I
came across this book by accident. I
was looking for something else but Amazon decided to tell me about it - this is
something that usually annoys the hell out of me. However, on this occasion, I am so glad the book giant did bring
this tome to my attention.
Richard
Vinen, according to the
acknowledgements at the front of the book, took a 'disgracefully long time' to
create this treatise on France during the 39/45 war. I'm very glad that he did.
Rather than rehashing and re-examining well known military history and
strategies, he searched archives, scrutinised reports and read memoirs both
published and unpublished. As a result
the source notes and bibliography are extensive.
This
is not exactly a history book, in the usually accepted sense of the word, but
it is a fascinating document that showcases how ordinary people lived and
worked during the occupation of the northern half of France and the period of
the Vichy government in the south. The
narrative voice is gentle and flows well and the detail keeps you turning the
page.
Beginning
with the defeat of France in 1940 and the subsequent partition into occupied
territory and Vichy, Vinen presents some startling statistics - startling to me
anyway! Two million French soldiers
were taken prisoner and 6 million civilians left their homes and joined convoys
of people and refugees trying to escape their own homeland.
Set
against the enormity of that, the author brings to life the agonising choices
ordinary people had to make. He
explores what it was like to live in towns and villages that had been emptied
of young men who were either Prisoners of War or who had been conscripted to
work for the Reich in Germany. He then
zeros in on individuals. For example,
Louis Althusser, POW, who claimed that after 'altering his papers' he was able
to make himself available for repatriation.
Léo Malet used his experiences as a POW to create a fictional detective
who began his career in a camp that closely resembled the Stalag where the
author had been incarcerated. And then
there are the stories of the women left behind and in particular, the actions
of some Parisian gentiles who wore yellow stars.
What
I found especially interesting was the way Vinen was able to chart the changes
in attitude and opinion of the ordinary people of France during an especially
difficult time in their history along with the detail of lives lived,
judgements that were constantly questioned and decisions that were agonised
over. The introduction I found a little
tedious but the opportunity to look at, almost spy upon, that period of French
history far outweighed my initial and very short-lived discomfort. A fascinating read that I feel sure I will
come back to again and again.
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