Repression | The Major Surveillance Operations

In January 1943, the French Militia (known simply as the “Milice”), the Vichy regime’s formidable political police force, was established. In February, the Occupying Forces imposed the Compulsory Labor Service ( STO) on young French people in Germany. They were expected to boost German agriculture and industry, which were facing labor shortages. Many men, fleeing […]

Communist Jews, both men and women, continue to be targeted by the ruling regime: arrests, brutal interrogations, torture, deportations, and executions for acts of resistance are on the rise. But throughout France, the armed FTP-M.O.I. groups continue to wage intense battles. The surrender at Stalingrad did not put an end to the Nazis’ plan to […]

In France, throughout 1943, large-scale waves of arrests were carried out against members of the Jewish section of the M.O.I. In Paris, three major surveillance units tracked down Jews affiliated with the Main-d’Œuvre Immigrée from March to November 1943. The Special Brigades of the General Intelligence Service (Renseignements Généraux)—French police forces created in March 1940—were […]