The hunt for Nazi spies : fighting espionage in Vichy France / Simon Kitson ; translated by Catherine Tihanyi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kitson, Simon.

Standardized Title:

Vichy et la chasse aux espions nazis. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Collaborationists--France.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Secret service--France.

World War, 1939-1945--Secret service--Germany.

Espionage, German--France--History--20th century.

Espionage, German.

Spies--Germany--History--20th century.

Spies.

France--History--German occupation, 1940-1945.

France.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From 1940 to 1942, French secret agents arrested more than two thousand spies working for the Germans and executed several dozen of them-all despite the Vichy government's declared collaboration with the Third Reich. A previously untold chapter in the history of World War II, this duplicitous activity is the gripping subject of The Hunt for Nazi Spies, a tautly narrated chronicle of the Vichy regime's attempts to maintain sovereignty while supporting its Nazi occupiers. Simon Kitson informs this remarkable story with findings from his investigation-the first by any historian-of thousands of Vichy documents seized in turn by the Nazis and the Soviets and returned to France only in the 1990's. His pioneering detective work uncovers a puzzling paradox: a French government that was hunting down left-wing activists and supporters of Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces was also working to undermine the influence of German spies who were pursuing the same Gaullists and resisters. In light of this apparent contradiction, Kitson does not deny that Vichy France was committed to assisting the Nazi cause, but illuminates the complex agendas that characterized the collaboration and shows how it was possible to be both anti-German and anti-Gaullist. Combining nuanced conclusions with dramatic accounts of the lives of spies on both sides, The Hunt for Nazi Spies adds an important new dimension to our understanding of the French predicament under German occupation and the shadowy world of World War II espionage.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

Preface to the English Language Edition

Acknowledgments

Glossary and Abbreviations

Chronology of World War II France

Introduction

1. Organizing German Espionage

2. Becoming a Spy

3. The Structures of French Counterespionage

4. Secret Service Ambiguities

5. Everyday Counterespionage

6. The Fate of the Spies

7. Understanding Vichy's Policy

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

"Originally published as Vichy et la chasse aux espions nazis, c2005 by Editions"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-208) and index.

ISBN:

9786611957285

9781281957283

1281957283

9780226438955

0226438953

OCLC:

309104943