Dégradation nationale cause Indignité nationale
The dégradation nationale ("National demotion") was a sentence introduced in France after the Liberation of France. It was applied during the épuration légale ("legal purge") which followed the fall of the Vichy regime.The dégradation nationale was one of the sentences available to the Courts of Justice. It was meant to punish offences of Indignité nationale ("national unworthiness").
Individuals sentenced to the dégradation nationale lost their political, civil and professional rights. They effectively became second-class citizens.