H. R. Kedward, Nancy Wood, eds.. The Liberation of France: Image and Event. Oxford and Washington, D.C.: Berg Publishers, 1995. xvi + 369 pp. $109.95, cloth, ISBN 978-1-85973-082-9. Reviewed by Esther Delisle Published on H-France (December, 1998) The ambition of the editors of this book-- In his thoughtful study of the Resistance which is to open the Liberation of France to close group Carmagnole-Liberte in Lyon, J. C. Sim‐ conceptual analysis--may not have been fulfilled, monds tells us that a large influx of recruits to the but not for lack of trying. The book is a collection FTP-MOI (Francs-Tireurs et Partisans Francais et of twenty-four articles frst presented at an inter‐ Main d'Oeuvre Immigree) Carmagnole occurred, disciplinary conference held at the University of not surprisingly in the summer of 1944, in the Sussex in April 1994 commemorating the fftieth wake of the Allied landing. Who were the brave anniversary of the Liberation of France. The arti‐ men and women who put their lives on the line cles are grouped under fve headings: Resistance well before 1944? Eight-three percent of them Narratives, Gender, Epuration, Outre-Mer, and were not French citizens, but often political--com‐ the Contested and Ambiguous Image. That the munist or anti-fascist--refugees, or immigrants Liberation of France was a pivotal event of mani‐ with no citizenship, toughened up by years of liv‐ fold dimensions--as editors H. R. Kedward and ing in the extremes of poverty. They were young, Nancy Wood (both from the University of Sussex) between 18 and 25 years old, and many of them say in the introduction--is undoubtedly true, were women. Twenty-three percent were Jewish, though so also was the fall of France four years and Polish Jews proved to be the backbone of FTP- earlier. France was liberated by the western Allies MOI Carmagnole. They established the group on 6 as had been expected by the French themselves June 1942. They remained its most loyal long-term well before the summer of 1944. The most inter‐ members and carried most of its actions. Last and esting chapters of this book do not dress these old least: French citizens accounted for 17 percent of facts in new garbs, but instead add interesting the membership of Carmagnole-Liberte, including and painful details to the picture we have of the all the converted of the eleventh hour. The frst to Liberation of France. join Carmagnole-Liberte were the last to be re‐ membered: the French Communist Party has be‐ H-Net Reviews stowed upon them some recognition only recent‐ lates that when Otto Abetz, the German ambas‐ ly. sador in Paris (1940-44) was tried on 64 counts, We learn of other unsung heroes in Tony the main one being the murder of the Georges Chafer's essay "African Perspectives: The Libera‐ Mandel, former French cabinet minister and belli‐ tion of France and its Impact in French West ciste, he successfully claimed that he had engi‐ Africa." French West African soldiers who fought neered Mandel's escape to Germany where he in the battles for the Liberation of France were was safe only to be brought back to France and rounded up in camps in France pending their shot by Joseph Darnand's Milice under orders repatriation to Africa, and because of the "whiten‐ from Pierre Laval, head of the Vichy government. ing" of the French army in 1944-45 they could not This claim dramatically deflated the confidence of take part in the victory marches and celebrations. the prosecution, though Abetz was eventually sen‐ Their mistreatment did not stop there: many had tenced to twenty years (and released in 1954). to fght hard to receive their pay or their full pen‐ In a country where literature and political sions. In Algeria the moderate nationalist leader‐ convictions are apparently important, many writ‐ ship pressing for reforms drew attention to the ers showed an extraordinary ability to switch alle‐ enormous sacrifices made by Muslim soldiers giance at the last minute without batting an eye‐ who made up 90 percent of the force commanded lid. A case in point is the world of comic strips by General Henri Giraud, but to no avail. where many famous authors and especially illus‐ When left to fend for themselves and given trators worked with no hiatus for the Vichy liberation on a silver platter, some French proved regime and for the post-Liberation Fourth Repub‐ to be comically inept. Simon Kitson, in an article lic. In "Plus ca change...? Propaganda Fiction for entitled "The Police in the Liberation of Paris," re‐ Children, 1940-1945," Judith K. Proud relates the lates an episode which forebode the misadven‐ story of a certain Vincent Dancette. He had writ‐ tures of Inspector Clouseau. On Saturday, 19 Au‐ ten Il etait une fois un pays heureux in 1943 (One gust 1944, around a thousand police insurgents upon a time a happy land), a work of propaganda gathered in the Prefecture de police de Paris, be‐ fiction for children in praise of Marshal Philippe coming easy targets for the Germans who lost no Petain, which was published by a company called time in attacking them. The valiant insurgents be‐ La Generale publicite on behalf of Le Bureau de came panic-stricken but luck--if not sound judge‐ documentation du chef d'etat, Petain's personal ment--was on their side: German resolve was propaganda machine. Around the same time weak in view of their impending defeat. So a truce Dancette was publishing Il etait une fois un pays was quickly reached. Thanks to the diligent work heureux, he began working on another book for of French historians, this incident was subse‐ children: La Bete est morte. La Guerre mondiale quently gained mythical proportions. Quickly for‐ chez les animaux (The Beast is dead. The World gotten was the most damning evidence of all, War among Animals) which celebrated the Liber‐ namely that in July 1944 a few weeks prior to the ation, and was published by the same Generale occupation of the Prefecture, the police of Paris publicite in June 1945. Nicholas Hewitt in "The Lit‐ had arrested five hundred foreign Jews. erature of the Right and the Liberation: the Case of the 'Hussards'" demonstrates that young writ‐ Epuration (i.e., the purge of French collabora‐ ers linked with the far right Action francaise be‐ tors after liberation) also raised many questions fore the Second World War enjoyed a consider‐ the authorities did not wish to consider. In his in‐ able measure of success in the post-war era. teresting article entitled "France's Little Nurem‐ Uranus (1948), an anti-Resistance novel by the berg: The Trial of Otto Abetz," Nicolas Atkin re‐ 2 H-Net Reviews right-wing anarchist Marcel Ayme, was, for exam‐ l'ivresse, as a woman Resister, had to lead a dou‐ ple, well regarded. ble life outwitting the Gestapo, but this situation Gender analyses fall short in opening up the was not created by her gender as much as by her Liberation of France to close examination. These activities as a Resister (Claire Gorrara, "Reviewing consist mainly in glorified cliches and the contin‐ Gender and the Resistance: the Case of Lucie uous re-invention of the wheel. In "Women's Aspi‐ Aubrac," p. 149). Male resistants led a double life rations, 1943-47: An Oral Enquiry in Toulouse," too not because they were men, but because clan‐ Hanna Diamond conducted a lengthy and time- destinity was essential for survival and the suc‐ consuming oral inquiry among women on their cess of their missions. A case in point: Raymond aspirations at the Liberation only to learn that Aubrac, her husband, who Lucie rescued many most of them had hoped it would bring back their times from the grasp of the Gestapo. traditional lives as housewives. Some wanted to Shearings of women at the Liberation were continue to work outside the home because they an "enactment of a gender-based violence enacted had enjoyed their frst taste of it. According to the by men on the bodies of women" (Corran Laurens, same oral sources, during the Occupation, women "'La femme au Turban': les femmes tondues," p. had not surprisingly spent an inordinate amount 155). Let this reviewer try her hand at gender id‐ of time searching for the victuals and other life es‐ iom: putting male collaborators in front of a fring sentials for their families. squad was a gender-based violence inflicted by Everywhere in liberated France and in every men on the bodies of men. Stating the obvious sphere of life, women were subject to repressive should not be confused with close conceptual social construction in a patriarchal society. Hilary analysis. Why were women sheared who were Footitt, quoting Genevieve Fraisse (La Raison des suspected of having collaborated with the Ger‐ femmes [Paris, 1992]) claims that the election of mans? Scratch through the jargon and appreciate thirty-three women to the Assemblee constitu‐ the explanation for what it is worth: "they repre‐ ante, was one "of these historic moments where sented both an attempted symbolic reversal of women defined themselves as women, as the sub‐ women's emergent power and an exorcism of the jects of history" ("The First Women Deputies: les image of threatened masculinity from public 33 Glorieuses", p. 131). During the life of the as‐ memory" (p. 177). Because we learn in this book sembly (1945-46), they put gender above politics, that masculine identity stood as another casualty not letting their political rivalries get in the way of the Occupation.