Stand up for the image of France or follow French opinion: the external resistance and the persecution of the Jews

Abstract

The attitude taken by the French Resistance towards the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War is a subject rarely addressed by historians. Given the Holocaust’s dominant presence in Western memory, it is not easy to detach the inquiry from the ethical implications connected to this topic in order to offer a political analysis of the attitudes of the metropolitan and external resistance networks in regard to the plight of Jews. A comparative study of the attitudes of the metropolitan and external Resistances to this issue can emphasise the specific constraints that weighed on Free France. The two movements shared similar attitudes (with some exceptions), in particular regarding antisemitic legislation, the mass roundups of the Jews and, later, deportations and information on the plight of Jews in camps. Nonetheless, the status, hierarchies and political aims of both movements account for the differences in attitudes and positions. While attention to the image of France informed Free French considerations, the perceptions French people had of this issue, along with their alleged antisemitism, influenced the external resistance to some degree. Notwithstanding, these had a much bigger impact on the topics and tones of clandestine publications.