The Vichy regime was nominally independent, unlike the northern, Occupied zone, which was under direct occupation by Nazi Germany; but the Pétain regime didn't wait to be ordered to draw up antisemitic measures by the Nazis, but took them on their own initiative. Antisemitic measures began to be drawn up almost immediately after Pétain signed the Armistice of 22 June 1940, ending hostilities and establishing the terms of France's surrender to the Germans, including the division of France into the occupied and free zones.