Timeline
(Based on Ian Ousby, Occupation: The Ordeal of France, 1940-1944 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998)
| 1940 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 13 May | Germany invades France | |
| 14 June | The German army marches into Paris | |
| 16 June | The head of the French government resigns and is replaced by Maréchal Pétain, a World War I hero | |
| 22 June | Franco-German armistice signed | |
| 10 July | The Vichy régime is established with Pétain as head of State in unoccupied France; the French Third Republic is abolished | |
| 3-4 October | The Vichy government decrees the first of its statutes against Jews. Jews are barred from public office; a law is passed allowing the internment of Jews in camps | |
| 1941 | ||
| 14 May | First roundup of Jews in Paris | |
| June | Second statute against Jews decreed; only 3% of Jewish students are allowed to attend university | |
| 22 July | Vichy law allows the confiscation of Jewish property | |
| 20 August | The camp at Drancy is opened | |
| 5 September | The anti-Semitic exhibition “The Jews of France” opens in Paris | |
| 2-3 October | Seven Paris synagogues are blown up by right-wing French extremists | |
| 1942 | ||
| 20 January | German government works out the “final solution” in Berlin, sealing the death warrant of European Jews | |
| 27 March | The first trainload of Jews leaves Drancy for Auschwitz | |
| 19 May | Jews over the age of 6 in the Occupied Zone are required to wear the yellow star | |
| 8 July | Jews are forbidden to frequent any public establishment: restaurants, cafés, theaters, cinemas, concerts, phone booths, markets, swimming pools, beaches, museums, libraries, chateaux, sports events, camping grounds, parks, etc. | |
| 16-17 July | Massive roundups of Jews in Paris; massive deportations | |
| 23 August | A pastoral letter by Archbishop Saliège of Toulouse condemns the deportations of Jews; as a result of French public opinion, the process of deportation is slowed | |
| 1943 | ||
| Massive roundups and deportations of Jews from Rouen, Marseille and the Côte d’Azur as well as Paris | ||
| 1944 | ||
| 6 April | Klaus Barbie raids the children’s home at Izieu, where Jewish children had found refuge | |
| 17 August | The last trainload of Jews leaves France for Auschwitz | |
| 24-26 August | Paris is liberated; De Gaulle leads the victory parade from the Arc de Triomphe to Notre Dame | |
* Based on Ian Ousby, Occupation: The Ordeal of France, 1940-1944 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998)