Sigmaringen enclave

French World War II government-in-exile

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)

The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. The reason given is: the lead no longer summarizes the whole body. Please help improve the lead and read the lead layout guide. (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Sigmaringen enclave" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French.  (August 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

* View a machine-translated version of the French article.
* Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Commission gouvernementale de Sigmaringen]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You should also add the template `{{Translated|fr|Commission gouvernementale de Sigmaringen}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

(Learn how and when to remove this template message)

French Governmental Commission for the Defense of National Interests[a]

Date formed| 6 September 1944 (1944-09-06)
Date dissolved| 22 April 1945 (1945-04-22)
People and organisations
Deputy head of government| Fernand de Brinon
Status in legislature| None
History
Incoming formation| Enforced evacuation of Vichy by German forces
Outgoing formation| Advancing Allied forces
Predecessor|  Laval government of 1942
Successor|  French occupation zone in Germany

Sigmaringen

class=notpageimage|

Location of Sigmaringen enclave

Sigmaringen Castle, from the south View from the north east

The Sigmaringen enclave was the exiled remnant of France's Nazi-sympathizing Vichy government which fled to Germany during the Liberation of France near the end of World War II in order to avoid capture by the advancing Allied forces. Installed in the requisitioned Sigmaringen Castle as seat of the government-in-exile, Vichy French leader Philippe Pétain and a number of other collaborators awaited the end of the war.

## History[edit]

### Background[edit]

Main articles: Battle of France, Zone libre, and Vichy regime

Nazi Germany invaded France in May 1940 during the early part of World War II. The Armistice of 22 June 1940 ended hostilities, dividing France into two zones: an Occupied zone in the north and west, and a nominally "free zone" (Zone libre) in the south and east. Known officially as the "French State", the Zone libre became known as the "Vichy regime" for the location of its nominal capital. The regime was headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, who was given full powers to control the regime. In November 1942, the Zone libre was also occupied by the Germans, in response to the landing of the Allies in North Africa. Vichy lost its military force, but continued to exercise jurisdiction over most of Metropolitan France until the gradual collapse of the Vichy regime following the Allied invasion in June 1944 and the ongoing liberation of France.[citation needed]

### Transition[edit]

On 17 August 1944, Vichy's head of government and minister of foreign affairs Pierre Laval held the last government council with five of his government ministers.[1] With permission from the Germans, he attempted to call back the prior National Assembly with the goal of giving it power[2] and thus impeding the communists and de Gaulle.[3] So he obtained the agreement of German ambassador Otto Abetz to bring Édouard Herriot, (President of the Chamber of Deputies) back to Paris.[3] But ultra-collaborationists Marcel Déat and Fernand de Brinon protested to the Germans, who changed their minds[4] and took Laval to Belfort[5] along with the remains of his government, "to assure its legitimate security", and arrested Herriot.[6]

Also on 17 August, Cecil von Renthe-Fink, "special diplomatic delegate of the Führer to the French Head of State", asked Pétain to allow himself to be transferred to the northern zone.[7] Pétain refused and asked for a written formulation of this request.[7] Von Renthe-Fink renewed his request twice on the 18th, then returned on the 19th, at 11:30, accompanied by General Alexander Neubronn von Eisenberg, who told him that he had "formal orders from Berlin".[7] The written text is submitted to Pétain: "The Reich Government instructs that the transfer of the Head of State be carried out, even against his will".[7] Faced with the Marshal's continued refusal, the Germans threatened to bring in the Wehrmacht to bomb Vichy.[7] After having requested the Swiss ambassador Walter Stucki [fr] to bear witness to the Germans' blackmail, Pétain submitted. When Renthe-Fink entered the Marshal's office at the Hôtel du Parc with General von Neubronn "at 7:30 p.m.", the Head of State was supervising the packing up of his suitcases and papers.[7] The next day, 20 August 1944, Pétain was taken against his will by the German army to Belfort and then, on 8 September to Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany,[8] where dignitaries of his regime had taken refuge.

### Formation[edit]

Hitler requisitioned the Sigmaringen Castle belonging to the Hohenzollerns in the town of Sigmaringen in Swabia, southwestern Germany.[9] This was then occupied and used by the Vichy government-in-exile from September 1944 to April 1945. Vichy head of state Marshal Philippe Pétain was brought there against his will, and refused to cooperate,[10] and ex-Prime Minister Pierre Laval also refused.[11] Despite the efforts of the collaborationists and the Germans, Pétain never recognized the Sigmaringen Commission.[12] The Germans, wanting to present a facade of legality, enlisted other Vichy officials such as Fernand de Brinon as president, along with Joseph Darnand, Jean Luchaire, Eugène Bridoux, and Marcel Déat.[13]

On 7 September 1944,[14] fleeing the advance of Allied troops into France, while Germany was in flames and the Vichy regime ceased to exist, a thousand French collaborators (including a hundred officials of the Vichy regime, a few hundred members of the Milice, collaborationist party militants, and the editorial staff of the newspaper Je suis partout) but also waiting-game opportunists[b] also went into exile in Sigmaringen.

Militia leaders sought to recruit new members to swell the ranks of the Franc-Garde by finding sympathizers, especially in the enforced labor camps of prisoners in Germany. Their goal was to promote the ideal of a true National Revolution by actively preparing for an underground struggle by creating Maquis groups. Operation Maquis blanc [fr] was designed to parachute in political agitators, who, when the time came, would sow panic and prepare future agents who would be able to infiltrate French society more easily than German agents could.

### Legal status[edit]

The Castle received official designation from Germany as extraterritorialized to France and became a French enclave legally, complete with flag-raising.[15] It was a matter of some importance to attempt to gain legal recognition for the government in exile from other countries, however at Sigmaringen, there were only the embassies of Germany and of Japan[16] and an Italian consulate which maintained a presence. The governmental commission was thus a legally French enclave from September 1944 through April 1945.[17]

### Commission[edit]

The offices used the official title French Delegation (Délégation française) or the French Government Commission for the Defense of National Interests.[a]

The commission had its own radio station (Radio-patrie, Ici la France) and official press (La France, Le Petit Parisien), and hosted the embassies of the Axis powers: Germany, Italy and Japan. The population of the enclave was about 6,000, including known collaborationist journalists, the writers Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Lucien Rebatet, the actor Robert Le Vigan, and their families, as well as 500 soldiers, 700 French SS, prisoners of war and French civilian forced laborers.[18]

### Daily life[edit]

Pétain and his ministers, although "on strike",[10] were lodged in the requisitioned Sigmaringen castle. Pétain chose a suite that wasn't too big, as it was less cold. The rest of the enclave was lodged in schools and gymnasiums converted to dormitories, in scarce rooms in private residences or in hotels such as the Bären or the Löwen[19] which were mostly reserved for more distinguished guests, notably the novelist Louis-Ferdinand Céline, who wrote about the experience in his 1957 book Castle to Castle.[20] Céline describes at length the Löwen Brasserie where the French gathered to follow the news of the approaching Allied armies and to talk about the latest rumors about the imminent, albeit improbable, German victory in the war.[14]

New arrivals lived with difficulty in the cramped dwellings of the city under the rumblings of American bombs in the summer, but it was worse during the intensely cold winter that reached −30 °C (−22 °F) in December 1944: Having left France in a panic ahead of advancing Allied forces, they arrived exclusively with summer clothing, and suffered from the cold. Inadequate housing, insufficient food, promiscuity among the paramilitaries, and lack of hygiene facilitated the spread of numerous illnesses, including flu and tuberculosis, and a high mortality rate among children; ailments that were treated as best they could by the only two French doctors, Doctor Destouches (Céline's real-life surname) and Bernard Ménétrel.[14]

### Dissolution[edit]

On 21 April 1945 General de Lattre ordered his forces to take Sigmaringen. The end came within days. By the 26th, Pétain was captured after voluntarily returning to France,[21] and Laval had fled to Spain.[11] Brinon,[22] Luchaire, and Darnand were captured, tried, and executed by 1947. Other members escaped to Italy or Spain.

## Exilees[edit]

Exilees included the unwilling Pétain and Laval, the Commission members, as well as several thousand other collaborators or those sympathetic to the Nazis. Some prominent residents of the enclave include:

* Abel Bonnard
* Maud de Belleroche
* Jean Bichelonne
* Victor Barthélemy
* Louis-Ferdinand Céline
* Victor Debeney
* Lucette Destouches
* Roland Gaucher
* Jacques Bouly de Lesdain
* Robert Le Vigan
* Corinne Luchaire
* Bernard Ménétrel
* Georges Oltramare
* Lucien Rebatet
* Simon Sabiani

## Filmography[edit]

Several documentaries or fictionalized documentaries have been released about the Sigmaringen enclave. These include:

* Sigmaringen, l'ultime trahison [Sigmaringen, the ultimate betrayal] - a documentary by Rachel Kahn and Laurent Perrin [fr], 1996, 56 min. (VHS).[23]
* The darkness – terminus Sigmaringen [Die Finsternis, Germany, 2005] - a documentary by Thomas Tielsch, after the novel by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, K-Films, 2006, 82 min. (DVD).
* Sigmaringen, the last refuge - documentary-fiction by Serge Moati, Arte France, 2015, 78 min.

## See also[edit]

* Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II
* Épuration légale
* Foreign relations of Vichy France
* France–Germany border
* Free France
* French prisoners of war in World War II
* French Resistance
* German occupation of France
* Government of Vichy France
* Italian occupation of France during World War II
* Liberation of France
* Liberation of Paris
* Military history of France during World War II
* Operation Dragoon
* Provisional Government of the French Republic
* Pursuit of Nazi collaborators
* Zone libre

* France portal

## References[edit]

Notes

1. ^ a b Commission gouvernementale française pour la défense des intérêts nationaux; also known as the Délégation gouvernementale française pour la défense des intérêts français en Allemagne
2. ^ "waiting-game opportunists": Attentistes in the original.

Footnotes

1. ^ Brissaud 1965, p. 504-505.
2. ^ Paxton-fr 1997, p. 382-383.
3. ^ a b Kupferman 2006, p. 520–525.
4. ^ Brissaud 1965, p. 491-492.
5. ^ Jäckel-fr 1968, p. 495.
6. ^ Kupferman 2006, p. 527–529.
7. ^ a b c d e f Aron 1962, p. 41-42.
8. ^ Aron 1962, p. 41-45.
9. ^ Traveler, Amazing (27 December 2015). "Sigmaringen Castle is not a Castle from the Fairytales but a Fairytale of a Castle". YourAmazingPlaces.com. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
10. ^ a b Aron 1962, p. 40,45.
11. ^ a b Aron 1962, p. 81–82.
12. ^ Sautermeister 2013, p. 13.
13. ^ Rousso 1999, p. 51–59.
14. ^ a b c Béglé 2014.
15. ^ Lottman 1985, p. 349.
16. ^ Joseph 2002, p. 521.
17. ^ Sautermeister 2013, p. 15.
18. ^ Jackson 2001, p. 567–568.
19. ^ Schneider 2007.
20. ^ Brissaud 1965, p. 207.
21. ^ Aron 1962, p. 48–49.
22. ^ Cointet 2014, p. 426.
23. ^ Peyret, Emmanuèle (9 March 1996). "Samedi, France 3, 22 h 30. Les dossiers de l'histoire : " Sigmaringen, l'ultime trahison ", documentaire. Voyage au bout de la collaboration. L'agonie de " L'État français " pétainiste dans une forteresse allemande" [Saturday, France 3, 10:30 p.m. Topics in History: 'Sigmaringen, the ultimate betrayal', documentary. Journey to the depths of collaboration. The death throes of the petainist 'French State' inside a German fortress.]. liberation.fr. Libération. Retrieved 15 August 2020..

## Works cited[edit]

* Aron, Robert (1962). "Pétain : sa carrière, son procès" [Pétain: his career, his trial]. Grands dossiers de l'histoire contemporaine [Major issues in contemporary history] (in French). Paris: Librairie Académique Perrin. OCLC 1356008.

* Béglé, Jérôme (20 January 2014). "Rentrée littéraire - Avec Pierre Assouline, Sigmaringen, c'est la vie de château !" [Autumn publishing season launch - With Pierre Assouline, Sigmaringen, That's life in the castle]. Le Point (in French). Le Point Communications.

* Brissaud, André (1965), La Dernière année de Vichy (1943-1944) [The Last Year of Vichy] (in French), Paris: Librairie Académique Perrin, OCLC 406974043

* Cointet, Jean-Paul (2014). Sigmaringen. Tempus (in French). Paris: Perrin. ISBN 978-2-262-03300-2.

* Jäckel, Eberhard (1968) [1st pub. 1966: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalg GmbH (in German) as "Frankreich in Hitlers Europa – Die deutsche Frankreichpolitik im Zweiten Weltkrieg"]. La France dans l'Europe de Hitler [France in Hitler's Europe - Germany's France foreign policy in the Second World War]. Les grandes études contemporaines (in French). Paris: Fayard.

* Jackson, Julian (2001). France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820706-1.

* Joseph, Gilbert (2002). Fernand de Brinon, l'aristocrate de la collaboration. Paris: Albin Michel. ISBN 978-2-226-11695-6. OCLC 1140347692. Retrieved 13 August 2020. "It was essential to confer upon the governmental Commission an institutional foundation recognized by some countries. However, at Sigmaringen, only the embassies of Germany and of Japan maintained a presence."

* Kupferman, Fred (2006) [1st pub: Balland (1987)]. Laval (in French) (2 ed.). Paris: Tallandier. ISBN 978-2-84734-254-3.

* Lottman, Herbert R. (1985). Pétain, Hero Or Traitor: The Untold Story. New York: W. Morrow. ISBN 978-0-688-03756-7. OCLC 11840938. Retrieved 13 August 2020. "The Germans granted the commission extraterritoriality, this to be marked by the flag - raising already mentioned."

* Paxton, Robert O. (1997) [1st pub: 1972: Knopf (in English) as "Vichy France: old guard and new order, 1940-1944" (978-0394-47360-4)], La France de Vichy – 1940-1944, Points-Histoire (in French), translated by Bertrand, Claude, Paris: Éditions du Seuil, ISBN 978-2-02-039210-5

* Rousso, Henry (1999). Pétain et la fin de la collaboration : Sigmaringen, 1944-1945 [Pétain and the end of collaboration: Sigmaringen, 1944-1945] (in French). Paris: Éditions Complexe. ISBN 2-87027-138-7.

* Sautermeister, Christine (6 February 2013). Louis-Ferdinand Céline à Sigmaringen : réalité et fiction dans "D'un château l'autre. Ecriture. ISBN 978-2-35905-098-1. OCLC 944523109. Retrieved 13 August 2020. "De septembre 1944 jusque fin avril 1945, Sigmaringen constitue donc une enclave française. Le drapeau français est hissé devant le château. Deux ambassades et un consulat en cautionnent la légitimité : l'Allemagne, le Japon et l'Italie."

* Schneider, Rolf (4 September 2007). "Das ganze Schloss ein Blendwerk - Vichy in Sigmaringen" [The Entire Castle an Illusion - Vichy in Sigmaringen] (radio broadcast transript) (in German). Deutschlandfunk. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Vichy France

* World War II collaboration in: Albania
* Baltic states
* Belarus
* Croatia
* Denmark
* France
* Greece
* Luxembourg
* Norway
* Poland
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Soviet Union
* Ukraine

Prelude|

* Action Française
* Boulangism
* Camelots du Roi
* Dreyfus affair
* Fall of France
* French colonial empire
* Nuremberg Laws
* Phoney War
* Third Republic
* History of the Jews in France
* Treaty of Versailles
* Article 231
* War guilt question
* Henry Dorgères

Beginnings|

* Armistice of 22 June 1940
* French Constitutional Law of 1940
* The Eighty
* Philippe Pétain
* Hôtel du Parc
* Zone libre

Participants|

* Joseph Antignac
* Jean Bergeret
* René Bousquet
* Louis Bourgain [fr]
* André Broc [fr]
* Alexis Carrel
* Jacques Charpentier [fr]
* Henry Coston
* Pierre-Antoine Cousteau
* François Darlan
* Louis Darquier de Pellepoix
* Marcel Déat
* Charles du Paty de Clam
* Pierre-Étienne Flandin
* Philippe Henriot
* Gaston Henry-Haye
* Charles Huntziger
* Pierre Laval
* Jean Leguay
* Jean Luchaire
* Bernard Ménétrel
* George Montandon
* Maurice Papon
* Philippe Pétain
* Pierre Pucheu
* Simon Sabiani
* Paul Touvier
* André Tulard
* Xavier Vallat
* Maxime Weygand
* Carltheo Zeitschel

Governments|

* Government of Vichy France
* Pétain government
* First Laval government
* Flandin government
* Darlan government
* Second Laval government

Parties and
organizations|

* French League
* French National-Collectivist Party
* French Popular Party
* Jeunesse Populaire Française
* Mouvement Franciste
* Légion Française des Combattants
* National Popular Rally
* Revolutionary Social Movement
* Peasant Corporation

Legal and
treaties|

* Anti-Jewish laws
* Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre
* List of constitutional laws of the Vichy regime [fr]
* French Constitutional Law of 1940
* Paris Protocols
* Riom Trial
* Service du travail obligatoire

Policy &
politics|

* Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
* Collaboration with Imperial Japan
* Foreign relations
* French Foundation for the Study of Human Problems
* La jeune France
* Police collaboration in Vichy France
* Political situation in French Africa [fr]
* Révolution nationale
* Special Sections
* Vichy Holocaust collaboration timeline

Press and
propaganda|

* Antisemitic publications [fr]
* Censorship under the occupation [fr]
* Underground media in German-occupied France
* Freedom of the Press Ordinances of 1944 [fr]
* Le Juif et la France
* Maréchal, nous voilà !
* Newspapers confiscated for collaboration [fr]
* Office français d'information

* Press: L'Alerte [fr]
* L'Appel
* Aujourd'hui
* Le Cahier jaune [fr]
* Le Cri du peuple [fr; it]
* Combats [fr]
* Documents maçonniques [fr]
* L'Émancipation nationale [fr]
* La France [fr]
* France, revue de l'État nouveau [fr]
* Ici la France [fr]
* Idées [fr]
* Je suis partout
* Revivre [fr]
* Révolution nationale (newspaper) [fr]
* La Semaine [fr]
* L'Union française [fr]

Territory|

* Zone libre
* Occupied zone
* Syria and Lebanon mandate

| French North Africa|

* French Algeria
* Morocco
* Tunisia

|

French West Africa|

* Ivory Coast
* Dahomey
* Sudan
* Guinea
* Mauritania
* Niger
* Senegal
* Upper Volta
* Togoland

|

French Equatorial Africa|

* Chad
* Middle Congo
* Ubangi-Shari
* Cameroon

|

Asia & Oceania|

* French India
* French Indochina
* Cambodia
* French protectorate of Laos
* Cochinchina
* Annam
* Tonkin
* Kouang-Tchéou-Wan
* New Hebrides

|

Jewish
affairs|

| Laws|

* Law on the status of Jews
* Law regarding foreign nationals of the Jewish race
* Second law on the status of Jews

|

Administration|

* Commissariat-General for Jewish Affairs
* Order of Physicians [fr]
* UGIF

Roundups|

* French Riviera [fr]
* Green ticket
* Clermont-Ferrand [fr]
* Izieu
* Marseille
* Lyon
* Vel' d'Hiv
* Villeurbanne [fr]

Discrimination
and plunder|

* Aryanisation
* Nazi plunder
* Yellow badge
* Yellow badge in France [fr]

Camps|

* Beaune-la-Rolande
* Drancy
* Gurs
* Milles
* Natzweiler-Struthof (subcamps)
* Noé
* Pithiviers
* Récébédou
* Rieucros
* Romainville
* Royallieu-Compiègne
* Rivesaltes
* Septfonds
* Vernet

Deportation|

* Deportation convoys [fr]
* Deportation timeline
* Holocaust timeline
* The Holocaust in France

Military|

| Forces|

| Regular|

* 1st Regiment [fr]
* 7th Military Division
* 14th Military Division
* 15th Military Division
* Armistice Army
* Army of the Levant
* Air Force
* Navy
* Guard

|

Militia|

* Service d'ordre légionnaire
* Groupe mobile de réserve
* Milice
* Franc-Garde
* Special Brigades

Auxiliary|

* SS Charlemagne division
* Carlingue
* Légion impériale
* Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism

Battles|

* 1940
* Mers-el-Kébir
* Gibraltar
* Dakar
* Gabon
* Indochina
* Franco-Thai War
* Ko Chang
* 1941
* Syria–Lebanon
* Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* 1942
* Madagascar
* Operation Bright Moon
* Wallis and Futuna
* Torch
* Anton
* Toulon
* Réunion

Officers|

* François Darlan
* Henri Giraud
* Philippe Pétain

Dissolution|

* Operation Overlord
* Liberation of Paris
* Siegfried Line campaign
* Sigmaringen enclave
* Fernand de Brinon
* Joseph Darnand
* Jean Luchaire
* Eugène Bridoux
* Marcel Déat

Aftermath
& Impact|

* Liberation of France
* Ordinance of 9 August 1944
* Provisional Government
* Épuration légale
* Épuration sauvage
* Municipal elections of 1945
* 1946 legislative election
* Fourth Republic
* Trial of Philippe Pétain
* Klaus Barbie trial
* Holocaust denial in France [fr]
* Mission Mattéoli
* Vichy syndrome

History
& Media|

| History|

* The Destruction of the European Jews
* Strange Defeat

|

Film|

* Bombing the Nazis
* The Eye of Vichy
* Milice, film noir
* The Sorrow and the Pity
* Uranus

Fiction|

* Castle to Castle
* Section spéciale
* Le Silence de la mer
* Suite française

* Occupied France
* French Resistance
* Year in France
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944
* Category:Vichy France

* v
* t
* e

France topics

History|

| Overviews|

* History
* Timeline
* Political history
* Military history
* Language
* Economic
* Foreign relations
* Journalism
* Liberalism and radicalism in France

|

Regions|

* History of Brittany
* History of Normandy

Ancient|

* Prehistory
* Greek colonies
* Celtic Gaul
* Roman Gaul

Middle Ages|

* Visigothic Kingdom
* Francia
* West Francia
* Middle Ages
* Kingdom of France
* Fundamental laws

Early Modern|

* Early modern era
* House of Bourbon
* Absolute monarchy
* Ancien Régime
* French Wars of Religion
* Thirty Years' War
* Peace of Westphalia
* Second Hundred Years' War
* Louis XIV
* War of the Spanish Succession
* Diplomatic Revolution of 1756
* Seven Years' War

Revolution|

* French Revolution
* Napoleonic era
* First Republic
* First Empire

Late Modern|

* Long nineteenth century
* Bourbon Restoration
* July Monarchy

* French Revolution of 1848
* Second Republic
* 1851 French coup d'état
* Second Empire
* Government of National Defense
* Third Republic
* Belle Époque
* France in World War I
* France in World War II
* Vichy France
* Free France
* Liberation of France
* Post-liberation 1944-1946

Contemporary|

* Fourth Republic
* Algerian War
* Fifth Republic
* 1900 to present
* French protests of 1968
* 2005 riots
* Great Recession
* 2015 Paris attacks
* 2017 presidential election
* Coronavirus pandemic
* 2021 French labor protests
* 2022 presidential election

Geography|

* Administrative divisions
* Cities
* Climate change
* Borders
* Islands
* Lakes
* Mountains
* National parks
* Rivers
* World Heritage Sites

Politics|

* Constitutions
* Elections
* presidential
* Foreign relations
* Politics
* Human rights
* Intersex
* LGBT
* Judiciary
* Law
* history
* enforcement
* criminal law
* Military
* Parliament
* Political parties

Economy|

* Agriculture
* Automotive industry
* Banking
* Central bank
* Economic history
* Energy
* Euro
* Exports
* Franc (former currency)
* French subdivisions by GDP
* Mining
* Stock exchange
* Science and technology
* Taxation
* Telecommunications
* Tourism
* Trade unions
* Transport

Society|

* Abortion
* Birth control
* Crime
* Demographics
* Education
* Health care
* Homelessness
* Immigration
* Life expectancy
* People
* Poverty
* Religion
* secularism
* Racism
* Social class
* Welfare

Culture|

* Anthem
* Architecture
* Art
* Coat of arms
* Cinema
* Cuisine
* Cultural icons
* Fashion
* Flag
* Gardens
* Language
* Literature
* Media
* Music
* Philosophy
* Public holidays
* Sport
* Symbols
* Theatre

* Outline

* Category
* Portal
* WikiProject

* v
* t
* e

Collaboration with Axis Powers by country

* Waffen-SS foreign
* Wehrmacht foreign
* Albania
* Belgium
* Denmark
* France
* Greece
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Norway
* Poland
* Netherlands
* Soviet Union
* Byelorussia
* Ukraine

* v
* t
* e

World War II

* Outline
* Military engagements
* Battles
* Operations
* Leaders
* Allied
* Axis
* Commanders
* Casualties
* Conferences

General|

| Topics|

* Air warfare of World War II
* In Europe
* Blitzkrieg
* Comparative military ranks
* Cryptography
* Declarations of war
* Diplomacy
* Governments in exile
* Home front
* Australian
* United Kingdom
* United States
* Lend-Lease
* Manhattan Project
* British contribution
* Military awards
* Military equipment
* Military production
* Naval history
* Nazi plunder
* Opposition
* Technology
* Allied cooperation
* Mulberry harbour
* Total war
* Strategic bombing
* Puppet states
* Women
* Art and World War II
* Music in World War II

|

Theaters|

* Asia and Pacific
* China
* South-East Asia
* Pacific
* North and Central Pacific
* South-West Pacific
* Indian Ocean
* Europe
* Western Front
* Eastern Front
* Mediterranean and Middle East
* North Africa
* East Africa
* Italy
* West Africa
* Atlantic
* timeline
* Americas

Aftermath|

* Chinese Civil War
* Cold War
* Decolonization
* Division of Korea
* First Indochina War
* Expulsion of Germans
* Greek Civil War
* Indonesian National Revolution
* Keelhaul
* Marshall Plan
* Occupation of Germany
* Occupation of Japan
* Osoaviakhim
* Paperclip
* Soviet occupations
* Baltic
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Territorial changes of Germany
* Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany
* United Nations

War crimes|

* Allied war crimes
* Soviet war crimes
* British war crimes
* United States war crimes
* German war crimes
* forced labour
* Wehrmacht war crimes
* The Holocaust
* Aftermath
* Response
* Nuremberg trials
* Italian war crimes
* Japanese war crimes
* Nanjing Massacre
* Unit 731
* Prosecution
* Croatian war crimes
* Genocide of Serbs
* Persecution of Jews
* Romanian war crimes
* Sexual violence
* German military brothels
* Camp brothels
* Rape during the occupation of Germany / Japan / Poland
* Rape during the liberation of France / Serbia
* Sook Ching
* Comfort women
* Rape of Manila
* Marocchinate

Participants|

| Allies|

* Algeria
* Australia
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Bulgaria (from September 1944)
* Canada
* China
* Cuba
* Czechoslovakia
* Denmark
* Ethiopia
* Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
* Finland (from September 1944)
* France
* Free France
* Greece
* India
* Italy (from September 1943)
* Luxembourg
* Mexico
* Netherlands
* Newfoundland
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania (from August 1944)
* Sierra Leone
* South Africa
* Southern Rhodesia
* Soviet Union
* Tuva
* United Kingdom
* British Empire
* United States
* Puerto Rico
* Yugoslavia

|

Axis|

* Albania protectorate
* Bulgaria (until September 1944)
* Wang Jingwei regime
* Croatia
* Finland (until September 1944)
* Germany
* Hungary
* Free India
* French Indochina
* Iraq
* Italy (until September 1943)
* Italian Social Republic
* Japan
* Manchukuo
* Philippines
* Romania (until August 1944)
* Slovak Republic
* Thailand
* Vichy France

Neutral|

* Ireland
* Portugal
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Vatican City

Resistance|

* Albania
* Austria
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Czech lands
* Denmark
* Dutch East Indies
* Estonia
* Ethiopia
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hong Kong
* Italy
* Japan
* Jews
* Korea
* Korean Liberation Army
* Korean Volunteer Army
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malaya
* Netherlands
* Northeast China
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania
* Thailand
* Soviet Union
* Slovakia
* Western Ukraine
* Vietnam
* Quốc dân Đảng
* Viet Minh
* Yugoslavia

POWs|

* Finnish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* German prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Azerbaijan
* United States
* United Kingdom
* Italian prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Japanese prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Soviet prisoners
* Finland
* atrocities by Germans
* Polish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Romanian prisoners in the Soviet Union

Timeline|

| Prelude|

* Africa
* Asia
* Khalkhin Gol
* Europe
* Operation Himmler

|

1939|

* Poland
* Phoney War
* Battle of South Guangxi
* Winter War
* Atlantic
* First Battle of Changsha
* 1939–1940 Winter Offensive

1940|

* German invasion of Denmark (1940)
* Norwegian campaign
* German invasion of Luxembourg
* Netherlands
* Belgium
* France
* Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
* Battle of Britain
* North Africa
* West Africa
* British Somaliland
* Hundred Regiments Offensive
* Baltic states
* Eastern Romania
* Indochina
* Greece
* Compass

1941|

* Battle of South Henan
* Battle of South Shanxi
* East Africa
* Yugoslavia
* Shanggao
* Greece
* Crete
* Iraq
* Soviet Union
* Summer War
* Finland (Silver Fox)
* Lithuania
* Syria and Lebanon
* Kiev
* Iran
* Leningrad
* Gorky
* Moscow
* Sevastopol
* Pearl Harbor
* Hong Kong
* Philippines
* Second Battle of Changsha
* Malaya
* Borneo (1941–1942)
* Greek famine of 1941–1944

1942|

* Burma
* Third Battle of Changsha
* Java Sea
* Coral Sea
* Gazala
* Dutch Harbor
* Attu (occupation)
* Kiska
* Zhejiang-Jiangxi
* Midway
* Rzhev
* Blue
* Stalingrad
* Singapore
* St Nazaire
* Dieppe
* El Alamein
* Guadalcanal
* Torch
* Chinese famine of 1942–1943

1943|

* Tunisia
* Battle of West Hubei
* Kursk
* Smolensk
* Gorky
* Solomon Islands
* Attu
* Sicily
* Cottage
* Lower Dnieper
* Italy
* Armistice of Cassibile
* Gilbert and Marshall Islands
* Burma
* Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
* Changde
* Bengal famine of 1943

1944|

* Monte Cassino / Anzio
* Narva
* Korsun–Cherkassy
* Tempest
* Ichi-Go
* Overlord
* Neptune
* Mariana and Palau
* Bagration
* Western Ukraine
* Tannenberg Line
* Warsaw
* Eastern Romania
* Belgrade
* Paris
* Dragoon
* Gothic Line
* Market Garden
* Estonia
* Crossbow
* Pointblank
* Lapland
* Philippines (1944–1945)
* Leyte
* Syrmian Front
* Hungary
* Budapest
* Burma (1944–1945)
* Ardennes
* Bodenplatte
* Dutch famine of 1944–1945

1945|

* Vistula–Oder
* Manila
* Iwo Jima
* Project Hula
* Western invasion of Germany
* Okinawa
* Guangxi
* West Hunan
* Italy (Spring 1945)
* Berlin
* Czechoslovakia
* Surrender of Germany
* document
* Borneo
* Taipei
* Naval bombardment of Japan
* Manchuria
* Atomic bombings
* Debate
* South Sakhalin
* Kuril Islands
* Shumshu
* Vietnamese famine of 1945
* Surrender of Japan
* Potsdam Declaration
* document
* End of World War II in Asia

* World portal
* Bibliography
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Governments in exile during World War II

Belgium|

* Prime Minister: Hubert Pierlot

Czechoslovakia|

* President: Edvard Beneš
Prime Minister: Jan Šrámek

France|

* Charles de Gaulle
* Henri Giraud
* French Committee of National Liberation (from 1943)

Greece|

* King George II
Prime Minister: Emmanouil Tsouderos (1941–1944) , Sofoklis Venizelos (1944) ,Georgios Papandreou (1944-1945)

Luxembourg|

* Grand Duchess Charlotte
Prime Minister: Pierre Dupong

Netherlands|

* Queen Wilhelmina
Prime Minister: Dirk Jan de Geer (1940) , Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (1940–1945)

Norway|

* King Haakon VII
Prime Minister: Johan Nygaardsvold

Poland|

* President: Władysław Raczkiewicz
Prime Minister: Władysław Sikorski (1939–1943) , Stanisław Mikołajczyk (1943–1944) , Tomasz Arciszewski (1944–1945)

Yugoslavia|

* King Peter II
Prime Minister: Dušan Simović (1941–1942) , Slobodan Jovanović (1942–1943) , Miloš Trifunović (1943) , Božidar Purić (1943–1944) , Ivan Šubašić (1944–1945)

Unrecognised or non-autonomous bodies|

* Austria
* Denmark
* Philippines
* Thailand

* v
* t
* e

Occupation of France and its colonies by the Axis powers

German occupation|

* Military Administration in France
* zone occupée/nord (1940–4)
* zone sud (1942–4)
* Belgium and Northern France
* Military Administration (1940–4)
* Reichskommissariat (1944)
* Alsace-Lorraine
* Gau Westmark
* Reichsgau Oberrhein
* Zone interdite
* Atlantic Wall coastal zone
* settlement zone
* French Tunisia

Italian occupation|

* Mainland France
* Corsica
* French Tunisia

Japanese occupation|

* French Indochina
* Cambodia

Thai occupation|

* Battambang and Sisophon (Cambodia) * Luang Prabang and Champasak (Laos)

See also|

* Vichy France
* Zone libre

* v
* t
* e

Administrative divisions in Nazi Germany and German occupations

Administrative
divisions of
Nazi Germany|

| Gaus (Altreich)|

* Baden-Alsace
* Bayreuth
* Berlin
* Cologne–Aachen
* Düsseldorf
* Eastern Hanover
* East Prussia
* Electoral Hesse
* Essen
* Franconia
* Halle-Merseburg
* Hamburg
* Hesse-Nassau
* Lower Silesia
* Magdeburg-Anhalt
* Main Franconia
* March of Brandenburg
* Mecklenburg
* Moselland
* Munich–Upper Bavaria
* NSDAP/AO
* Pomerania
* Saxony
* Schleswig-Holstein
* Silesia
* Swabia
* Southern Hanover–Brunswick
* Thuringia
* Upper Silesia
* Weser-Ems
* Westphalia-North
* Westphalia-South
* Westmark
* Württemberg-Hohenzollern

|

Reichsgaus|

* Carinthia
* Lower Danube
* Upper Danube
* Danzig–West Prussia
* Flanders
* Salzburg
* Styria
* Sudetenland
* Tyrol–Vorarlberg
* Vienna
* Wallonia
* Wartheland

Partial annexations|

* Bohemia and Moravia
* Polish areas

| General Government|

* Galicia
* Kraków
* Lublin
* Radom
* Warsaw

|

German
occupations|

| Civil Administration Areas|

* Carinthia and Carniola
* Danzig
* Lorraine
* Lower Styria
* Luxembourg
* Posen
* Sudetenland
* Zichenau

|

Districts|

* Bialystok District
* District of Brussels

Military administrations|

* Belgium and Northern France
* France
* Channel Islands
* Slovakia
* Greece
* Luxembourg
* Poland
* Soviet Union
* Army Group Rear Area Command
* Serbia
* Banat

Operational Zones|

* Adriatic Littoral
* Ljubljana
* Alpine Foothills

Puppet administrations|

* Austria
* Czechoslovakia
* Slovakia
* France
* Albania
* Montenegro
* Greece
* Hungary
* Croatia
* Macedonia
* Italy
* Administrative Council (Norway)
* National Government (Norway)
* Commissioner Government (Serbia)
* Government of National Salvation (Serbia)
* Belarus
* Ukraine
* Lithuania
* Lokot
* Lepel
* Zuyev Republic

Reichskommissariats|

| Founded|

* Belgium and Northern France
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Ostland
* Ukraine

|

Planned|

* Caucasia
* Muscovy
* Turkestan

Other occupations|

* Crimea
* Denmark
* Finland
* Monaco
* San Marino
* Tunisia

Other|

* New Swabia
* Weather Station Kurt
* Schatzgräber
* Holzauge
* Bassgeiger
* Edelweiss

* v
* t
* e

Liberation of France

* Belgium
* Italy
* Luxembourg
* Netherlands
* Norway

Forces|

* Army of Africa
* Commando Kieffer
* First Army
* Cavalry Corps
* 3rd Army Corps
* 4th
* 5th
* 1st Armored
* 32nd Infantry
* Francs-Tireurs et Partisans
* French Forces of the Interior
* French Liberation Army
* French Expeditionary Corps Divisions:
* 1st Free French
* 2nd Moroccan Infantry
* 3rd Algerian Infantry
* 4th Moroccan Mountain
* Second Army
* French Forces of the West

Leaders|

* Charles de Gaulle
* Jean Moulin
* Winston Churchill
* Bernard Montgomery
* Henri Giraud
* Dwight D. Eisenhower
* Raymond O. Barton
* George S. Patton
* Philippe Leclerc
* Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
* Philippe Kieffer

Administration|

* Empire Defense Council
* French Civil and Military High Command
* French National Committee
* French Committee of National Liberation
* Provisional Consultative Assembly
* Provisional Government

French
campaign|

| Nov 1940|

* Battle of Gabon

|

Jun 1941|

* Syria–Lebanon campaign

Dec 1941|

* Capture of Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Nov 1942|

* Operation Torch
* Tunisian campaign
* Battle of Réunion

Sept 1943|

* Liberation of Corsica

Jan 1944|

* Battle of Vercors
* Battle of Glières

March 1944|

* Liberation of Limousin

May 1944|

* Battle of Mont Mouchet

Jun 1944|

* Operation Overlord
* Battle of Carentan
* Battle of Cherbourg
* Battle for Caen
* Liberation of Limousin
* Tulle massacre
* Liberation of Guéret [fr]
* Oradour-sur-Glane massacre
* Maquis de Saint-Marcel
* Maquis de Saffré
* Battle of Ushant

July 1944|

* Liberation of Saint-Lô
* Battle of Mont Gargan [fr]
* Operation Cobra

Aug 1944|

* Battle for Brittany
* Rennes
* Saint-Malo
* Liberation of Brest
* Atlantic pockets:
* Lorient
* Saint-Nazaire
* Lioran [fr]
* Égletons [fr]
* Battle of Port Cros
* Battle of La Ciotat
* Provence landings
* Liberation of Toulon
* Liberation of Marseille
* Liberation of Paris
* Maillé massacre
* Liberation of Guéret [fr]
* Battle of Montélimar [fr]
* Liberation of Nice [fr]

Sept 1944|

* Liberation of Nancy
* Operation Astonia
* Operation Undergo
* Atlantic pockets:
* La Rochelle
* Royan
* Dunkirk
* Battle of Arracourt
* Battle of Meximieux [fr]

Nov 1944 -
March 1945|

* Battle of Alsace
* Liberation of Strasbourg
* Colmar Pocket
* Bitche [fr]

Apr 1945|

* Atlantic pockets:
* Royan

May 1945|

* Atlantic pockets:
* Dunkirk
* La Rochelle
* Lorient
* Saint-Nazaire

Aftermath|

* End of Vichy
* 1945 municipal elections
* Advance to the Rhine
* Invasion of Germany
* End of World War II in Europe
* Victory in Europe Day
* Victory Day
* Provisional Government
* Épuration légale
* Épuration sauvage
* Tripartisme
* 1946 legislative election
* Fourth Republic
* Trente Glorieuses
* Trial of Philippe Pétain
* Klaus Barbie trial

* WW II theatres:
* Atlantic
* Western Front
* Eastern Front
* Mediterranean and Middle East
* Pacific
* Sino Japanese

48°05′16″N 9°13′01″E﻿ / ﻿48.08778°N 9.21694°E﻿ / 48.08778; 9.21694

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* France
* BnF data

Other|

* IdRef

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template