Vichy government

Cultural  

1. The government of France after Germany defeated and occupied it at the beginning of World War II (see fall of France); Vichy, the capital, is a small city in central France. The Vichy government was essentially a puppet of the Germans.

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Example Sentences

The south was managed by France’s Vichy government, which collaborated with the Nazis.

From BBC • Jun. 5, 2024

He has, for instance, drawn ire for falsely stating that Marshall Philippe Petain, who headed France’s collaborationist World War II Vichy government, saved Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 16, 2022

In 1942, Morocco was part of the French North African territories controlled by the Vichy government of Marshal Philippe Pétain.

From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2021

“This comparison is abhorrent,” said Joseph Szwarc, 94, a Holocaust survivor who was speaking on Sunday as France commemorated the victims of racist or anti-Semitic acts by the Vichy government.

From New York Times • Jul. 19, 2021

There, the Vichy government rapidly set up a distinctly French fascist state, complete with concentration camps, anti-Semitic laws, and a state of war with Britain.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020