The Politics of Industrial Collaboration During World War II: Ford France, Vichy and Nazi Germany Talbot Imlay and Martin Horn Frontmatter More Information

Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01636-1 - The Politics of Industrial Collaboration During World War II: Ford France, Vichy and Nazi Germany Talbot Imlay and Martin Horn Frontmatter More information

The Politics of Industrial Collaboration during World War II

Did Ford SAF sabotage the German war effort by deliberately manufac- turing fewer vehicles than they could have? Ford SAF claimed after the war that they did. Exploring the nature and limits of industrial collaboration in occupied France, Imlay and Horn trace the wartime activities of Ford Motor Company’s French afﬁliate. The company began making trucks and engine parts for the French military, but from 1940 until Liberation in 1944 was supplying the Wehrmacht. This book offers a fascinating account of how the company negotiated the conﬂicting demands of the French, German and American authorities to thrive during the war. It sheds important new light on broader issues such as the wartime relationship between private enterprise and state authority, Nazi Germany’s economic policies and the nature of the German occupation of France, collaboration and resistance in Vichy France and the role of American companies in occupied Europe.

Talbot Imlay is a Professor at the Department of Historical Sciences at the Université Laval, Québec, Canada Martin Horn is Associate Professor of History at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01636-1 - The Politics of Industrial Collaboration During World War II: Ford France, Vichy and Nazi Germany Talbot Imlay and Martin Horn Frontmatter More information

The Politics of Industrial Collaboration during World War II Ford France, Vichy and Nazi Germany

Talbot Imlay Université Laval and Martin Horn McMaster University

University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107016361 © Talbot Imlay and Martin Horn 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Imlay, Talbot C. The politics of industrial collaboration during World War II : Ford France, Vichy and Nazi Germany / Talbot Imlay, Universite Laval and Martin Horn, McMaster University. pages cm ISBN 978-1-107-01636-1 (hardback) 1. Ford SAF – History. 2. World War, 1939–1945 – Economic aspects. 3. Automobile industry and trade – France – History – 20th century. 4. France – History – German occupation, 1940-1945. I. Horn, Martin, 1959– II. Title. HD9710.F72I65 2014 338.70629222094409044–dc23 2013040524 ISBN 978-1-107-0-1636-1 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents

Preface page vii List of abbreviations ix

Introduction 1 1 Ford SAF: 1929–1940 21 2 The initial struggle for control: 1940–1941 50 3 A year of transition: 1942 102 4 A period of decision: the ﬁrst half of 1943 149 5 The extent and limits of industrial collaboration: 1943–1944 194 6 From Liberation to disappearance: 1944–1953 246 Conclusion 264

Appendix A: Ford operations in France 1929 – June 1946 270 Appendix B: Ford SAF’s production during the Occupation 272 Bibliography 274 Index 289

Preface

This book began as a standard research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to investigate the experiences of American companies in occupied France during World War II. Preliminary research led us to conclude that the subject was too large: there were simply too many American companies present in too many industries. Accordingly, we decided to focus on one company, Ford SAF – the Ford Motor Company’s French affiliate. The choice was partly serendipitous. While working in the National Archives in Paris, we dis- covered several files concerning Ford SAF in the records of the post- Liberation investigation into the wartime activities of François Lehideux, the head of Vichy’s Comité d’organisation for the automobile industry. The more we read, the more convinced we became that Ford SAF’s wartime story was not only worth recounting in its own right but that it also provided an interesting window into the subject of industrial collaboration in occupied France. The resulting book is divided into six chapters together with an introduction and conclusion. Martin Horn wrote chapter 1 and Talbot Imlay wrote chapters 2 through 6. The research for the book was made possible by generous support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as well as from the Université Laval’s Fonds de soutien aux activités académiques. The research was conducted in four countries, and we are grateful to the archivists and staffs of the various libraries and archival centres for their assistance. The Université Laval’s inter-university library loan staff deserve special mention: they patiently and efficiently processed Talbot Imlay’s numerous requests for books and articles. Martin Horn and Talbot Imlay are extremely grateful to Han Otto Frøland and Jonas Scherner for inviting them to present their work at the workshop on ‘Industry in Occupied Europe’, which was held at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim in May 2012. On a more personal note, Martin Horn would like to thank Katarina Todic for her assistance with the secondary research. He dedicates the book to Lisa, Madelaine and Miranda with his love and gratitude. Talbot

vii

viii Preface

Imlay would like to thank Andrew Barros, Aline Charles, Donald Fyson, Peter Jackson, Simon Kitson, Didier Méhu, Paul Miller and Martin Thomas, all of whom are colleagues and friends and all of whom have helped him in uncountable ways. He would also like to thank Hervé Joly and Pierre-Yves Saunier for their helpful comments on various chapters, and Jean-Louis Loubet for taking the time to answer several questions. He is profoundly grateful to Alexandra, Alicia Kate and Julian, the three great loves of his life, for everything; and to his parents, Robert and Camille Imlay, for their support and encouragement. Finally, he dedicates the book to the memory of his grandparents, Isabelle Hamel-Rouart and Georges Hamel. Both of them lived through the Occupation years, one in Paris and the other in Germany as a prisoner of war.

Abbreviations

AA Auswärtiges Amt ADAP Akten zur Deutschen Auswärtigen Politik ADY Archives départmentales d’Yvelines, Saint-Quentin- en-Yvelines AN Archives nationales, Paris AP Archives Peugeot, Montbéliard APP Archives de la préfecture de police, Paris BAL Bundesarchiv, Berlin-Lichterfelde BA-MA Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, Freiburg BFRC Benson Ford Research Center, Dearborn, MI BNF Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris CAEF Centre des archives économiques et ﬁnancières, Savigny- le-Temple CCFA Comité des constructeurs français d’automobiles CMA Commission de modernisation de l’automobile CO Comité d’organisation COA Comité d’organisation de l’automobile et du cycle CSCA Chambre syndicale des constructeurs d’automobiles DIME Direction des Industries Mécaniques et Électriques EAC European automobile committee FMC Ford Motor Company GBK Generalbevollmächtigten für das Kraftfahrwesen IB Industrie Beauftragter MBA Mercedes-Benz Archiv, Stuttgart MbF Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich MPI Ministère de la production industrielle NARA National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD OCRPI Ofﬁce central de répartition des produits industriels OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht PAAA Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts, Berlin

x List of abbreviations

RkBfV Reichskommissariat für die Behandlung feindlichen Vermögens RWM Reichswirtschaftsministerium SAF Société anonyme française SäSC Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Chemnitz SHGN Service historique de la gendarmerie nationale, Vincennes SHGR Société d’histoire du groupe Renault, Boulogne-Billancourt TNA The National Archives, Kew Gardens ZASt Zentralauftragsstelle