The Trial of Marshal Petain
by Jules Roy
Category: France

On the smoldering afternoon of July 23, 1945, in the imposing First Chamber of the Palais de Justice in Paris, in the presence of lawyers, politicians, leaders of the Resistance, and guards with submachine guns, Marshal Pétain went on trial for his life and the honor of France. The charge was treason. Twenty years later, Jules Roy (who had been loyal to Pétain in the early years of the collaboration with Hitler) for his own peace of mind went back to the records to discover where guilt should be assigned. This dramatic re-creation of the trial is the result.