fme_1049171 - FRENCH STATE Plaquette, Saint Christophe, Offerte aux prisonniers du Stalag XI B

FRENCH STATE

(07/10/1940-08/26/1944)

Born from the collapse of the Third Republic following the French defeat of May-June 1940, the French State was founded by a vote of the Parliament meeting in the National Assembly in Vichy on July 10, 1940. The National Assembly by 569 yes, 80 no and 17 abstentions gives "all powers to the government of the Republic, under the authority and signature of Marshal Pétain, for the purpose of promulgating by one or more acts a new constitution of the 'French State". This constitution must "guarantee the rights of Work, Family and Fatherland". By six acts of 1940, the presidency of the Republic is suppressed in favor of Marshal Pétain, head of the French state.. A supreme court of justice is created. Marshal Pétain exercises full power not only governmental but also legislative since he appoints and dismisses ministers, and he appoints to all civil or military jobs.. It also has justice and armed force. It negotiates and ratifies treaties. From 1941, all civil servants must take an oath to the Head of State. A moral and intellectual reform tackles divorce, abortion, alcoholism, prohibits Freemasonry and creates a Jewish Affairs Commissariat. Unions are abolished and replaced by a corporate system. The family is supported and the retirement of workers is instituted. The Montoire interview of October 24, 1940 commits France to the path of collaboration which becomes total from June 1941 with the attacks of the communist resistance.. The French State is also committed alongside Germany in an anti-Bolshevik crusade. After the progressive loss of the Empire, the southern zone is occupied by the Germans causing the scuttling of the fleet in Toulon. With the establishment of the Compulsory Labor Service (S. T. O. ), the resistance sees its ranks increase. The attacks, and their repression, increase while the National Council of Resistance is formed. The landing and the uprisings of the resistance allow the Provisional Government of the French Republic to increase its control. On August 20, 1944, Marshal Pétain was taken to Sigmaringen by the Germans. On the 25th, the Leclerc division was the first to enter Paris in a state of insurrection, thus sounding the death knell of the Vichy regime..