Vichy France and the Jews: with a new Foreword [1995] by Stanley Hoffmann - Softcover

Marrus, Michael R.; Paxton, Robert O.; Hoffmann, Stanley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804724997 ISBN 13: 9780804724999

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 1995

Synopsis

What part did Vichy France really play in the Nazi effort to murder Jews living in France? Few questions, from the end of World War II to the present day, have so haunted French society. This book, now a classic, is the definitive account of Vichy's own antisemitic policies and practices and a major contribution to the history of the Jewish tragedy in wartime Europe. It was originally described in published reviews as 'superb and definitive' and 'brilliant [and] utterly absorbing'. The authors' 'exhaustive research and the sobriety of their prose make this indictment far more powerful than previous work on the subject.' The book 'is something of a spiritual history of a great democratic nation sunk in the squalor of moral collapse.'

About this title

Review:

"This superb and definitive description of Vichy's policy . . . has two conspicuous merits. It pulverizes the defense of those apologists of Vichy who claim that Pétain or Laval weren't as bad as all that. It also allows the historical debate to shift from 'what happened?' to 'why did it happen?'" Author: New York Review of Books

"Marrus and Paxton provide a graphic and often heartrending account of official cruelty, administrative callousness, public prejudices, and popular indifference; the section on Vichy's concentration camps is particularly eloquent. Their exhaustive research and the sobriety of their prose make this indictment far more powerful than previous works on the subject." Author: New York Times Book Review

"A quite brilliant work giving in fascinating detail the origins and evolution of Vichy's Jewish policies and the support--and sometimes aversion--these policies called forth in the French population. . . . The authors have written an utterly absorbing book, something of a spiritual history of a great democratic nation sunk in the squalor of moral collapse." Author: The Times Literary Supplement

From the Back Cover:

'This superb and definitive description of Vichy's policy...has two conspicuous merits. It pulverizes the defense of those apologists of Vichy who claim that Petain and Laval weren't as bad as all that. It also allows the historical debate the shift from 'what happened?' to 'why did it happen?' -New York Review of Books

About this edition

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0804724997
• ISBN 13: 9780804724999
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 456