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

In July 1940, after the Vichy government in France signed an armistice with Nazi Germany, thousands of refugees fled to Marseilles to seek asylum in the United States or elsewhere.

From Washington Post • Apr. 27, 2023

Among them were suspected collaborators; German soldiers masquerading as French civilians; officials of France’s pro-Nazi Vichy government; and ordinary citizens.

From New York Times • Sep. 17, 2022

Zemmour, who visits London on Friday, has long championed a version of World War Two history that minimises the guilt of Philippe Pétain, the head of the Vichy government, in the Jewish deportations.

From BBC • Nov. 18, 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

The training was interrupted by World War II, however, when he was assigned to a Vichy government youth camp and put to work in its canteen and slaughterhouse.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 20, 2018