The Knight-Monks of Vichy France: Uriage, 1940-1945

Greg Turko is a policy analyst at the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and
Universities.

The Vichy period continues to have direct repercussions in French
politics and society long after most other events associated with World
War II have passed from immediate public consciousness. Various
observers have recently claimed that France has finally come to terms
with Vichy, or that Vichy can now be talked about freely in France; that
may be, but Vichy was still the direct motivation for a recent murder in
Paris.

The term “Vichy” has become a shorthand way of describing the
activities of a very wide range of individuals, just as Watergate has
come to represent much more than a bungled hotel burglary. This book
focuses on one of the many parts that made up Vichy.

In 1940, the Йcole Nationale des Cadres was set up near Grenoble to
train an elite youth group that would lead the regeneration of France.
National regeneration had long been a motif of French politics,
particularly on the right. For many, such as the founders of the Йcole
Nationale des Cadres, the German occupation both highlighted the need,
and provided the opportunity, for such a regeneration to take place.
Within the broader context of Vichy, this well-written and interesting
account documents the Йcole’s intellectual roots, its founding and
operation, and, ultimately, its demise.

The author has included a remarkable amount of detail. The footnotes
run to 84 pages, but the reader never feels overwhelmed by the musty
smell of archives or by endless irrelevant quotes and references. A
minor quibble is that the scene-setting descriptions sometimes run a bit
long.

This excellent book illuminates one part of the larger canvas of Vichy.
More important, it helps the reader to begin to understand why Vichy has
continued to bedevil French politics and society for so many years.