917 German Empire 

Alliances would be made and promises broken with impunity.. Initially they treated the Nordic nations with a degree of sympathy and consideration hoping to perused the Danes , Dutch, Norwegians in the mythical crusade against inferior races, These countries were assimilated into the Reich while France became a German depencancy. Nazi party officials assumed that occupied countries would accept the invasion and displacement of their people without a fight. The Nazis imposed decrees and denied the population rights under international law specifically the Hague Convention of 1899. The Austria the plebasite- Jews were not allowed to volte and when you went to vote you could mark you tick on a big circle Yes or small one No but if you wanted to  go into the closed booth your name was put on a black list then the no ballets were destroyed and it was announced that 99% voted for Anschluss.

The Germans moved in taking the best hotel and plundered whatever they wanted.

Austrians no longer had a say in their country and rural unemployment rose, Higher taxes were imposed. Regular work with higher wages was offered in Germany. At Stalingrad many Austrians had been killed and people showed sighs  of defeatism.

Forced drafting of spouses of Aryan this was to disrupt the family and destroy the Aryan spouses protection. In Austria Jewish academics even before the invasion were forceג to take lower paid jobs as school teachers.  Marriages that offended the Nazi's with the husband Aryan and children baptised some were privileged to remain in their homes so as not to attract adverse criticism.

Sept1941 Austrian Jews were required to wear yellow stars.                         End

 

Joseph Joanovici was a scrap dealer who supplied both the Nazis and the French  mafia and resistance during the occupation. He was deemed an economically worthwhile Jew. He was arrested for selling defective material to the Nazi but bribed his way out of jail. He became associated with Henri Lafont of the Carlingue  (French Gestapo)

He used his wealth to bribe German official to released potential deportation victims and financed the insurrection that lead to the liberation of Paris and was given his own prefecture. He emerged from the war a hero to some and a traitor to other but alive till 1965

 George Alexis Montandon 

 An anthropologist who proposed pseudo scientific theories of racism.

Between Sept 1941 and Jan 1842 put on an exhibit of "Le Juif en la France" it opened 2 weeks after the second large round up of Jews, and a film version of the exhibits came out in 1941. This was organized and financed by the German military and propaganda, the German Security Service. Interest waned after a few days when the public became suspicious of what the occupying forces wanted convey.   The true number of visitors is unknown not the half million that the authorities claimed. It painted Jews as non French and foreign.

Alexandre Villaplane (24 December 1904 – 27 December 1944 He was captain of the French soccer teaam in the 1928 Olympics. In 1940 was arrested for dealing in stolen goods and his skill were brought to the attention of the French Gestapo.  He worked with Henry Lafont and Piere Bonny and they used his skills to track the Resistance.

He was involved directly in 10 killing and was executed in Dec 1944 along with

The Malice was the Vichy regimes most esteem group and was as many as 30,000. They wanted to set up France as a one party fascist state.

Division of the SS Charlemagne .In the aftermath of the liberation of France they fled to Germany. It had 7,340 men at the time of its deployment to the Eastern Front in February 1945. It fought against Soviet forces in  Pomerania where it was almost annihilated during the Est Pomeranian Offensive within a month. Around 300 members of the unit participated in the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945 and were among the last Axis forces to surrender.

 

Virus-free.www.avg.com

The Champagne Spy: Israel's man in Egypt by Wolfgang Lotz 1972 240pg

14/7/23

This is an autobiography .Spies caught result in information coming out including Eli Cohen and Sylvia Rafael. Those who do their stint and return home safe the information will only come out many years later from the archives. 

1965 June 27th He was caught and his trial began then and lasted a month. He proved that he was spying for purely financial purposes. He admitted that he was a German who had been hired to spy for a lavish pay.  His German documents were absolutely genuine as he was born in Mannheim in 1921 and had left Germany in 1933. He had not had a circumcision. His father Hans was the theatre director of Hamburg State  theatre. His mother Helene was a Jewish actress had divorced her husband and he had died. Wolf got some acting skills from his parents and his mother moved with him to Palestine as she knew there was no future in Germany. She got a job at Habima theatre even though she spoke no Hebrew.

Aged 12 he went to an agricultural school in Ben Shemen and grew to love horses there.and did guard duty on horseback often. 1937 He joined the Haganah.  When WW2 broke he forged his birth date and volunteered for the British Army in commando training.  He now spoke German, Hebrew, Arabic and English and was based in Egypt. Here he had taken part in interviewing POWs in the 115th Division of Rommel's Africa corps which he said he had been  in for the war.

1948 he joined the Israel War of Independence  as a Lieutenant and was in charge of half trained immigrants in the Latrun area and they battled where they  build the Burma Road to Jerusalem.  In 1956 in the Sinai campaign his infantry brigade that  captured Rafiah. 

1951 Gamal Abdul Nasser came to power by a bloodless coup overthrowing King Farouk. The Americans had no objection as long as the regime kept the Communist out of the area. At first Nassar adopted a moderate approach to Israel. In 1958 Egypt forged a Union with Syria.  Now at the hight of his power the prisons in Cairo were full, from 1954 he started an anti-Semitic campaign and started sequestrating Jewish properties primary to fill the countries coffers.  This was encouraged by the Nazis living in Egypt. There were 100,000 Jews in Egypt at the time and they started migrating.

Wolf spent a year living in Germany creating a cover acting the role of an ex Wehrmacht officer and went to   riding clubs. He drove to Genoa and took a ship to Alexandria where he arrived to  breed horses. At Riding club in Gezira he met Egyptian cavalry officers. Back in Europe he met his wife to be  Waltraud who had been living in Los Angeles. She liked the adventure of his being a spy as long as it was not for the Soviets as she was from Eastern Germany and knew communism.

In Egypt he was great pals of the Generals and they gave him all the protecia that wb ex Nazi officer deserved. They stayed at the Mena Hotel but were aware of the poverty in the streets.  He mixed with Egyptian army officer and kept them with gifts and drinks and they were prepared to talk about military matters to an ex Rommel officer. By having been an Israeli army officer he knew how to deal socialize with them and the meaning of the  information. The van Leers were ex Nazi's who knew Goebbels well and  had escaped retribution by getting to Egypt most German businessmen would have nothing to do with them. The van Leers were well guarded by the secret police. The Nazi said Germany is dominated by Jews again felt that if Wolf returned to Europe he was taking a chance. 

Egypt was experimenting with biological weapons of plague or cholera germs for a warhead. progress in the rockets was slow as they couldn't get the equipment and were tied up in red tape. Wolf  kept denying he was a  Nazi but left a forged paper to show that he had been. A German engineer Vogelsang who was going to a convention said he had to buy a briefcase.Wolf said he had a perfectly new briefcase that the engineer should borrow so bought a new one and took a copy of the key. He was also shown the hotel room booking. This information and the key was sent to Wolfs handler with a note that the engineer likes female company.

He helped entertain Germans from a horse riders club and their tour was successful and this was a tourism industry that they government wanted to encourage

There was a couple , the husband Dr. Hendrick Bolter he was an archeologist on a Yale expedition in Upper Egypt while his wife Caroline  half  Hungarian and Dutch and was not very discreetly asking questions about the rocket making and when she was drunk lapsed into Yiddish.     Wolf sent in a message to his handler who sent her a message that her mother was ill and she must return to Europe. At a party the German engineers were arguing that the young German engineers break their contracts and leave even though they are getting paid 3 times what they would earn in Germany. They  were scared of Israeli agents back in Europe killing them. That the HA 300 fighter bomber which after 6 years and  $500 million had not yet got to production stage that the Egyptian workers were not suitable. He made notes of the technicalities they spoke about and would hand this in on his next trip So the future aircraft industry would not be a threat. 

When  he returned to  Europe with his wife and met his boss there. In Paris he phoned the handler and met him making sure they had no "tail"  Here he was shown a German Riders  magazine with him part of a group. If people in Israel read this they could identify him and accidently break his cover. The large amount of cash he needed was deposited in his German bank account, because he was getting results.

 ,He got an urgent message to find out about Shoufala they had photos of a rocket installation but could not confirm if it was a dummy or real. This was between Suez and Ismailia.  He and wife took a picnic to go fishing on the Bitter Lake and she drove into a military area and she ostensibly lost control of the car and ran into a sand dune. They were taken to the base where they saw what it was and got their General in security to release them and got help to drag the car out of the sand dune. He said his wife was driving and he was asleep and if their was aguard box there was no boom or gate indicating that they should not go past and the phone to the entrance was not connected.

His in laws Otto and Clara Neuman arrived and they were given a grand tour of   Egypt but when they returned were greeted by the secret police who had been tipped off about his transmitter in the bathroom scale. They had transcripts of the messages he had sent and replies that were also picked up by some foreign government.but only had they key to those of the last 5 months.  They interrogated him for 33 days as well as his wife who only admitted she knew he was  a spy but never knew more details. He was asked about the threat letters sent to German scientists as well as the letter that they received that exploded . He said he had been a Captain in Rommel infantry and they believed he was in the SS, which he ambiguously denied as he knew this was good for his defence. He claimed that he was a German who found this was lucrative income that he was paid. As an SS Colonel they thought he might have been blackmailed by the Israeli's, this hid his Israeli identity.. He also denied that he had a ring of spies under him. He and his wife were given an interview on Egyptian TV and he used this opportunity to make it clear to the Israeli handlers that he was regarded as a German. Perhaps the Egyptian would have been embarrised to admit he was Israeli

Then the show trial began after 33 days of interrogation. When they asked him about his contacts he described a person he pictured in his mind with only a first name. A German Lawyer was sent to defend him but only his Egyptian lawyer could talk in court. A letter from the Piltz group who defended the rocket experts said he was Israeli nobody accepted this statement. Der Stern's reporter Wolfgang Lohde managed to find the truth of his past but were approached not to publish it as it was a death sentence for him. He was sentence to 25 years in prison and his wife to 3 years as an accomplice. He may not have been executed as it would cause a diplomatic problem with Germany.

In jail he met up with Victor Levy who with a woman Marcello Ninio who had been involved in the failed Lavon Affair and had been in jail 11 years, also Phillip Nathanson and Robert Dassa. There were also political prisoners who had worked for the CIA or British intelligence as well as Islamic Brotherhood leaders. The German Consul brought him food parcels and books. When Waltrauds parents returned to German the press was prepared to pay a fortune for an interview but he had asked them not to as it would endanger them in Egypt.

Egyptian military people who had been his friends or received gifts from him. Some were demoted other were cashiered and one landed in jail. 1967 June With the 6 Day War over 5000 Egyptian soldiers and 9 generals were captured by the Israelis and they gave a list of 10 political prisoners that they wanted released. Early 1968 Wolf and Waltraud were extradited to Germany. 4 years later when this book was published they had retired to a rural house not far from Tel Aviv. Waltraud managed to learn Hebrew and integrate herself. The camera and 9 films of Egypt were returned to them and they had them developed.

By this time the German scientist and engineers had left Egypt in 1964  and Russians had taken their place the aircraft factory left was used to assemble Russian Migs. Waltraud died of coronary in 1973. After that he never returned to his Israeli wife and son Oded Gur-Arie. In Munich he married Hema Haddorp a journalist who he lived with till his death in 1993 of heart disease aged 72 in Munich , Germany.  Oded Gur-Arie became a professor of Entrepreneur Studies and then director of Adrian Collage, Michigan.

________________________________________________________________________

Below is a novel with some interesting Jewish Aspect of Egypt. 

The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas 2018 264pg  16/8/24

Once Cairo was 2 cities Memphis and Heliopolis in the reign of Al Mustansir,  Fatimid Caliph from 1036 until 1094.

The narrators  father had been the son of the  Moslem guardian of the Iban Ezra Synagogue while his mother was one of the Jewish children of the congregation. The el-Raqb family from father to the eldest son had this position for over 1000 years.

His parents had never married the father had come to visit his mother in Paris after the 25000 Jews were expelled from Egypt under the Nasser Regime in 1956. The last 12000 were expelled in 1967

In 1896, the Scottish scholars and twin sisters Agnes S. Lewis and Margret D Gibson returned from Egypt with fragments from the Genizah they considered to be of interest, and showed them to Solomon Schechter  "their irrepressibly curious rabbinical friend" at Cambridge. Boxes of these documents were transferred to Cambridge.

In this novel the author describes that his mother fell pregnant after his father had visited Paris. They then went to the States where she taught French. But she could not marry his father even though she loved him as she realized their paths were different . She eventually married Bill the authors stepfather.

After his father died his visited the fathers family in Cairo and is shown all the letters his mother sent the father including the unopened ones that she returned as she loved him even though she was engaged. The narrator had studied both Hebrew and Arabic, he is gay and the book ends up with him in Cambridge where it will take years to documents all the genizah papers.

The Coast of Treasure by Lawrence G Green 1933 263pg

  2/1/2020 Adventures describing South West Africa and area today called Namibia and other places.

The Kaokoveld includes Etosha Pan and it is the desolate region south of the Kunene River which borders on Angola. In 1486 on Cape Negro the Portuguese, Diago Coa placed a marble pillar. The SA hunter Donald Bain a heap of skeletons of elephants called Ivory Valley. This area is the last refuge of the Bushman who once roamed the whole of Southern African till displaced by the Bantu tribes and later the whites.

Even though the German colonized the whole territory the never moved into this area but the Bushman kept away from them and remained hidden to avoid slaughter. The Bushman eat all food they get and use their stomachs to store it they often swollow it without chewing it properly. They also occupy parts the Kalahari from Okovago to the Orange River When they light fires scorpions arrive that they eat. The only animal they have domesticated is the dog and it never makes a noise. Few of their children survive. In season hundred of centipedes or moths come out and they eat them. There is no water and they depend on melons to drink. There were once camel patrols through Ovamboland.

Walvis Bay outlawed American whalers and hunters Ivory and slave traders came here. 1878 HMS Industry declared the area British. Bahai de Baleas Walvisch or Whale, called by the English Walwich or Woolwich became Walvis in Afrikaans. Someone killed an ostrich and found a diamond it its gizzard after that 12000 ostriches were killed and their skins were exported via Walvis bay. Swakopmund has green trees and so many live there and commute to Walvis. Barracouta or snoek is only found in the Cape and you have to catch it on a hook using shark as bait and hit it on the head in the struggle. Between Walvis Bay and Lüderitz is 250 miles of coast littered with ship wrecks. Sandwich harbour has fresh water and food and plenty of firewood from wrecks. Conception Bay Hottentot children found playing with blue white stones. In 1910 James Kolman a coloured who had worked in Kimberley worked on the railway and shovelling dirt Stauch picked up a stone Kolman told him it was a diamond. So Kalmandorp was named.

1486. Bartholomew Diaz set up a Pillar in Lüderitz.

The German architecture can also be seen in Cameroon, Togoland and Tanganyika. From 1904 the Germans fought the Herero uprising for 7 years and slaughtered or put hundred of captives on waterless Shark Island in Lüderitz bay. The territory between Lüderitz and the Orange River is known as "Coast of death and diamonds."

On Hollams Island Bird Islets hunters go and club thousand of seals for their pelts. This was regulated by the authorities but on foggy days was done illegibly. Possession Island is the largest of the guano islands. On Ichaboe Island guano to the depth of 25 feet.This island was taken as British territory in 1861 under the guano are preserved bodies of seals that died from plague. The Orange is SAs greatest river but not for shipping and times even a rowing boat can't enter. Named in 1777 after the Prince of Orange. In Alexander bay Dr.Hans Merensky found a hoard of diamond and became a millionaire. Then the state stepped in and closed off the area called the Richtersveld.

IDB Illicit Diamond Buying - in SA to own uncut diamonds you have to have a licence otherwise they are considered stolen. Augrabies is 60 miles below Upington and is considered one of the great waterfalls. Dassen Island in January scores of people are employed to collect penguin eggs, they take an egg from each nest and the mother lays more.

Robbin Island off Cape Town was a leper colony, Makanna the Rebel chief from the Cape frontier wars of 1819 was imprisoned there..The biggest residents there are rabbits. It has a light house. All lighthouses came about after many ships are wrecked. All homes at Blauwberg have absorbed flotsam from the sea and if not useful was used as firewood. Saldana bay has Jutten, Marcus, Malagas islands at its entrance, Langebaan had 2 whaling stations. The Berg River starts in St Helena bay and is the only navigable river for 45 miles and reaches Tulbagh. Hippos lived in it. It is believed that Basque whalers reached Newfoundland before Columbus. Table bay contains the bones of Portuguese caravels both Dutch and British East Indiamen, pirate brigandines and schooners. Historical article brought up by bucket dredger, in Table Bay harbour.

In 1860 an army of convicts build the Table Bay breakwater. Before this was ready a gale in 1865 caused the loss of 18 ocean going vessels and 30 other ships. He describes work on the 750 ton fishing trawler that has a crew of 14 and earn according to the catch sale. Even then they had an express train carrying fresh fish on ice to the to Johannesburg every week. Ascension island had the telephone cable that linked SA to South American and Australia with a large staff there. The island has a 3000 feet Green Mountain above the settlement Georgetown. St Helena had a British garrison when Napoleon was there. Turtles after they lay eggs are taken for eating. the East India company brought African slaves as well as Chinese and Indian or English who emigrated after the great fire of London 1666 to St. Helena but once the Suez canal opened trade there ended. During the Boer War thousand of prisoners were brought there, as well as General Cronje and Chief Dinizulu. Tristan de Cunha is one of the remotest island occupied by British soldiers and shipwrecked sailors and women brought from St. Helena. They have a socialist society and were not interested in catching more fish than they could eat. They did export sheep to Cape Town. Gough island took years to plot it correctly on the map as the sun never shines there and was considered a mystery island and it kept moving position on the map. . Many remote island the admiralty set up food stores in a hut for shipwrecked castaways.

The Crushing of Eastern Europe,1944-1956 By Anne Applebaum .2012 566 pgs

  Cold War

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.” Winston Churchill, speaking in Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946 After the new economics of Lenin, Stalin wrecked the Soviet economy but by winning the war was able to carry on his totalitarian policy. The Russian trained Polish, Hungarian and Romanian and Czech communists on how to be secret service. Even if these people didn't support the ideology they had well paid positions and wanted to hold onto them. When East Europe fell into Russian hands they set to work building up the pro-Moscow regime, the first election were democratic but that forced the socialists to form a coalition, the communists took the ministry of Interior and later arrested the opposition. Ethnic cleansing was very much part of Stalin policy. It had been agreed by the Allies that Germans would have to leave Czechoslovakia but then Germans were expelled from Romania, Hungary and started fleeing parts that became Poland in front of the Red Army advance. But Ukrainians were expelled from Poland and vice versa also Hungary and Czechoslovakia etc. The same prison camps left by the Germans housed refugees and later they were also used as prison camps again. In the same way that the exchange of population caused animosity to the departing minorities so it affected the Jews in the same way besides the anti-Semitism. Where Jews were too numerous in the communist party this was seen as negative. Eastern Europe supported the establishment of Israel and when Jews wanted to go there trains were organized and the Hagana even had training in those countries. Civil society like the WMCA or women's organization opened and started helping destitute refugees trying to get help, self-help communities but this was regarded as a threat to the communist regime which converted them to official party Patriotic organizations. Instead of charity volunteers they became bureaucrats promoting the party. Those who didn't take part in May day parades were forced out or resigned. In a totalitarian state there are no independent schools, no private businesses, no grassroots organizations, and no critical thought. Mussolini and his favorite philosopher, Giovanni Gentile, once wrote of a “conception of the State” that is “all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value.”4 Totalitarians regimes had 5 things in common 1)a dominant ideology,2) a single ruling party,3) a secret police force prepared to use terror,4) a monopoly on information,5) and a planned economy. “Truman Doctrine willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes.”totalitarian The North Korean regime, set up along Stalin’s lines, has changed little in seventy years. As the war ended merchants were out in the market selling and bartering all sorts of goods and suddenly there was a thriving market but the communist ideology set up state wholesalers and goods stopped being available. What was the free market was now considered a black-market and instead of professional merchants you had party apparatchiks getting the jobs and services deteriorated. A Polish secret service person defected and told his whole story over the American radio, after that informers were scared to inform in Poland. Communism was doomed from the start and every country found ways of avoiding the state apparatus. Poland with the Catholic church, Czechoslovakia used literature, Eastern Europe consists of 8 countries and was a political term rather than Geogrphic and these countries all have different languages religions and cultures. After 1989 every country took a different path. The Bolsheviks did not begin with a blueprint. In the wake of the Russian Revolution, they pursued a zigzag course, sometimes harsher and sometimes more liberal, as one policy after another failed to deliver promised economic gains. In due course, the Great Terror might have led to real disillusion. But Stalinism—and Stalin—was fortuitously rescued by the Second World War. The Soviet invasion of eastern Poland and the Baltic States in 1939 produced a cadre of NKVD willing to bring Sovietization there. William Appleman Williams, who argued that the Cold War had been caused not by communist expansion but by the American drive for open international markets. Or the division of Germany was caused not by the Soviet pursuit of totalitarian policies in Eastern Germany after 1945 but by the Western powers’ failure to take advantage of Stalin’s peaceful overtures.22 Youth organizations were the first thing the Soviet took control of whether boy scouts or catholic of protestant church youth organizations. At the Potsdam conference it was agreed that Germans would be moved out of countries like Czechoslovakia but the extent of ethnic cleansing under the Soviet was not expected. Upon joining the party in 1945, the communist writer Wiktor Woroszylski was offered three choices:1 the communist youth movement,2 the secret police, or3 the propaganda department, which dealt with mass media. These were the initial priority of Stalin. The communist party was popular in Eastern Europe as well as France, Italy, and Britain. In Yugoslavia because of Titos resistance it was really popular. Returning refugees were easy to control. Hard though it sometimes is for us to understand, communists also believed their own doctrine. The harsher policies imposed upon the Eastern bloc in 1947 and 1948 were therefore not merely, and certainly not only, a reaction to the Cold War. They were also a reaction to failure. The Soviet Union and its local allies had failed to win power peacefully. Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia all had stock markets, foreign investment, limited companies, and laws protecting property rights. All had civic institutions—churches, youth organizations, even though they were not real democratic regimes Czech lands were among the most industrialized in Europe. Eastern Europe had suffered the worst of both Hitler's and Stalin's Ideological madness. When the war ended people desperately sought out ordinary work and education and these countries saw enormous growth spurts with people with energy to get their lives back to normal. Totalitarian armies had occupied the area and for example the city of Levow had been occupied by Russia after the Ribbentrop Molotov agreement then by Germany and now again by Russia. In 1939 the NKVD not only arrested Nazi collaborators but anyone they saw as a threat to their administration like bankers, merchants social democrats often the same people targeted by the Nazis. Dietrich von Choltitz out of sentimental respect left Paris standing but Warsaw and Budapest were destroyed without any qualms. British deaths 360 thousand, French 590 thousand . Poland 5.5 million of which 3 million were Jews. Yugoslavia 1.5 million. The concept that the ruling authorities could simple confiscate private property was well established in Eastern Europe. When the Germans fled Silesia and Prussia there became a profession of looting that was almost patriotic. This looting culture stopped but made acceptable state taking property, Ex soldiers and partisan set themselve up as criminal gangs. Murders violence arrests by the authority was normal.

The Unfree French Life Under the Occupation by Richard Vinen 2006 376pg

 26/6/23   French POWs  and Civilians in Germany during the German occupation of France 1940 to 1945

Officers were kept in comfortable  Oflags where these old men blamed each other for the defeat. Soldiers were in Stalags some had been  German barracks or lunatic asylums and had to construct their own camps at short notice.  A person who worked in the post office recalls letters in 16 different languages that made up conscripts of the French army. North African and Vietnameses were kept in other camps and treated badly. Whereas the British soldiers knew it was their duty to escape the French were not encouraged by Vichy to do the same.

The Red Cross supplied parcels and gave prisoners information of their rights those in work Kommandos did not know this. The strong and less educated were sent to  Work Kommandos there was a big demand for farm peasants and farm worker in some cases got much freedom and were preferable to Industrial work that was dangerous. Kommandos usually got more food that in the Stalags.

Repatriation started immediately for example Renault needed its workers back to fulfill German work contracts. Medical workers not needed in the camps. Veterans of WW1 and fathers of 4 children and other bureaucrats that would be useful to the Germans back in France. Flemish speakers as the Germans though they would be hostile to French unity. Prisoners were always kept by the Germans in the illusion that a peace agreement would be signed and they would go home soon. In France they were always suspicious of those who returned.  Many well connected wealthy families got releases for their sons. The Germans were more likely to release the idle in Stalags than those serving the German economy in the Kommandos. Soldiers like Mitterrand wanting to escape could do it easier from a work party.

The Releve( relief) 1942 June Pierre Laval announced that for every 3 French workers who volunteered to work in Germany, a French prisoner would be  released." For German victory for without it Bolshevism would be installed everywhere." At total of 100, 000 were released. Vichy could choose between 15 to 20% of those released the remainder were designated by the Germans. Many who arrived home were sick and categories that should have been sent home with out. this scheme in any case. Many  were people the Germans had found difficult to work with, who stood up for prisoners rights. Some hommes de confiance refused liberation to carry on their good work. The releve quickly became unpopular with the prisoners, their families and the French population. They caused a fall in morale in the camps .

At some time or othe 2 and a half million French were held in Germany. In rural France they had more food and less contact with the German, than in the cities

Stolen Youth

1943 Service de Travail Obligatoire STO compulsory work service. This was an important Vichy policy and created an opposition to Vichy and resulted in younger men going into the Marquis. Students were allowed to delay this till after exams and farmers were exempted. It was mostly for army age but extended to older people and it was claimed to get the idle off the streets.  Volunteers were mostly lumpenproletariat many were foreigners or criminals and created problems in German factories. Those compelled to go in 1943 were mostly metal workers whose skills the Germans needed.  In many ways people could get out and the way French society rather than the French state pushed men to go to Germany was not taken into account.  Many communities and families encouraged young men to go, because they feared German reprisals. Hunting down young men to be taken to Germany often ment searching cinemas, cafes, racecourses where idlers would hang out.

. About 20,000 bourgeois young men became coal miners, including sons of coal mine owners. This happened especially when student exemption from STO was abolished. Some Polytechniciens were spending a relatively short week underground and continued studying. Some schools came to an arrangement with the coalmines for their students. Professional miners objected as less production per person meant lower bonuses. The Germans knew about this but because of the shortage of coal in France never objected.  Bank clerks and other lower middle class jobs the workers were sent as they seemed more dispensable. The French post office transferred a large number of employees directly to the German postal service to replace those conscripted into the Wehrmacht.

Vichy and German authorities threatened sanctions against French doctors who gave out too many exception certificates and German or collaborationist doctors were brought or medical examination were conducted on German premices. There was a shortage of labour in France but men fleeing STO could be got for just board and lodging but their food could only come from the black market as they could not get ration cards. Families in the black market had the power to protect their sons. Agents of the state could be bribed by black marketeers.especially in rural areas where they got their supplies.

Most of the workers went under compulsion. Those recruited as volunteers with contracts later lost the right to return especially after 1943 when it started becoming clear that Frances future was more to do with what was happening in |London, Algiers and the woods in France and those in Germany were passive spectators of history. Initially volunteers were let home when their contracts expired but then the Germans stopped volunteers going home  when they realized how few were returning.

French Civilians in Germany: Best off were those who managed to pursue careers they had begun in France. Many civilian ended working alongside French POWs. POWs were usually about 10 years older than STO recruits. Catholicism created a bond between French men and the local population. About 200 priest and a small number of nuns went to work as missionaries. French workers in France were given discreet help by German priests and by lay German Catholics..

Transformes :  In 1943 The Vichy government encouraged French POWs to become civilians this way they could work for the German war effort , they got greater freedom , better  pay and easier correspondence. However they lost Geneva Convention protection. Some volunteered but many were not given the choice amongst those who were already in work Kommandos. They idea of being placed in armaments' factories was unpleasant. Men posted on farms where wages were low had little to gain from becoming civilians. Many were not given civilian clothes to replace their uniforms especially those working of fortification on the Eastern Front. They also had no organisation to protect them.

Women : Half the POWs were married men and Vichy made it illegal for wifes at home to live with other men. Those prisoners who did lose contact with their wives  asked the police to investigate as the were more worried about food parcels , the state of their property and children than fidelity. Many women volunteered for work in Germany because they had been abandoned by the fathers of their children. Young girls abused by stepfathers were open to this. French Prostitutes increased and were harassed by the police, pimps and local councils and so some went to Germany.

The Liberation:  France underwent not one but many different liberations. Some French citizen in Germany liberated by the Soviets did not get back for months even years. Cities like Saint -Lo was bombed by the Americans. La Rochelle was surrendered with negotiations with free French forces. De Gaul claimed that Paris liberated itself with the help of France while ignoring the presence of thousands of Allied Forces. Dances that had been forbidden under Vichy began and young people started meeting again especially those who avoided STO and  fled to the hills or from public places to avoid German forced labour. 

Operation Torch in North Africa began the liberation. Algeria was not a colony but part of France. The American approached Henri Giraud a French General who had escaped Germany. He was meant to be the leader but missed the submarine in Gibraltar. American forces landed and Admiral Dahlan ordered the French to resist. After the death of 453 Allied and 1368 french troops a ceasefire was arranged. The American suggested that Dahlan lead the French forces. He accepted as he had been squeezed out of power from Vichy by Laval's return. He was denounced by Petain but it was suggested that Petain was not a free agent. The Cremieux decree of  1870 had given Algerian Jews French citizenship and this had been abolished by Vichy. Jews only regained this 6 months after the Americans arrived. De Gaul met Roosevelt at the Casa Blanca summit and Roosevelt didn't trust De Gaulle but De Gaulle was impressed that Roosevelt could conduct a conversation in French. 

1942 De Gaulle had 50,000 troops under his command 2 years later he had 550,000  Punishment of collaborators and Pertainist in North African had a dramatic effect on mainland France. Vichy leaders  in absence had been sentenced to death sending Frenchmen to fight in the German Army.. German army in Corsica was evicted in November 1943. Corsica had been occupied by Italy till Mussolini withdrew and 40,000 Germans were left there. Once Sardinia had fallen the Germans were surrounded. The invasion in the south of France was mostly French soldiers. More than half of these troops were from French colonies. The Germans put up very little fight in the south and many just melted away. Marseilles was taken over by the Resistance. 

The British and Americans had planned the Normandy landing without DeGaul knowing, as the French could not keep secrets. It was finally agreed that the Allies would not impose a civilian government on France and would permit Free French amongst the Normandy landings. De Gaul was shaken by Petains April 1944 visit to Paris and warm welcome there. 

The  1944 June 6 D day Normandy landing, by the end of August allies had 2 million troops and ports to support the invasion. It also caused the plot to kill Hitler on 20th July 1944.  Frenchmen generally did not fight the British and American as Petain reminded them that France was neutral. The American were the most numerous of the allies and came with great technical skills and set up enormous camps naming them after US cigarettes. The French had best contact with Canadians from Quebec. The American brought more food to France than they took unlike the Germans. They were very protective of women and children. The  US Army refused to accept that their troops would frequent prostitution and put these places out of bounds.. Whereas the Germans had allocated bordellos for their troops and were more worried about diseases. Prostitution was getting back into working order however.  American troops had basic French lessons in the army newspaper and could speak some to women.

Black soldier were not automatically thrown out of bars as in the US but the American authorities were obsessed with the need to prevent contact between black soldiers and white girls. Any complaint was treated harshly and 21 men were executed for rape only 3 of them were white.

 Milice was formed in Vichy who became increaseingly fanatic and were  to keep order and they wiped out the Resistance, they were savage in their treatment of Jews. Petain belatedly tried to distance himself from it.  Many of these ended up joining the French Foreign legion after the war to escape retribution.

 During  the Liberation de Gaulle ceased to  be a radio voice and became a Right wing individual that was cool towards the Resistance fighters. There was now a division between De Gaulle and the Resistance which the Communists dominated over the Communist enemies. There was a division between the Communist leadership that had supported the Hitler Stalin pact and the party membership that dropped away sharply at this stage. The party became strong in rural areas as part of the anti - Fascist struggle after 1943.  Leaders had had  very little contact with the new members as some leaders were in London, Algeria and even Buchenwald. The Resistance only became a mass movement in 1944 because the leaders allowed it to assume such a role towards the Normandy landings. With the liberation came  purges. Lists of collaborators were printed and many of them moved to where German troops could provide protection, by June 1944 the Resistance had assassinated 2,500 people.

The memory of liberation was associated with the warmer weather, which made it easier to abandon homes and flee into the countryside now they were moving away from the bombing. Autumn of 1944 returned some students to their studies, there was still a shortage of food and fuel. Christmas trees that year were decorated by tin foil dropped as chaff by allied bomber to distort the German radar. Almost 2 million French men could not join the happy reunions as they were in Germany.

During Liberation Germans often snatched up workers. The remaining Vichy members went to Germany as political refugees. The presence of colaborator refugees in Germany meant that French could not express anti German sentiments. Food became scarce and Allied bombing increased in Germany and foreign workers were often denied entrance to bomb shelters. Red Cross had to bring the mail now which took months.

In Austria and East Germany Frenchmen were liberated by the Red Army and they witnessed the raping by Russian  or Mongolian troops many of whom were drunk. Those prisoner in big camps were okey but those in work Kommandos were regarded as German civilians and their watches were immediately stolen. About 300,000 French were liberated before the American arrived but were sent home via Odessa or other ways and eventually by train across German and reach their homes a year after liberation. This experience  had made them  very anti Communist and all the philosophy in involved.

Only a tiny minority of Jews returned. Others returning had to be checked if they had been traitors or Nazi sympathisers.

Many had been away 5 years.One wife said  a young man left her and she was reluctant to welcome back a prematurely aged man who felt a stranger to his children. The women had taken active lives while these men had had passive roles as prisoners and their masculinity was challenged.

Vichy did vanish, few people expressed loyalty to it after 1943 and by 1944 it had no authority

End: Many who returned to their normal lives and never talked about their experiences but on retiring wrote their memoirs in the 1980 to justify what had happened for their children and grandchildren.

 Soldiers memory of WW1 was unifying whereas there was no unifying state experience in WW2. When the village of Roussillon  wanted to cash in on Becketts wartime sojourn they had to return  his house to the type of amenities available in during the occupation.