Vichy's anti-Jewish laws: the status of Jews (1940-1944)

From autumn 1940 onward, without explicit German demand, the Vichy regime enacted its own exclusion laws. The first « status of Jews », on October 3, 1940, legally defined the Jew and excluded them from public office, the military, the press, and education; a second status, in June 1941, intensified the ban and ordered the census and then the « aryanization » of property. A General Commission for Jewish Questions was established to implement this policy. Distinct from German Nuremberg laws but converging with them, this State antisemitic legislation materially and administratively prepared the roundups and deportation. This theme examines the genesis of these laws, their effects on daily life, and the historiographical debate on the French State's own responsibility.

Sources & resources

• L'État contre les Juifs. Vichy, les nazis et la persécution antisémite — Laurent Joly, 2018
• La France de Vichy, 1940-1944 — Robert O. Paxton, 1973
• Mémoire Juive & Éducation — Dominique Natanson ↗