When France declared war on Germany in September 1939, the French military spent months waiting for the first attack in what they called “Drôle de Guerre,” the Phoney War. But in May 1940, Germany began the offensive on French territory, and within a few weeks, they had already entered France. The French government was forced to make a decision. Prime Minister Paul Reynaud wanted to fight, but that was not the opinion shared by the majority of government officials. Reynaud then called Winston Churchill to inform him that, for him, the war had already been lost.
The French government abandoned Paris, so German troops paraded through the city unopposed on June 14, 1940. On June 22, France signed an armistice with Germany and on July 9, parliament voted 569 to 80 to abandon the Third Republic and grant extraordinary powers to the head of state, Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of the First World War who would govern from Vichy. In 2023, the current climate in France is beginning to remind people of the humiliating and criminal history of the Vichy regime.
This Friday, Nov. 10, barely a month after the brutal antisemitic attack in Israel, with thousands of dead still being found and with more than 200 people still kidnapped, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a "ceasefire." Macron is demanding that the Israeli military suspend military operations in the place that is home to the group responsible for the murderers of more than 1,400 Israelis, as well as the weapons arsenal Hamas used to do it. Macron did not call for Hamas’ surrender or request anything from the Gazan government, instead telling the BBC: "In fact, today they are bombing civilians. These babies, these women, these elderly people are bombed and killed. There is no reason for this. … We ask Israel to stop."
Macron may not remember what equidistance meant for his country a few decades ago, but this stance is not surprising.
Does Macron not know how terrorism operates? Does he not know how these groups take advantage of the civilian population? It seems strange. France itself has been one of the main victims of Islamist terrorist attacks. In 2015 alone, two cruel attacks showed the French civilian population’s vulnerability to terrorism. Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly newspaper, was attacked by terrorists who killed 12 people and injured 11 while shouting "Allahu akbar," and a few months later, while 1,500 people were watching a concert at the Bataclan concert hall, Islamist terrorists shot indiscriminately at the audience, capturing at least 100 hostages and killing 90 people. Over the years, these attacks have not ceased on French soil.
Just a few months ago, major French cities suffered an uprising of hatred and chaos, and the streets burned for almost a week, causing incalculable damage. Macron cannot ignore the danger he faces. Macron cannot ignore the tenor of the violent and threatening marches that constantly take place in his country, he cannot ignore the increase in antisemitic demonstrations and attacks against Jews on his own land. However, despite being useless and ineffective in protecting his citizens, he has dared to accuse Israel of defending its own. Furthermore, he is asking Israel, not Hamas, for a ceasefire in the war that was started by a Hamas attack. It was also reported that Macron will not attend the antisemitism march on Sunday in Paris, although he said that those marching would be "greeted with respect," seeing in them "a reason for hope."
Macron may not remember what this type of neutrality meant for his country a few decades ago, but this stance is not surprising. In 2018, Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Marshal Philippe Pétain at a ceremony commemorating 100 years since the end of World War I at the Palace of Les Invalides. Perhaps Macron also does not remember that in October 1940, Marshal Pétain and Adolf Hitler shook hands and that Pétain was supposed to be the guarantor of Germany's respect for the French people, given the terms of the armistice agreement, although Hitler immediately took two million French prisoners hostage, whom he used mercilessly.
The difference between Pétain and De Gaulle, between Vichy and the resistance, was honor and respect for republican values.
Pétain's humiliation in front of Hitler prompted France to persecute Jews, which also extended to other minorities, and it is estimated that 149,000 French Jews were sent by Pétain to German concentration camps, of which only 10% returned. Pétain's “guarantee” government had French soldiers fight against the Allied troops in the war wearing Wehrmact uniforms. They did so on the Eastern Front, so that they would not mix with Allied soldiers of French origin. Pétain's government imprisoned 70,000 resistance fighters, of whom 10,000 were sentenced to death by his government's judges.
Pétain was responsible for the brutal July 1942 raid on the Vel d'Hiv, Paris Winter Velodrome, a meeting place near the River Seine, which meant that more than 12,000 Jews were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, among whom were 4,000 children. They were divided into two groups, the young men were taken to forced labor camps. The elderly, women and children were transported in harsh conditions, and all those who tried to escape were shot. He then began to deport them to Germany. That was the government that Pétain established as a “lesser evil.” This is how France paid for the cowardice of its elite.
When the French people began to suffer firsthand from the Nazi regime, it was already too late. Pétain's popularity and ability fell, and he went into exile to Germany and then to Switzerland to escape the trial where he would officially be declared a traitor. In April 1945, when Hitler committed suicide, Pétain surrendered to French authorities. At his trial, he was found guilty of sharing intelligence with the enemy, high treason, and sentenced to "the death penalty, national indignity, and confiscation of property"; However, due to his age, de Gaulle commuted the sentence to life in prison.
The difference between Pétain and de Gaulle, between Vichy and the resistance, was honor and respect for liberal values. The duty of a leader is to defend those values, the freedom and security of his citizens despite the risks, and it is evident that France has many. De Gaulle saved the honor of France while Pétain rots in the history books for his criminality and cowardice. Perhaps Macron should read up on his own history a bit.
