Occupation. The Ordeal of France 1940-1944

Книга "Occupation. The Ordeal of France 1940-1944". Winner of the 1997 Edith McLeod Literary Prize, given annually to the British book which ‘has contributed most to Franco-British understanding'.Winner of the 1997 Stern Silver PEN Award for [link] real story of the Occupation uncovers a reality more complex, more human and ultimately more moving than the myths which have grown after the event. Defeat in 1940 left the French so demoralized that they readily supported the Vichy regime, committed not just to pragmatic collaborations but to finding scapegoats for the nation's disgrace. Jews and Communists became the chief victims of a witch-hunt which left plenty of scope for private grudges as well.Resistance came late: the Occupation was fourteen months old before the first German soldier was killed. The public mood changed only as the Reich's original correctness gave way to brutality, and as events outside France prefigured possible German defeat. But even as Liberation approached,...