Editing Philippe Pétain (section)

===Exile to Sigmaringen===
[[File:Sigmaringen Schloss BW 2015-04-28 17-37-14.jpg|thumb|[[Sigmaringen Castle]] in southern Germany housed Vichy and other collaborationist exiles in 1944 and 1945 after the [[Liberation of France]]]]
{{Main|Sigmaringen enclave}}

On 17 August 1944, the Germans, in the person of [[Cecil von Renthe-Fink]], "special diplomatic delegate of the [[Führer]] to the French Head of State", asked Pétain to allow himself to be transferred to the northern zone.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} Pétain refused and asked for a written formulation of this request.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} Renthe-Fink renewed his request twice on the 18th, then returned on the 19th, at {{nobr|11:30}}, accompanied by General [[Alexander Neubronn von Eisenberg]], who told him that he had "formal orders from Berlin".{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}}
The written text was submitted to Pétain: "The Reich Government instructs the transfer of the Head of State, even against his will".{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} Faced with the Marshal's continued refusal, the Germans threatened to bring in the Wehrmacht to bomb Vichy.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}}
After having requested the Swiss ambassador {{ill|Walter Stucki|fr|vertical-align=sup}} to bear witness to the Germans' blackmail, Pétain submitted. When Renthe-Fink entered the Marshal's office at the [[Hôtel du Parc]] with General Neubronn "at 7:30 p.m.", the Head of State was supervising the packing up of his suitcases and papers.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} The next day, 20 August 1944, Pétain was taken against his will by the German army to [[Belfort]].

Following the [[liberation of France]], on 8 September 1944, Pétain and other members of the French cabinet at Vichy were relocated by the Germans to the [[Sigmaringen enclave]] in Germany, where they became a [[government-in-exile]] until April 1945. Pétain, however, having been forced to leave France, refused to participate in this government and [[Fernand de Brinon]] now headed the "government commission".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nCE_2I4vyZkC Pétain et la fin de la collaboration: Sigmaringen, 1944–1945], Henry Rousso, éditions Complexe, Paris, 1984.</ref> In a note dated 29 October 1944, Pétain forbade de Brinon to use the Marshal's name in any connection with this new government, and on 5 April 1945, Pétain wrote a note to Hitler expressing his wish to return to France. No reply ever came. However, on his birthday almost three weeks later, he was taken to the Swiss border. Two days later he crossed the French frontier.<ref>Griffiths, 1970, pp. 333–334.</ref>