The Surveillance of Subversion in Interwar France: An Addendum

Abstract

The Chef du Bureau des Archives et du Musee de la Prefecture de Police de la Seine has graciously supplied me with some further information about the national composition of foreigners on the Carnet B in April 1936. This information bears on the section of the Carnet B devoted to foreigners residing in France and deemed dangerous to internal order in the event of conflict, troubles or political tension. Of the 601 names in this category, 309 were for people living in Paris and of known address, 292 for people of unknown address or presumed to be living in the provinces. The two categories are merged in the April 1936 column in the accompanying table; there is no appreciable difference between them in national distribution. The new figures show (a) that Germans had replaced Italians as the objects of primary concern in the year since the drafting of the last list; (b) that Russians, who had constituted a major group on the 1932 list, had nearly disappeared from the category; and (c) that on the eve of the Civil War Spaniards aroused very little concern because of their involvement in French politics. The shifts in national focus from 1932 to 1935 and from 1935 to 1936 provide further evidence that the composition of the special Carnet B for foreigners was inspired more by national defense concerns than by the immediate activities of the foreigners themselves. The emphasis of the surveillance officials was on the potential rather than on the actual danger posed by the presence of foreigners in France.