The Three Frances: 1940-1944
type: CreativeWork
description: France during the German Occupation was divided into two zones, the northern two/thirds, directly occupied by German troops, and the southern zone, which remained until 1942 an independent French state. However France, divided more than physically, can also be broken down into three groups, the Collaborators and the Resisters, who responded actively to the Occupation, and Passive France, the large majority of French people who allowed events to run their course without attempting actively to shape them. This thesis, rather than a history of France from 1940 through 1944, will examine these three categories of response to the occupation. Why did some collaborate, some resist, and the majority remain passive? What role did the prewar period play in furthering this division of France? Were there general attitudes about France and her relationship to Germany and to the Allies that characterized each group as a whole? What ideas about the political, social, and economic future of France motivated each group? Finally, what was the significance of the choices each group made for themselves and for France?
abstract: France during the German Occupation was divided into two zones, the northern two/thirds, directly occupied by German troops, and the southern zone, which remained until 1942 an independent French state. However France, divided more than physically, can also be broken down into three groups, the Collaborators and the Resisters, who responded actively to the Occupation, and Passive France, the large majority of French people who allowed events to run their course without attempting actively to shape them. This thesis, rather than a history of France from 1940 through 1944, will examine these three categories of response to the occupation. Why did some collaborate, some resist, and the majority remain passive? What role did the prewar period play in furthering this division of France? Were there general attitudes about France and her relationship to Germany and to the Allies that characterized each group as a whole? What ideas about the political, social, and economic future of France motivated each group? Finally, what was the significance of the choices each group made for themselves and for France?
author: Fishman, Sarah
language: English
keywords: History, Military History, European History, France
date published: 1979
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:36:39Z
provider: OhioLINK
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Oberlin College Honors Theses