The Vichy Syndrome
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The Vichy syndrome is a term introduced by Henry Rousso in his 1987 book, Le syndrome de Vichy, to describe the collective guilt, shame, and denial that many French people felt in the aftermath of the Second World War, especially in the 1970s and beyond, and particularly with regard to the collaborationist Vichy government. The Vichy regime's complicity in the persecution of Jews and other minorities has been a source of shame and controversy in France ever since.[1][2][3]
Background
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After the war, Charles de Gaulle declared that "The Republic [had] never ceased to exist" and "Vichy was and is null and void." France was liberated by Allied troops in 1944. France's collaboration with Germans was whitewashed. A false narrative of exaggerated importance of the Resistance in the Liberation created the founding myth of post-Vichy France, and it closely intertwined with the question on how France should face the history to recognize its stake in the Holocaust and how this period should be oriented in French national memory.
Terminology
Henry Rousso coined the term "Vichy syndrome in his 1987 book[2] Le syndrome de Vichy 1944–1987 published in France in 1987.[1]
Reception
The book was recognized as an "instant classic",[1] Republished in 1990 as Le Syndrome de Vichy de 1944 à nos jours, it was labeled "magisterial".[4] The book first appeared in English in 1991 as The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France since 1944 and was immediately noted in the English literature, inspiring comment and ferther analysis in journals such as French Historical Studies.[5].
See also
- Myth of the clean Wehrmacht - the negationist notion that regular German armed forces were not involved in the Holocaust or other war crimes during World War II.
Works cited
- Bracher, Nathan (1993). "Le Syndrome de Vichy de 1944 à nos jours by Henry Rousso (review)". L'Esprit Créateur (in French). 33 (1). JHU Press. doi:10.1353/esp.1993.0054. OCLC 7079175074 – via TWL/Project MUSE.
- Coutau-Bégarie, Hervé (1988). "Henry Rousso. Le syndrome de Vichy (1944-1987)". Politique étrangère (in French). 53 (3): 784.
- Gordon, Bertram M (1995). "The 'Vichy Syndrome' Problem in History". French Historical Studies. 19 (2). Duke University Press, Society for French Historical Studies: 495–518. doi:10.2307/286785. ISSN 0016-1071. JSTOR 286785 – via JSTOR.
- Reid, Donald (2002). "The Occupation, the French State, and Business (book review) - BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW - Donald Reid" (PDF). Business History Review. Harvard Business School. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-09-15.
References
- ^ a b c Coutau-Bégarie 1988, p. 784.
- ^ a b Reid 2002.
- ^ Gordon 1995, p. 495.
- ^ Bracher 1993, p. 118.
- ^ Gordon 1995, p. 496.
Further reading
- Rousso, Henry (1991). The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France since 1944. Harvard University Press. pp. vii–x, 15–19.
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