About

Life in Vichy 1939-1945

Following the occupation of northern France by the Germans in the Spring of 1940, the French government set out in search of a fallback town. After a short stay in Bordeaux and another in Clermont-Ferrand, Vichy was finally chosen as the provisional capital of France. The executive power and the two Chambers officially moved there on 9 July 1940. Vichy remained the capital until August 1944. After the liberation, the inhabitants were relieved to realize that the presence of the government and the occupying troops had left few indelible physical traces. In spite of significant material damage, the hotels, villas and spa buildings quickly regained their former beauty. Vichy once again became “the queen of the spa towns” and the war disappeared prematurely into the abyss of oblivion.

The project “Vichy 1939-1945” was conceived as an easily accessible educational tool, adapted from my book, Vichy contre Vichy. Une capitale sans mémoire, published by Belin/Humensis in 2019. It is an original contribution aiming to bring the history of the Second World War back to the Vichyssois urban space in a subtle and non-permanent way. The website and the mobile app are available in French and English. They allow users to discover the key places of the history of the Second World War in Vichy.

Beign Jewish in Vichy 1939-1945

The project “Being Jewish in Vichy, 1939-1945” extends my research on the city of Vichy during the war. In 1939 and 1940, several thousand Jews came to the spa town, convinced they would find a safe haven there. But their hopes were quickly dashed. In the new capital, Jews were subjected not only to the discriminatory laws in force throughout the country but also to decrees specifically targeting them. As the beating heart of the National Revolution, Vichy was expected to embody the new France that Marshal Pétain and his government sought to create. For this reason, it could not be “overrun” by Jews. As early as 1940, a particularly strict policy of exclusion was implemented, reducing the Jewish population from 10,000 in 1940 to around 500 in 1943 — a decline unmatched in the southern zone.

This website, designed as a complement to my book Être Juif à Vichy, 1939-1945 (Perrin, 2026), allows users to explore several locations representative of the history of Jews in Vichy during the war and to map all individuals officially recorded in the city in 1941 and 1943. An interactive table makes it possible to search for names or specific information. An English version of the site will be available soon.

Audrey Mallet, initiator of the project

I hold a Ph.D. in contemporary history (Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne / IHTP-CNRS / Concordia University). Currently, I am head of the Humanities department at ENSAE Paris, and a research fellow at LinX, École Polytechnique.