23. Collaboration and Resistance in World War II

European Civilization, 1648-1945 (HIST 202)

One of the principal myths concerning collaboration during World War II in France, as in other countries, is that the domestic collaborators did so despite themselves, or to prevent even greater atrocities. In fact, many French, Belgians, Hungarians, Poles, Dutch and others voluntarily and enthusiastically abetted the occupying Germans. This collaboration, inspired by anti-Semitism and xenophobia, often resulted in extremely zealous persecution of Jewish nationals, communists, and others. Along with the myth of reluctant collaboration, France has also been obliged to confront the myth of widespread resistance, promulgated in part by a victorious Charles de Gaulle. Many questions concerning collaboration and resistance still remain unresolved in formerly occupied European countries to this day.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Resistance in Eastern and Southern Europe
05:19 - Chapter 2. Charles de Gaulle and Memory of the Second World War
12:06 - Chapter 3. Writing the History of French Collaboration: Developments in the 1970s and 1980s
25:26 - Chapter 4. The Work of the French Resistance
38:08 - Chapter 5. Communism and Resistance

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2008.