Compromise, Accommodation, and Collaboration: France During World War Two

Presentation Type

Presentation

Full Name of Faculty Mentor

Philip Whalen, History

Major

Intelligence & National Security Studies

Presentation Abstract

When discussing France during World War Two, the topic will inevitably shift to collaboration. There was much nuance surrounding Nazi collaboration, as well as the other various compromises and accommodations made by the French for their new tightfisted German rulers. This paper examines those nuances, as well as dissects many people's willingness to collaborate by examining eyewitness accounts of those who survived as well as secondary sources. It also makes comments on the significance of collaboration decades later, and how an unwillingness to reconcile with past atrocities can hurt not only a nation, but that nation's understanding of its own history. Contemporarily, this has broader implications than just France's skewed understanding of its own history as the United States has a similar eyes wide shut strategy regarding our own complicated and problematic history.

Location

Room 3 (BRTH 114)

Start Date

13-4-2022 12:30 PM

End Date

13-4-2022 12:50 PM

Disciplines

History

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Apr 13th, 12:30 PM Apr 13th, 12:50 PM

Compromise, Accommodation, and Collaboration: France During World War Two

Room 3 (BRTH 114)

When discussing France during World War Two, the topic will inevitably shift to collaboration. There was much nuance surrounding Nazi collaboration, as well as the other various compromises and accommodations made by the French for their new tightfisted German rulers. This paper examines those nuances, as well as dissects many people's willingness to collaborate by examining eyewitness accounts of those who survived as well as secondary sources. It also makes comments on the significance of collaboration decades later, and how an unwillingness to reconcile with past atrocities can hurt not only a nation, but that nation's understanding of its own history. Contemporarily, this has broader implications than just France's skewed understanding of its own history as the United States has a similar eyes wide shut strategy regarding our own complicated and problematic history.