The direct role played by France's collaborationist leader in the second world war persecution of the Jews was emphasised today after the draft of a decisive memo, annotated by Philippe Pétain, was made public for the first time.
A hitherto unseen copy of the original statute on Jews, vehemently antisemitic legislation passed in October 1940 after defeat by the Nazis, reveals that Pétain "completely redrafted" the memo to make it even harsher and wider-ranging, according to France's foremost Jewish historian.
"The statute on Jews was a statute that was adopted without pressure from the Germans, without the request of the Germans: an indigenous statute," Serge Klarsfeld, a veteran lawyer, told French radio. "And now we have decisive evidence that it was the desire of Marshal Pétain himself."
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