Editing François Mitterrand (section)

===Work in France under the Vichy administration: 1941–1943===
Mitterrand worked from January to April 1942 for the [[Légion française des combattants|''Légion française des combattants et des volontaires de la révolution nationale'']] (Legion of French combatants and volunteers of the national revolution) as a civil servant on a temporary contract. François Mitterrand worked under [[Jean-Paul Favre de Thierrens]] who was a spy for the British secret service. He then moved to the ''[[Commissariat au reclassement des prisonniers de guerre]]'' (Service for the Reorientation of POWs). During this period, François Mitterrand was aware of Thierrens's activities and may have helped in his [[disinformation]] campaign.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} At the same time, he published an article detailing his time as a POW in the magazine ''France, revue de l'État nouveau'' (the magazine was published as propaganda by the Vichy Regime).<ref>reprinted in ''Politique I'', in 1978.</ref>

[[File:François Mitterrand 1942.jpg|thumb|Mitterrand (right) with [[Philippe Pétain]] on 15 October 1942]]
François Mitterrand has been called a "{{lang|fr|Vichysto-résistant}}" (an expression used by the historian Jean-Pierre Azéma to describe people who supported Marshal [[Philippe Pétain]], the head of the Vichy Regime, before 1943, but subsequently rejected the Vichy Regime).<ref>Robert Belot in ''La Résistance sans De Gaulle'', éd. Fayard, 2006, et Henry Rousso in ''l'Express'' n° 2871, du 13 juillet 2006.</ref>

From spring 1942, he met other escaped POWs {{ill|Jean Roussel (politician)|fr|Jean Roussel (homme politique)|lt=Jean Roussel}}, Max Varenne, and Dr. {{ill|Guy Fric|fr}}, under whose influence he became involved with the resistance. In April, François Mitterrand and Fric caused a major disturbance in a public meeting held by the collaborator [[Georges Claude]]. From mid-1942, he sent false papers to POWs in Germany{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} and on 12 June and 15 August 1942, he joined meetings at the Château de Montmaur which formed the base of his future network for the resistance.<ref>Jean Lacouture, ''Mitterrand, une histoire de Français'', op. cit., pp. 75/79 et Franz-Olivier Giesbert, ''François Mitterrand, une vie'', éd. du Seuil, "Points", 1996, pp. 77/79</ref> From September, he made contact with [[Free France|Free French Forces]], but clashed with {{ill|Michel Cailliau|fr}}, General [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s nephew (and de Gaulle's candidate to head-up all POW-related resistance organizations).<ref>Pierre Péan, ''Une jeunesse française'', op. cit., pp. 217/218 et Jean Lacouture, ''Mitterrand, une histoire de Français'', op. cit., p. 81</ref> On 15 October 1942, François Mitterrand and Marcel Barrois (a member of the resistance deported in 1944) met Marshal [[Philippe Pétain]] along with other members of the ''Comité d'entraide aux prisonniers rapatriés de l'Allier'' (Mutual Assistance Committee for Repatriated POWs of the Allier Department).<ref>a photograph taken at this meeting is on the cover of Pierre Péan's book. Marcel Barrois is in the photo.</ref> By the end of 1942, François Mitterrand met [[Pierre de Bénouville|Pierre Guillain de Bénouville]], an old friend from his days with ''[[La Cagoule]]''. Bénouville was a member of the resistance groups ''[[Combat (French Resistance)|Combat]]'' and ''[[Noyautage des administrations publiques]]'' (NAP).

In late 1942, [[Case Anton|the non-occupied zone was invaded by the Germans]]. Mitterrand left the Commissariat in January 1943, when his boss {{ill|Maurice Pinot|fr}}, another {{lang|fr|vichysto-résistant}}, was replaced by the collaborator André Masson, but he remained in charge of the ''centres d'entraides''. In the spring of 1943, along with [[Gabriel Jeantet]], a member of Marshal Pétain's cabinet, and [[Simon Arbellot]] (both former members of La Cagoule), François Mitterrand received the [[Order of the Francisque]] (the honorific distinction of the Vichy Regime).

Debate rages in France as to the significance of this. When François Mitterrand's Vichy past was exposed in the 1950s, he at first denied having received the Francisque (some sources say he was designated for the award, but never received the medal because he went into hiding before the ceremony took place).<ref name="Glasbert">"autumn 1943", from: Franz-Olivier Giesbert, François Mitterrand ou la tentation de l'histoire, Éditions du Seuil, 1977 {{ISBN|2-02-004591-5}}, chap. 5, p.49.</ref> Socialist Resistance leader [[Jean Pierre-Bloch]] says that Mitterrand was ordered to accept the medal as cover for his work in the resistance.<ref>[[Jean Pierre-Bloch]], ''De Gaulle ou le temps des méprises'' (pp. 216/218) "C'était sur notre ordre que François Mitterrand était resté dans les services de prisonniers de Vichy. Lorsqu'il avait été proposé pour la francisque, nous avions été parfaitement tenus au courant; nous lui avions conseillé d'accepter cette "distinction" pour ne pas se dévoiler".</ref> [[Pierre Moscovici]] and [[Jacques Attali]] remain skeptical of Mitterrand's beliefs at this time, accusing him of having at best a "foot in each camp" until he was sure who the winner would be. They noted his friendship with [[René Bousquet]] and the wreaths he was said to have placed on Pétain's tomb in later years (see below) as examples of his ambivalent attitude.<ref>Jacques Attali, ''C'était François Mitterrand'', Fayard, 2005</ref>

In 1994, while President of France, Mitterrand maintained that the roundup of Jews who were then deported to death camps during the war was solely the work of "Vichy France", an entity distinct from France: "The Republic had nothing to do with this. I do not believe France is responsible."<ref name="nytimes.com">{{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/17/world/chirac-affirms-france-s-guilt-in-fate-of-jews.html| title=Chirac Affirms France's Guilt in Fate of Jews| newspaper=The New York Times| date=17 July 1995| last1=Simons| first1=Marlise| access-date=28 August 2017| archive-date=7 December 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207075618/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/17/world/chirac-affirms-france-s-guilt-in-fate-of-jews.html| url-status=live}}</ref> This position was rejected by President [[Jacques Chirac]] in 1995 who stated that it was time that France faced up to its past. He acknowledged the role of the state – "4,500 policemen and gendarmes, French, under the authority of their leaders [who] obeyed the demands of the Nazis" – in [[The Holocaust in France|the Holocaust]].<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Chirac added that the "criminal madness of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French State".<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35188755| title=France opens WW2 Vichy regime files| work=[[BBC News]] | date=28 December 2015| access-date=20 July 2018| archive-date=9 November 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109073634/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35188755| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://elysee.fr/elysee/elysee.fr/francais/interventions/discours_et_declarations/1995/juillet/allocution_de_m_jacques_chirac_president_de_la_republique_prononcee_lors_des_ceremonies_commemorant_la_grande_rafle_des_16_et_17_juillet_1942-paris.2503.html Allocution de M. Jacques CHIRAC Président de la République prononcée lors des cérémonies commémorant la grande rafle des 16 et 17 juillet 1942 (Paris)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413170546/http://elysee.fr/elysee/elysee.fr/francais/interventions/discours_et_declarations/1995/juillet/allocution_de_m_jacques_chirac_president_de_la_republique_prononcee_lors_des_ceremonies_commemorant_la_grande_rafle_des_16_et_17_juillet_1942-paris.2503.html |date=13 April 2009 }}, Président de la république</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jacqueschirac-asso.fr/fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Allocution-Vel-dhiv.pdf |title=Allocution de M. Jacques CHIRAC Président de la République prononcée lors des cérémonies commémorant la grande rafle des 16 et 17 juillet 1942 (Paris) |work=jacqueschirac-asso |date=16 July 1995 |access-date=17 July 2014 |language=fr |archive-date=24 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724134623/http://www.jacqueschirac-asso.fr/fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Allocution-Vel-dhiv.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

President [[Emmanuel Macron]] was even more specific as to the State's responsibility for the 1942 [[Vel' d'Hiv Roundup]] of 13,000 Jews for deportation to concentration camps. It was indeed "France that organized the roundup, the deportation, and thus, for almost all, death."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/macron-hosts-netanyahu-condemns-anti-zionism-as-anti-semitism/2017/07/16/dfba544a-ca1f-40f9-82e6-98575393798c_story.html|title=Macron hosts Netanyahu, condemns anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=19 July 2017|archive-date=1 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201185333/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/macron-hosts-netanyahu-condemns-anti-zionism-as-anti-semitism/2017/07/16/dfba544a-ca1f-40f9-82e6-98575393798c_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40622845| title=Israel PM mourns France's deported Jews| work=[[BBC News]] | date=16 July 2017| access-date=20 July 2018| archive-date=5 December 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205143331/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40622845| url-status=live}}</ref> It was done by "French police collaborating with the Nazis", he said on 16 July 2017. "It is convenient to see the Vichy regime as born of nothingness, returned to nothingness. Yes, it’s convenient, but it is false. We cannot build pride upon a lie."<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/17/france-macron-denounces-state-role-holocaust-atrocity-paris-1942| title='France organised this': Macron denounces state role in Holocaust atrocity| newspaper=[[The Guardian]] | date=17 July 2017| agency=Associated Press| access-date=17 July 2017| archive-date=24 October 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024143216/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/17/france-macron-denounces-state-role-holocaust-atrocity-paris-1942| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/world/europe/macron-israel-holocaust-antisemitism.html| title=Macron Denounces Anti-Zionism as 'Reinvented Form of Anti-Semitism'| newspaper=The New York Times| date=17 July 2017| last1=Goldman| first1=Russell| access-date=17 July 2017| archive-date=28 January 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128202318/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/world/europe/macron-israel-holocaust-antisemitism.html| url-status=live}}</ref>