Following its liberation in 1944, France began a reckoning with its years of defeat, occupation and collaboration with Nazi Germany. On trial was Marshal Philippe Pétain, the decorated World War I hero and onetime head of the collaborationist regime known as Vichy France. Speaking to Danny Bird, Julian Jackson discusses the role the trial played in the nation's attempt to reconcile itself with this controversial chapter in its history.

(Ad) Julian Jackson is the author of France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain (Allen Lane, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/France-Trial-Case-Marshal-P%C3%A9tain/dp/024145025X/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

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