Replacement or Renewal? The French Political Élite at the Liberation

Abstract

Hard hit by war and Occupation, France’s politicians faced three major uncertainties at the Liberation. The first, looking towards the past, concerned the reintegration into democratic politics of men who, though rarely compromised by outright collaboration, had often supported, in varying ways and to varying degrees, the Vichy regime or its leader Marshal Pétain. Could France’s political élites, given their record, simply carry on without further ado, seeking the votes they had attracted before the war as if nothing had happened? Or should they be penalised for the dubious company they had kept? The settling of accounts with France’s pre-war politicians remained a key question of the Liberation; its answer would depend both on the new parliament and on the judiciary. The exclusion from the system of men compromised by Vichy would encourage the emergence of new talents; an indulgent approach, on the other hand, gave the established élite every chance of remaining in post.