THE DISCREET EMINENCE

On the enduring legacy of Marshal Pétain

By Robert O. Paxton

Discussed in this essay: France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain, by Julian Jackson. Belknap Press. 480 pages. $35. In early September, France’s highest court overturned an appellate decision that had acquitted the far-right politician Éric Zemmour of “disputing crimes against humanity.” The ruling means that Zemmour will once again have to stand trial for his claims that the Vichy government, and in particular its head of state Marshal Philippe Pétain, saved the lives of French Jews during the Second World War. The ruling is perhaps the most significant recent development in a bitter, ongoing quarrel in French society. As Samuel Lejoyeux, president of the Union of French Jewish Students, told Le Monde, “The revindication of Pétain is a classic theme of the far right, and one that has returned…

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Harper's (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2023

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