World War II

France under Occupation: an overview of the historical context

The period in which France was occupied by Nazi Germany, from 1940 to 1944, was a struggle for the French who had to fight for their very survival while often also struggling with questions of conscience.

It was a pattern seen in other Nazi occupied countries. Finding food, shelter and security was a daily trial. Everyone’s lives were at risk every day – from the violence of war itself and from the brutal and repressive administration of the Nazi occupiers. Fear was a way of life.

The situation in which France found itself was unique in Europe at the time. The Armistice of June 1940 resulted in France being divided into two zones:

• the Occupied Zone, under the direct control of the German army
• the Southern Zone, under the authority of the Vichy regime to which parliament granted full powers on July 10.

This division remained until November 11, 1942 when the German army invaded the “free” zone.

The legitimacy of the Vichy regime was challenged following the call to arms delivered by General De Gaulle from London on June 18, 1940. The leaders of the Vichy regime were brought to trial upon the country’s liberation, most of whom were found guilty, some were sentenced to death.

Many French people actively resisted the Nazi occupation. Many did their best to meet the challenges of daily life just to survive, while others collaborated. Tens of thousands were sent to their deaths simply because they were Jewish and others for their political and philosophical viewpoints or their involvement in the Resistance. It is estimated that 76,000 Jews and 86,000 political deportees were sent from France to the death camps.

Historical research has also highlighted the sometimes considerable differences between institutional policy and the behavior of people working within these institutions. The institutions were in fact placed under the twin guardianship of the Vichy regime and the Germans and controlled by political and military constraints.

The tragic times of war

In September 1939 the Second World War broke out. Throughout the German offensive of May 1940, the railway network was badly hit – many stations, bridges and facilities were destroyed. Under the provisions of article 13 of the Armistice agreement signed at Rethondes on June 22, 1940, SNCF was placed at the “full and entire” disposal of the occupying authorities, under the orders of the German Head of Transport. SNCF was then under the control of the Colonel Commandant of the W.K.D. The company’s managers tried to keep the rail network in operation, providing transport needed by the French people to survive (travel, supplies, etc.).

Starting in July 1940, railway workers were subject to the laws dictated by the occupying forces and any failure to comply was severely punished, sometimes by death.

The constraints imposed by the Nazi occupying forces on SNCF were horrific. In 1941, convoys of prisoners, political deportees and resistance fighters were taken to Germany.

On March 27, 1942 the first convoy of racial deportees departed from Drancy and Compiègne. By August 1944, 76,000 Jewish men, women and children had been sent by train to the German border. The German railway workers would then take them on to the horror of extermination camps. The transportation conditions were appalling. The Nazis ordered all arrangements regarding the convoys : composition, timetable, material, etc. Children, women and elderly people had to endure the most abominable situations, in conditions that were inhumane. A quarter of France’s Jewish population was deported and sadly, few would return.

The Resistance

Many railway workers took part in the French Resistance. Acts of sabotage began in 1941, increased in 1943 and multiplied in 1944 – affecting tracks, locomotives, rolling stock, stations, depots and structures. Acts of resistance of all kinds were undertaken, including providing hiding places in the wagons, the loan of SNCF uniforms for deception, slowing trains down to enable passengers to jump off, distributing underground newspapers, providing intelligence about German transport movements and committing acts of disruption and sabotage on the railway tracks. They prepared and staged the “Green Plan” that helped to delay and sometimes entirely stop German troop movements to the battlefields and, in particular, the Normandy coast. The Green Plan accompanied the military actions of the Allies and the combats toward Liberation, again through intelligence gathering, sabotage and disorganization of the Nazis’ military transports.

The human price paid for this resistance was high: nearly 800 SNCF railway workers were executed by Nazi firing squads for resisting orders, nearly 1,200 SNCF railway workers were deported to Nazi death camps for sabotage and other acts of defiance, and another 2,361 railway workers were killed during the war by bombing, machine gunfire or mines. France recognized these acts of bravery by awarding SNCF the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d’Honneur, both prestigious military honors, in an unprecedented tribute to a company and its workforce.

Next: After World War II