Ordinary Workers, Vichy and the Holocaust
French Railwaymen and the Second World War

A major new study on the role of French railwaymen in resistance and genocide during the Second World War.

Ludivine Broch (Author)

9781108705745, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 February 2019

300 pages, 22 b/w illus. 3 maps 2 tables
22.6 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.44 kg

'As a study in everyday life under Vichy, this is exceptional. Any historian interested in the Occupation would do well to read this book, which is not only thoroughly well researched but also eminently readable.' David Lees, French History

Should French railwaymen during the Second World War be viewed as great resisters or collaborators in genocide? Ludivine Broch revisits histories of resistance, collaboration and deportation in Vichy France through the prism of the French railwaymen – the cheminots. De-sanctifying the idea of railwaymen as heroic saboteurs, Broch reveals the daily life of these workers who accommodated with the Vichy regime, cohabitated with the Germans and stole from their employer. Moreover, by intertwining the history of the working classes with Holocaust history, she highlights unexpected histories under Vichy and sensitive memories of the post-war period. Ultimately, this book bursts the myths of cheminot resistance and collaboration in the Holocaust, and reveals that there is more to their story than this. The cheminots fed both the French nation and the German military apparatus, exemplifying the complexities of personal, professional and political life under occupation.

Introduction
1. Cheminots
2. Vichy
3. Bahnofs
4. Theft
5. Protest
6. Sabotage
7. Shoah
8. Liberation
Epilogue: memory
Glossary
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]