The Dark Side Of The Frog

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35188755

France opens archives of WW2 pro-Nazi Vichy regime

France is opening up police and ministerial archives from the Vichy regime which collaborated with Nazi occupation forces in World War Two.
More than 200,000 declassified documents are being made public on Monday. They date from the 1940-1944 regime of Marshal Philippe Petain.

During the war the Vichy regime helped Nazi Germany to deport 76,000 Jews from France, including many children.
France is also opening files from its post-liberation provisional government.

The Vichy documents come from the wartime ministries of the interior, foreign affairs and justice, as well as the police.
Some of the archives relate to war crimes investigations conducted by the French liberation authorities after the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Speaking to French TF1 television news, historian Gilles Morin said the archives would probably shed new light on the arrest of Jean Moulin, a French Resistance leader who died after his capture and torture by the Nazis in 1943.
Police records and notes seized from French Resistance comrades will now add to the witness statements that researchers have relied on until now, Mr Morin said.

"There is also a demand from the children of deportees, and of those who were executed, who want to know - and that's a legitimate demand," he said.

(continued)

[MrJonno]

The French didnt do anything that anyone else wouldn't have done in those circumstances (including we British in the Channel Islands) adapted to survive, its more a case of those who actually went beyond just surviving but actually went out of the way to profit from the Nazi's. Pretty thin line between the two

[rainbow]

The French didnt do anything that anyone else wouldn't have done in those circumstances (including we British in the Channel Islands) adapted to survive, its more a case of those who actually went beyond just surviving but actually went out of the way to profit from the Nazi's. Pretty thin line between the two

[JimC]

You rang?

[Rum]

People will do a great deal to avoid death. And perhaps they paid the price. This link is about the casualties the French suffered after D Day. Caen in particular was almost apocalyptic.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27703724

[cronus]

People will do a great deal to avoid death. And perhaps they paid the price. This link is about the casualties the French suffered after D Day. Caen in particular was almost apocalyptic.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27703724

History never stopped with the end of a war....good if it did.

[mistermack]

The funny thing is that everybody knows that Churchill's "we'll fight them on the beaches..........we will never surrender" was complete bullshit. But they still treat it with reverence.

When Churchill said "we", he meant other people. HE was never going to fight anyone.

And if the Germans had got the panzers across the channel, there's no doubt whatsoever that "we" would have surrendered in no time.
The Nazis had a persuasive way about them.

[cronus]

The funny thing is that everybody knows that Churchill's "we'll fight them on the beaches..........we will never surrender" was complete bullshit. But they still treat it with reverence.

When Churchill said "we", he meant other people. HE was never going to fight anyone.

And if the Germans had got the panzers across the channel, there's no doubt whatsoever that "we" would have surrendered in no time.
The Nazis had a persuasive way about them.

He wrote great speeches though and could sling 'em out too. Which is what happened to him after the war....people back then were not so dumb....

[Hermit]

Churchill could think quickly on his feet and had away with words. Some of my favourite quips:

Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if I were your wife, I'd poison your tea.
Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it.

Bessie Braddock: Sir, you are drunk.
Churchill: And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober.

Young man (after seeing Churchill leave the bathroom without washing his hands): At Eton they taught us to wash our hands after using the toilet.
Churchill: At Harrow they taught us not to piss on our hands.

Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?
Woman: My goodness, Mr. Churchill. Well, I suppose we would have to discuss terms, of course…
Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds?
Woman: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!
Churchill: Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.

Churchill: There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.

Though I never liked his conservative frame of mind, some of his political statements are pretty good. This pair in particular:

Churchill: The biggest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.

Churchill: Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.