Government of Vichy France
Collaborationist government in Nazi-occupied France
The Government of Vichy France was the collaborationist ruling regime or government in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Of contested legitimacy, it was finally headquartered in the town of Vichy in occupied France, but it initially took shape in Bordeaux under Marshal Philippe Pétain as the successor to the French Third Republic in June 1940. The government remained in Vichy for four years, but was escorted to Germany in September 1944 after the Allied invasion of France. It then operated as a government-in-exile until April 1945, when the Sigmaringen enclave was taken by Free French forces. Pétain was permitted to travel back to France, by then under control of the technically illegal Provisional French Republic, and subsequently put on trial for treason.
The public source identifies “Government of Vichy France” as collaborationist government in Nazi-occupied France. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Government, Vichy and France.
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This entry incorporates text from “Government of Vichy France” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.