- Dr. Claude Levy: France is the only government in all Europe whose government collaborated. Others signed an armistice or surrendered, but France was the only country to have collaborated and voted laws which were even more racist than the Nuremberg laws, as the French racist criteria were even more demanding than the German racist criteria. It's not something to be proud of.
- Georges Bidault: Some people are resistants by nature. In other words, some people are naturally headstrong. Others on the contrary, try to adapt to the circumstances, and get what they can out of it. If you are a resistant over everything and nothing, you're exaggerating. But if you accept everything, you're lying.
- Sir Anthony Eden, Churchill's Foreign Secretary: There are two things we still haven't fully understood today concerning the position of de Gaulle and the Free French. In England at that time, there were several foreign governments, but they were all governments, whereas de Gaulle and the Free French were not. All the other powers here in London had come with their government. The Dutch, the Belgians, the Norwegians. Their government in London was the same as the one at home. But this wasn't the case in France, as Pétain was still in power.
- Interviewer: Is that not the worst accusation of Pétain and the Vichy administration that one could possibly make? After all, France is the only country guilty of this.
- Sir Anthony Eden, Churchill's Foreign Secretary: Yes. Yes, that's true.
- Maurice Chevalier: [singing] Dear soldiers, Excellent Frenchmen, Excellent soldiers, Who marched with pride, Thinking that the Republic, Is still the best thing going, Now most of these strapping lads, Don't share the same political views, But they all agree, No matter what their view, That we should leave them be, For once and for all.
- German Newsreel Announcer: These cars are stopped for a lack of gas. The Jewish warmongers and Parisian plutocrats, with their suitcases full of gold and precious stones, have fled. This shortage of gas put a crimp in their plans. The streets were hopelessly blocked. Yet these English-loving traitors and deserters continued their journey on foot.
- Sir Anthony Eden, Churchill's Foreign Secretary: I was a young soldier in World War I, and for me, Pétain was the hero of Verdun. But his character had changed with age. That's to be expected. I'm sure he was opposed to the idea of your cities being destroyed, because he spoke of it at dinner, saying, "It's awful seeing our lovely cities destroyed." And I had to answer, "Yes, I understand. It's hard for an Englishman to say this, but there are worse things than the destruction of cities." But I don't think he was convinced.
- Self - Former Prime Minister of France: The political climate changed and became unbearable in Bordeaux. Suddenly, treason was everywhere, there was a will to surrender, and a desire to get along with the victors at any price. Anglophobia, ever-present in France, resurfaced with new vigor. And all this went hand-in-hand with a horrible kind of cynicism. The military leaders, the one's who had messed up, weren't even mentioned. Instead, people blamed absolutely everything on Léon Blum, the Front Populaire and so forth. And so we consoled ourselves for the downfall of our nation by getting petty revenge in matters of internal affairs, a trend which, as you know, continued long afterwards.
- Self - Aristocratic Former Nazi: Germany was triumphant and there wasn't a single front from which it failed to come home victorious. There's no denying that the German army made quite an impression on the youth in France. Seeing that army of young men, stripped to the waist. After all, I'm the son of a soldier and I was a soldier myself. A sense of responsibility, hierarchy and discipline mean a lot. A well-disciplined army was important to people like us. This was the first time we had seen such an ideal army. The French army was nothing compared to this army who could put the fear of the Lord into an entire people. It sounds awful to say, but it's the truth of the matter.
- Self - Aristocratic Former Nazi: Pétain, in a series of speeches, drew conclusions from this defeat. And he did so with skill. He could woo his audience. If one was to read the texts now, I haven't read them in years, but I bet if you read them now, you would be quite surprised.
- Interviewer: Yes, the texts relied heavily on the people's collective unconscious.
- Self - Aristocratic Former Nazi: Absolutely right.
- Interviewer: He blamed the parliament.
- Self - Aristocratic Former Nazi: Yes, the parliamentary system. To a certain extent, the employers were suspect, foreign...
- Interviewer: Cosmopolitan.
- Self - Aristocratic Former Nazi: Cosmopolitan, not to mention dark-skinned. And of course, he blamed the Communist Party. The Communist Party was the cause of all evils.
- Self - Former Prime Minister of France: I was high up, so I had to jump off a high wall. But I had to run the risk. And once I had jumped, I would be a free man again. Just as I was about to jump, there were trees planted along the avenue, I heard the unexpected sound of voices. I tried to see in the semi-darkness. There was a couple sitting under a tree. You can imagine what they were discussing. He knew what he wanted, but she hadn't decided yet. It seemed to last an eternity to me. She ended up saying yes, but I had the impression she had put up a great deal of resistance. Finally, they left. And so I jumped. And let me assure you that I was even happier than he was.
- Self - Former Prime Minister of France: There was surrender and treason. But anti-semitism had also begun to rear its ugly head. Many who used to hide their feelings openly declared their anti-semitism, to the point that France began adopting certain German values, and sought to get closer to Hitler, in hopes of creating a Europe where France and Germany would collaborate and obviously anti-semitism became a common element between many Germans and Frenchmen.
- Sir Edward Spears, De Gaulle's Head of British Mission: There were 15,000 French sailors in Liverpool. I went and spoke to them. I tried to persuade them to continue the war. But there was no way. We were so low on people, that we needed them to dig the trenches, and we offered them wages to do so. They said no. They said, "France is no longer in the war, we no longer have the right to dig trenches." You see the kind of attitude they had. Their desire to get out was almost spiteful. As for what would become of England, they didn't give a care. That's the kind of attitude they had. They felt that is was inconceivable that the English succeed where the French army had been beaten.
- Self - Former Prime Minister of France: Anti-semitism and anglophobia are feelings that are never hard to stir up in France. Even if reactions to such things are dormant or stifled, all it takes is one event, one incident, one international crisis or one Dreyfus affair, for feelings we thought long gone to suddenly re-emerge in full force, for beliefs we thought dead to be simply dormant.
- Self - Former Head of the Auvergne Maquis: One thing I find appalling is when people who were Pétain supporters come up to me and tell me what they did for the Resistance. Sometimes it's unreal. "Oh, Mr. Gaspard, if only you knew what we did, what I did for the Resistance." Go ahead, pal, tell me all about it. I try to stay calm. I'm a salesman, and I want to sell my product. The company doesn't pay me to do politics and pick fights, so sometimes I find myself obliged to listen to a song and dance of some guy who shows me a drawer and gets his wife to confirm that there was indeed a revolver in that drawer during the war, a revolver which he was supposedly ready to use on the Germans. Only he never actually used it. History doesn't lie.
- Self - British Secret Agent: I can honestly say that the people who helped me most were the railroad men, and though it's hard to admit now, the Communists. French workers were wonderful people. They would do anything, they'd give you the shirt off their backs.
- Self - British Secret Agent: The workers were always able to provide me with with what I needed, whereas the bourgeoisie was scared. They had more to lose, and I think that in life, no matter where you go, people often consider what they have to lose.
- Self - British Secret Agent: I was a transvestite singer in Paris in "Le Grand Ecart" for 3 months, and in "La Cave Caucasienne" for a long time.
- Interviewer: You did have an adventure during that time.
- Self - British Secret Agent: Yes. I did form a great friendship with a German officer. It started because I had no papers and I went to a nightclub where I met somebody I knew who introduced me to this man who was able to get me papers. But, this acquaintance turned to a great friendship, like all these friendships do, its a question of speed. And he invited me to stay with him. And I stayed with him for about four or five months, until I found that I was thinking that I was letting him down in this double-game business. And I was always afraid that if I should confess to him the truth, it would put him in an awkward position. So, I decided to...
- Interviewer: He didn't know you were English?
- Self - British Secret Agent: No. He thought I was Belgian.
- Self - Resistance Fighter: I was a Socialist. I'm still a Socialist today. And I'm proud of it. Although the party has a few people which really should be - they're people like me, who are getting old. Why get 80-year-old people to govern our country? We should put them out to pasture.
- Self - Former Head of the Auvergne Maquis: I believe there's a risk that either Nazism will re-emerge, or some form of Nazism under a different name. A rose by any other name is still a rose.
- Self - Author and Biologist: I was 16, going on 17. I was arrested by the French police, and though I wasn't tortured, I was interrogated for 18 days in a rather physical manner. I spent one year in a French prison. In prison, I saw seven of my fellow group members gunned down, by squads of French policemen. And I was given over to the S.S., with the other prison inmates, on July 2nd, 1944, by the French penitentiary administration, which was the only one in Europe that stooped so low as to give the Germans every inmate, bound hand and foot. I was deported on the 'train of death'.
- Self - Author and Biologist: At the time, the Germans had only planned on arresting people over 16 years of age. They weren't going to arrest children. Yet the Paris police, which organized July 16th with such enthusiasm that they earned the praise of the Germans, began arresting children. So there were these 4,051 children sitting in the Vélodrome d'Hiver, crying and wetting their pants. They caused the social workers, mostly Protestant women or Quakers, very serious problems. As the Germans hadn't planned on deporting these children, they first deported the parents to camps in France, hence separating the children from their parents, while waiting for a decision. Eventually, Eichmann sent - no, it was Röthke, Eichmann's representative, who sent a telegram to Berlin to ask what should be done with these children. And while they were waiting, Laval is reported to have said, "The children must be deported too."
- Sir Anthony Eden, Churchill's Foreign Secretary: If one hasn't been through, and our people mercifully did not go through, the horror of an occupation, by a foreign power, you have no right to pronounce upon what a country does which has been through it all. It is not my place to judge whether or not people's anger was justified. We haven't been though it, so we cannot say.
- Interviewer: Tell me, when what were called "the Jewish decrees" came out, apparently you took out an ad.
- Marius Klein, Store Owner: Yes, that's correct.
- Interviewer: It was an ad in "Le Monieur."
- Marius Klein, Store Owner: You're certainly well-informed. You see, sir, we were four brothers. And this was the solution I found, as people thought we were Jews. My name, Klein, sounds quite Jewish. But I'm Catholic.
- Interviewer: Right.
- Marius Klein, Store Owner: And this was a real source of concern. I didn't know what to do. Four of my brothers fought the war. It was important that I tell people that I am really French.
- Interviewer: I see. In other words, you wanted your clients to know you weren't Jewish.
- Marius Klein, Store Owner: That is correct.
- Interviewer: Why?
- Marius Klein, Store Owner: Because some said I was Jewish. Jews were being arrested, and they said we were Jewish. Don't you see? I couldn't very well allow myself to be labelled as a Jew since I'm a Catholic. Do you understand? So that's why, as you said, I took out an ad. After all, four of my brothers fought in the war. One was killed. The other three were imprisoned.
- Interviewer: But Jews fought in the war too.
- Marius Klein, Store Owner: That's true. I realize that. Listen, I've never been a racist. Jewish or Mahometan, all that mattered to me was that the man did his duty, in which case he was as French as the rest of us.
- Interviewer: Of the non-naturalized Jews, the foreign Jews and denaturalized Jews, only 5% survived, the same average as in the other countries. So I am asking you if a statesman has the right, even if he is a Frenchman and a great patriot, to make such decisions concerning other human beings?
- Self - International Lawyer: It was a tragic and dramatic situation, in which one had to make the choice which would save the most human lives possible.
- Himself - Former Mayor of Combronde: These admirable patriots could definitely have used the help and the leadership of the French officers, who were busy warming their feet by the fire... Don't deny it! I know many people who are guilty. That's the truth. Many people I knew just stayed home. I asked them, at the time, why they didn't follow their friends' lead. They claimed they didn't know how to get in touch with the Resistance. Somehow an old fool like me knew how, and they didn't.
- Alexis Grave, Yronde farmer: You can't help but love your country.
- Interviewer: Did you think about it in Buchenwald?
- Alexis Grave, Yronde farmer: Not much.
- Interviewer: You didn't?
- Alexis Grave, Yronde farmer: No.
- Interviewer: What did you think about?
- Alexis Grave, Yronde farmer: Surviving. That's it. That's mainly what I thought about. But I'm talking about me, about how I saw things. I'm not talking about those who - there were some people who cried. When I saw them cry, I knew that they would never make it. No way. You had to think about yourself first. Ant think about others after.
- Emile Coulaudon: My friends would ask me why I joined the Resistance. Why? Because going into a restaurant and seeing Germans at a table, and being told there's only 4 steaks left for the Germans and none for us was extremely frustrating, seeing as that steak came from our cows in Auvergne. So it's our right to eat it, not give it away. That's my first reason. My second reason was that the Germans were forever imposing curfews. It was, after all, a Nazi regime, a totalitarian regime, no matter how you look at it. It was worth fighting for, it was even worth dying for, rather than to live as slaves. Hence, the Resistance.
- Pierre Mendès-France: So the right-thinking women of the Parisian bourgeoisie decided to form a committee to entertain our valiant soldiers, to provide them with a more pleasant view. The idea was to plant rosebushes on the Maginot Line, to make it look prettier, to create a nicer atmosphere. And there were people who donated money towards these rosebushes, so that our soldiers didn't have to look at the horrid, concrete walls, and to give them a flowery environment in which to live. It's pathetic when you think about the awful things that came later.
- Marcel Verdier, Pharmacist: In 1939, I was 27 years old. I was the father of a large family, so I hadn't been sent to the front. The front was the Maginot Line. I'd been sent to Monferrand, near Clermont, and my wife's dairywoman, Mrs. Michel, had criticized me for not going to the front. So after the rout, I told her that there was no point in me going to the front, since the front came to me.
- Verdier Family Member: Is there anything other than courage in the Resistance?
- Marcel Verdier, Pharmacist: Of course. But the two emotions I experienced the most frequently were sorrow and pity.
- Self - Former Prime Minister of France: The officers or the staff were clearly out of their depth. Having the trains, the roads and all telecommunications cut off led to a situation in which any plans the soldiers had made were suddenly completely ruined. Add to this the fact that certain military circles shared the attitude of many civilians, and tackled the war unenthusiastically. After all, they were living in - I'm not saying they were traitors. In any case, there were very few traitors. But this attitude of preferring Hitler to Léon Blum was an attitude that had become very popular in bourgeois circles. And this was a circle to which many of the soldiers belonged.
- Self - Former Wehrmacht Captain: Our impressions? We saw destroyed villages, burnt lands. It did have a certain effect on us.
- Interviewer: And the people on the roads?
- Self - Former Wehrmacht Captain: They were fleeing the bad guys.
- Interviewer: What do you mean? Weren't you the bad guys?
- Self - Former Wehrmacht Captain: Yes. At first, we were seen as the enemy who was set to destroy the country. Then they began to see that we just wanted to help. And that reassured them.
- Georges Bidault, Former Prime Minister: In reality, the French aren't normally very involved in politics. Once in a blue moon, they decide to take action and storm the Bastille, or to fight religious wars for 50 years, or to initiate the French Revolution, or to set off to conquer Europe. But, normally speaking, they're just as peaceable as anyone else. One thing is for sure: the French, in general, like a peaceful regime, a regime which has authority, but is preferably humane. In any case, they feel the need to be protected. They're quite paternalistic.
- Marcel Verdier, Pharmacist: The children who were born during that time, between 1942 and 1944, should have suffered from rickets, and I say this as a doctor. In our family, it was ironic. These young ladies have a brother, who is 27 years old, and was born in 1942. He's five foot nine! We fed him so much to avoid rickets that he turned into a giant. He's a great tennis player, an architect and a giant to boot.
- Interviewer: Are you what they call "a bourgeois" in a large provincial town?
- Marcel Verdier, Pharmacist: If being a bourgeois means eating properly, hunting in Sologne, having a hunting ground in Sanscion and in Sérye, and a son-in-law who owns Lake Montciniere, then I'm a bourgeois.
- Marcel Verdier, Pharmacist: I was a smoker, and it was awful not having cigarettes. It was a horrible situation. People would do anything, even steal. I got so desperate that I even rolled and smoked artichoke leaves.
- Unknown German: France, as Hitler saw it, could only play a minor role in a national socialist Europe. He had never been in France or anywhere else in Europe. Whatever knowledge he had was derived from books, which had first been adapted to his point of view. In his mind, he felt that a decline of the French people was unadvertable. And this idea was confirmed by the French defeat.
- German Newsreel Announcer: Thanks to Franco-German economic collaboration, 100,000 French workers now work in Germany. Four trains leave the capital weekly and head for German industrial regions.
- Dr. Elmar Michel, Former Economic Advisor to German Military Command: I listened to my collaborators and said, "Why not?" And so the races started up again and continued until 1944. Thanks to us, the theaters were able to open their doors again. We often went to the theater, alone or with friends. The Germans also attended the races, which is how the different parties made contact quite spontaneously. Personal relationships developed between the different sides, probably for various reasons.
- Interviewer: I'm sure you're aware there has been a tendency in France since the war to deny that such contact ever existed.
- Dr. Elmar Michel, Former Economic Advisor to German Military Command: Yes, but it did exist.
- Co-Worker of Charles Braun: A new slogan became popular, "Collaboration is..."
- Charles Braun, Restaurateur: "Give me your watch..."
- Co-Worker of Charles Braun: "I'll give you the time."
- Self - Head of the Resistance Movement: The Park Hotel was occupied by Marshal Pétain and his staff. This is where I met up with my friend Colonel Gorosse-Tardou, who lived with Pétain. He was the chief of staff for his aviation department. Consequently, I was often at the Park Hotel. It was always busy, with lots of people milling around. Everyone kept their voices down and spied on their neighbors. Personally, I wasn't used to their system, but when I spoke, I followed everyone's example. They were forever shushing one another. Everyone was very suspicious.
- Interviewer: Of the enemy or of one another?
- Self - Head of the Resistance Movement: A bit of both.
- Self - Former Prime Minister of France: I must say that life in France at that time is something which is very difficult to imagine, and even more so to describe. You had an old pair of shoes you hoped would last. If they got a hole, there was no leather to fix them. There were no plates, there were no matches. There was nothing! It is very difficult, in hindsight, to describe what it was like living in a country where everyone was always searching for everything.
- Self - Minister of Youth, 1941-43: The famous triptych of the time: Work, Family, Nation. Honor your work, your family, and your nation.
- Self - Former Prime Minister of France: It's not surprising that, at first, such poison won over many new converts at first. Little by little, people began to realize it was propaganda, and to see that the government was practicing a policy, which they themselves called collaboration with the enemy. Slowly but surely, people began to open their eyes, and change their minds. But this propaganda still won over many new converts.
- French Newsreel Announcer: The new rage in Paris is silk stockings without the silk. All you have to do, ladies, is dye your legs. It's easy and practical. A great idea. The ladies are trading in their garters for paintbrushes. Worried about what will happen when you bathe? No problem. Paint-on stockings are waterproof. On top of that, Elisabeth Arden guarantees they won't run.
- Interviewer: What was Paris like back then?
- Self - Aristocratic Former Nazi: There were two sides of Paris. There were those struggling to survive, and there was high society. All we were missing was Régine. There's no doubt about it. Everyone's ashamed to say it today, but for some, life in Paris was great. Maxim's and Le Boeuf sur le Toit did a booming business. French cinema was in top form.
- Self - Resistance Fighter: The Resistance in Auvergne began here. The night the first weapons arrived, we met in this very cellar. And we sang the 'Internationale'. We weren't Communists, but as Pétain sang the 'Marseillaise', we had to sing the 'Internationale'.
- Self - Aristocratic Former Nazi: Paris was a fun and crazy place. Let me assure you that there were some wild and crazy times back then.
- Self - Theater Owner: There were only certain people who actually enjoyed "Le Juif Suss," the anti-semites who saw their beliefs confirmed in the movie. The collaborators would also see it. Then there were those who were taken by surprise. I'd say 80% of the people who came to see "Le Juif Suss" assumed it would be just like any other light-hearted movie. The German films weren't particularly good. However, they featured many French film stars, as Continental had made many French films before the war. It was a company which specialized in French movies. Tino Rossi and the like filmed at Continental.
- Mr. Dionnet, Teacher: People attended the raising of the colors reluctantly.
- Interviewer: Yet they still came?
- Mr. Dionnet, Teacher: They had no choice. It is in times like those when you begin to realize what people are really like. You know?
- Interviewer: How do you mean?
- Mr. Dionnet, Teacher: They were scared stiff.
- Self - Hotelier in Royat: One night, Mrs. Mioche, who was always harping on the subject, saw a soldier come in after midnight with two young ladies. Mrs. Mioche wouldn't let the girls in. As they continued insisting, she went and got their captain. The captain came down and said Mrs. Mioche was right.
- Interviewer: They must not have been very happy.
- Self - Hotelier in Royat: No. But what could they say? He was their captain, they had to obey. And Mrs. Mioche was happy with the outcome of the situation.
- Interviewer: So she was happy?
- Self - Hotelier in Royat: Yes, but she was still afraid that they would come in anyhow. She told them, "This isn't a..."
- Interviewer: A brothel.
- Self - Hotelier in Royat: And the the next day, they requisitioned the house across the street, hence solving their problem.