Abstract

Basing his extensive research into hitherto unexploited archival documentation on both sides of the Rhine, Allan Mitchell has uncovered the inner workings of the German military regime from the Wehrmacht’s triumphal entry into Paris in June 1940 to its ignominious withdrawal in August 1944. Although mindful of the French experience and the fundamental issue of collaboration, the author concentrates on the complex problems of occupying a foreign territory after a surprisingly swift conquest. By exploring in detail such topics as the regulation of public comportment, economic policy, forced labor, culture and propaganda, police activity, persecution and deportation of Jews, assassinations, executions, and torture, this study supersedes earlier attempts to investigate the German domination and exploitation of wartime France. In doing so, these findings provide an invaluable complement to the work of scholars who have viewed those dark years exclusively or mainly from the French perspective.

Allan Mitchell† received his PhD from Harvard in 1961 and then taught at Smith College (1961-1972) and the University of California (1973-1993). He recently published three books: a paperback edition of The Great Train Race: Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815-1914 (Berghahn Books, 2006); Rêves Parisiens. L’échec de projets de transport public en France aux XIXe siècle (Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, 2005); and A Stranger in Paris: Germany’s Role in Republican France, 1870-1940 (Berghahn Books, 2006).

CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE 2009

“Outstanding Title! This succinct, tightly organized, and meticulously researched---in both German and French archival sources---monograph presents a thematic treatment of the German side of the occupation that includes such issues as the economy, the maintenance of order, culture and propaganda, and the Jewish question… This splendid volume, a worthy continuation of Mitchell's 40 years' work in Franco-German history, will have great utility for all levels of readership. A must for all collections. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries.”  ·  Choice

“...an essential book. It provides precise facts and figures for many issues that have heretofore been presented in impressionistic terms.”  ·  The International History Review