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

“Changing a name does not change the roots,” she said, adding when asked, “yes, also an inheritor of Petain,” referring to Marshall Philippe Petain, who headed the collaborationist Vichy government in WWII.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 9, 2023

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

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

“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

The Vichy government had collaborated with the Nazis.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012