Rostislav Botev, Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons
France’s division into two zones left citizens unable to freely move across the demarcation line.
Photographer Unknown, Bundesarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons
The arts were promoted to preserve Paris’s artistic reputation. Here the Paris Opera is decorated with swastikas for a German music festival.
Langhaus, Bundesarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons
German soldiers integrated themselves into life in France. It was a crime to harm them and retribution was swift and lopsided. Sometimes dozens of French people would be killed in response.
National Archives at College Park, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Young Resisters like Simone Segouin smuggled messages, blew up trains, and captured German soldiers. France awarded her the Croix de guerre for her heroism.
Photographer Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Underground pamphlets and newspapers like Combat skirted censorship laws and helped keep the Resistance connected.
Weber, Robert, Bundesarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons
1.5 million French soldiers were shipped to Germany as prisoners of war. Germany would sometimes exchange sickly POWs for healthy young French workers.
Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Allies bombed 1,570 French towns and cities, causing almost 70,000 civilian deaths.
Lt. W. R. Wilson. (Army), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
After the Allies took France’s African colonies from Vichy, they were subjected to Nazi attacks like this 1943 air raid on Oran, Algeria.
Photographer Unknown, Bundesarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons
Hateful exhibitions were held on “The Jew and France.”
Daniel*D, Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons
Germany confiscated much of France’s production of basic goods, creating shortages. This led to rationing cards and farmers selling food on the black market.
Photographer Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Jewish-owned businesses were required to post the owner’s religion on the window.
Kriegsberichter Koll, Bundesarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons
French communists, like this unidentified man arrested by German officers, were often tried in Vichy’s sections spéciales courts. The only sentences these courts could give were life imprisonment, hard labour, or death.
Jacques Mulard, Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons
Britain sank France’s navy in July 1940 out of fears of it getting into German hands.
État français, Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons
Statut des Juifs (Jewish Law) stripped many Jews of citizenship and property, barred them from working in professions, and banned them from some public places. 75,000 Jews in France were ultimately deported to Nazi extermination camps.