Germany’s Western front remained quiet for several months as its military efforts, with the assistance of the Soviet Union, were directed to the obliteration of Poland. On May 10, 1940, Germany launched its invasion to the west, attacking first the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) and then France through the Ardennes, bypassing the purportedly impenetrable barrier of the Maginot Line. Five days later, German tank divisions broke through at Sedan and, in that short time, France’s military situation completely deteriorated.
The panicked French government, headed by Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, began making cabinet changes and brought on First World War hero Marshal Philippe Pétain as a deputy prime minister. The French military was placed under the leadership of General Maxime Weygand, also a First World War veteran who had seen success in battle. These changes were useless; the German offensive continued and German troops broke through the French lines in early June.
At this point, the Reynaud government had a choice: it could try to reach an agreement with the Germans or flee and carry out resistance from abroad.7 Laval urged the government to stay, claiming it would be treason to abandon France to a German Gauleiter (regional Nazi Party leader). President Albert Lebrun, on the other hand, strongly urged a government-in-exile. Laval’s view prevailed.8 A few days later, Reynaud resigned and Pétain was asked to form a new government. Pétain offered Laval the Justice Ministry portfolio but Laval declined, since he wanted to be foreign minister. This meant that Laval was not part of the new government, which was immediately tasked with ending hostilities before France was completely crushed militarily.9
France received Germany’s armistice terms on June 21. If France agreed to the terms, Germany would occupy two-thirds of the country, including the entire Atlantic and English Channel coasts, and France would bear the cost of the occupation. The French military would be reduced to a police force of one hundred thousand, and its weapons and equipment would be made available to Germany. The French naval fleet would be disarmed, except as necessary to protect the colonies, but would remain under French control. Germany would not use the fleet for its military objectives. The French colonial empire would be left intact, and a new and emasculated French government would administer both the occupied and unoccupied zones of France. France would also be obliged to hand over Germans living in France to the Germans; these were essentially German Jews and political opponents who had fled Hitler’s Germany for what they had thought was the safe haven of the French Republic.
France signed the armistice agreement on June 22.10 The following day, Laval was appointed minister of state and several days later, he was made deputy prime minister.11 Since Paris was in the zone occupied by the Germans, the new French government had to locate elsewhere. It selected the spa town of Vichy, located centrally in France, but in the northern section of the unoccupied zone. The new government then became known as the Vichy government or regime.
The criminal trial against Laval at the end of the war related to his conduct as a minister in the Vichy government. Laval was part of the Vichy government twice: first from June 1940 to December 1940, and then again from April 1942 until the war’s end. The following pages focus on Laval’s conduct during these two stages, which formed the core of the charges against him. Such conduct was, of course, but a small fraction of what Laval did over the almost three-year period covered by his position of power in the Vichy regime.
Laval as Deputy Minister: June to December 1940
As deputy prime minister, Laval had two primary objectives. The first was to create a governmental structure that differed from that of the just-defeated Third Republic. Convinced that the many changes in government and its leftist tinge had weakened the French state, Laval favored a more authoritarian and right-wing form of government. Second, his long-standing view that Germany and France had to reconcile was now made even more urgent by France’s military defeat at the hands of Nazi Germany. In Laval’s view, this latest round of European warfare would end in Germany winning the war, including the conquest of England. Moreover, as others mistakenly believed at the time, Laval felt that Hitler could be worked with and perhaps even managed.12
The first objective of substituting a more authoritarian form of government for the existing Third Republic did not take long to implement. Pétain shared Laval’s notion that the democracy of the Third Republic weakened France and that a stronger, more authoritarian form of government was desirable. On July 10, 1940, Pétain and Laval prevailed upon the French National Assembly to vote itself out of existence, which it did by a vote of 569 to 80. This formally ended the Third Republic. Pétain now launched the Révolution nationale, an authoritarian regime aimed at restoring France.13
In October, Laval was in Paris when informed by the German ambassador to Vichy France, Otto Abetz, with whom Laval had established a close relationship, that he would soon be meeting the German foreign minister, Joachim Ribbentrop. The meeting turned out to include Hitler as well, who said he would like to meet with Pétain. On October 24, 1940, Hitler, Ribbentrop, Pétain, and Laval met at Montoire, a Parisian suburb. “Montoire,” as it was to be known, was more significant for its symbolism than for any concrete results. The German leaders had hoped that France would declare war against England, but Pétain, who still had a semblance of authority, did not accede to the request. Pétain and Laval did agree that France would fight the British to retain control over French colonies.
Shortly after the conference, Pétain made an infamous radio address to the French people in which he announced that he had experienced no pressure from Hitler but that “a collaboration was envisaged between our two countries.” Collaboration was undertaken, according to Pétain, to preserve French unity and French sovereignty.14
Prior to Montoire, Laval had insisted that the French foreign minister, Paul Baudouin, not attend the meeting. This caused Baudouin to resign. Laval was then named foreign minister, a position from which he could effectuate the goal of cooperation with Germany.15 Laval was able to quickly resolve two separate issues of importance to Germany. The first related to Belgian gold reserves that had been given to the Bank of France for safekeeping after Germany’s occupation of Belgium. Just before the fall of France, these gold reserves were transferred to French West Africa to keep them out of German control. Germany now wanted to ensure that these gold reserves not fall into British hands. Initially, they were to be returned to the Belgian National Bank, and the Germans insisted that, as an occupying power, they stood in the shoes of the Belgian National Bank. Laval assented to this position.16
A second issue after Montoire, again indicating French cooperation with Germany’s war effort, involved the French-owned Bor copper mines in Yugoslavia. Because of the need for copper in the production of war materiel, the Germans wanted to purchase these mines. Prior to Montoire, the French government rebuffed these requests. After Montoire, Laval instructed the directors of the French company to sell the Bor mines to the Germans. The sale took place and ownership was placed in German hands.17
Laval’s first tenure with the Vichy regime was to be of short duration. On December 13, 1940, Pétain asked for the resignation of all his ministers, which he received. He then announced that he accepted the resignations of Laval and one other minister. Why Pétain sacked Laval has been the subject of much speculation over the years. Geoffrey Warner, in his political biography of Laval, concludes it was a personality clash between the military approach of Pétain and the more casual, parliamentary approach of Laval. 18 Pétain liked decision-making along clear lines of authority; Laval tended to make decisions without “going through channels.” A more mundane explanation is that Pétain was tired of Laval blowing smoke in his face, something that Laval quite literally is supposed to have done.19 Whatever the reason, Laval’s first association with the Vichy regime ended, and he was to proceed into oblivion for the next sixteen months.20
Laval as Prime Minister: April 1942 to April 1944
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