La France des vaincus passe à la barre

As early as the 1940s, even before the liberation of Paris and the end of the Second World War, the thorny question of purification became clear: How to punish those who collaborated with Nazi Germany? France is torn between the defenders of pardon and the partisans of a punitive justice for the support of Vichy. Brushing a picture of post-war France covering all circles - intellectual, political, ecclesiastical, etc. - Emmanuel Pierrat depicts here a country on the verge of rupture and analyzes the torment of a society that seeks to emerge from a situation of exception, violent and chaotic. From women shackled to amnesty laws through summary executions and administrative internments, this book brings us back to the end of decades through the destinies of Pétain, Laval, Brasillach or the car manufacturer Louis Renault. Relying on numerous judicial sources and newspapers of the time, Emmanuel Pierrat plunges us to the heart of disillusions, executions and reconstructions that have upset France for a decade and which maintain, even today, many taboos.--Translation of page 4 of cover.