The Groupe Collaboration was a French collaborationist group active during the Second World War. Largely eschewing the street politics of many such contemporary groups, it sought to establish cultural links with Nazi Germany and to appeal to the higher echelons of French life.Fiss, p. 202 It promoted a "Europeanist" outlook and sought the rebirth of France as part of a pan-European "National Revolution".Forbes, p. 18
Development The Groupe was a revival of the Comité France-Allemagne, established in September 1940 by Fernand de Brinon.Littlejohn, p. 222 It eschewed political party status and instead worked towards cultural collaboration with the Germans. To this end it adopted a largely conservative approach and focused on such activities as hosting discussion circles and publishing two journals - La Gerbe and L'Union Francaise. The initiative had the support of Otto AbetzFiss, p. 201 and was at least partially supported financially by German money.Atkin, p. 142
It was divided into sections based on the pursuits it endorsed with science, economics, literature and law wings, as well as an arts section which included drama, music and visual arts sections. Max d'Ollone served as president of the music sectionSprout, p. 215 and in this role he was expected to organise gala events to celebrate the visits of German dignitaries to Paris.Sprout, p. 17 An exhibition by German sculptor and active Nazi Arno Breker in Paris was organised under the auspices of the Groupe, an event that became a source of much controversy in the post-Liberation era.Dorléac, p. 321 It also broadcast a weekly radio show in Paris.Curtis, p. 236
Its headquarters were in Paris, although the Groupe was permitted to organise in both Vichy France and the occupied zone. By 1943 it could claim 26,000 members in the occupied zone and 12,000 in the Vichy zone, with some 200,000 people attending its events. Many of its members were not otherwise active in political movements.Sweets, p. 88
Alphonse de Chateaubriant, the 1911 Prix Goncourt winner, presided over the group, whilst its governing committee included Abel Bonnard and Cardinal Alfred-Henri-Marie Baudrillart among its membership. Pierre Benoit, Georges Claude and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle were among the other prominent figures to sit on the committee, along with Robert Brasillach, Jacques ChardonneFiss, p. 204 and Paul Belmondo.
Relationship to other groups A youth movement, Jeunes de l'Europe nouvelle (JEN), was attached to the Groupe, although it was somewhat more stridently active than its sedate parent organisation. Led by Jacques Schweizer, the former leader of the youth section of the Jeunesses Patriotes, it was active in promoting pro-collaboration propaganda campaigns. The JEN slightly pre-dated the Groupe, having initially been established by Saint-Loup before affiliating to the Groupe.Rees, p. 15
In 1942 the Groupe lent its support to the Front révolutionnaire national, an initiative established by Marcel Déat as an attempt to realise his dream of forging a single mass party in support of collaborationism. The idea was not a success after a number of groups, including the influential French Popular Party (PPF), refused to support the initiative.Littlejohn, p. 248 Despite this a number of leading PPF members were also active in the Groupe itself.Sweets, p. 86 For his part Déat saw the Groupe as vital for portraying a positive image of Germany in order to lessen the negative perceptions of occupation and collaborationism.Atkin, p. 132
Decline The group went into steep decline in the latter stages of the war as the tide began to turn against Germany. Following the Liberation membership of the Groupe Collaboration was defined as a basis for a judgement of Indignité nationale against any individual member.Curtis, pp. 226-227
References
Bibliography Atkin, Nicholas, The French at War, 1934-1944, Routledge, 2014 Curtis, Michael, Verdict on Vichy: Power and prejudice in the Vichy France Regime, Phoenix Press, 2004 Dorléac, Laurence Bertrand , Art of the Defeat: France 1940-1944, Getty Publications, 2008 Fiss, Karen, Grand Illusion: The Third Reich, the Paris Exposition, and the Cultural Seduction of France, University of Chicago Press, 2009 Forbes, Robert, For Europe: The French Volunteers of the Waffen-SS, Stackpole Books, 2010 Littlejohn, David, The Patriotic Traitors, Heinemann, 1972 Rees, Philip, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, Simon & Schuster, 1990 Sprout, Leslie A., The Musical Legacy of Wartime France, University of California Press, 2013 Sweets, John, Choices in Vichy France: The French Under Nazi Occupation, Oxford University Press, 1986
Footnotes