page_title: World War II by country
section_title: France
hierarchical_section_title: World War II by country / France
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Paris, Französinen mit Judenstern ADN-ZB Frankreich unter faschistischer deutscher Besatzung Ab 1. September 1941 ist in Deutschland die Polizeiverordnung zur Kennzeichnung der jüdischen Bürger mit dem gelben Davidstern in Kraft. Sie ist gültig für Kinder vom 6. Lebensjahr und wird auch auf die jüdischen Bürger der von den Faschisten okupierten Länder übertragen. Mit dem gleichzeitigen Verbot des Verlassens des Wohnortes wird die Deportierung der Juden in die Vernichtungslager der Nazis vorbereitet. Unser Bild zeigt zwei Pariser Bürgerinnen mit dem gelben Davidstern. (Aufnahme 20.6.1942)
context_page_description: Almost every country in the world participated in World War II. Most were neutral at the beginning, but only a few nations remained neutral to the end. The Second World War pitted two alliances against each other, the Axis powers and the Allied powers; the U.S having served 16 million men, Germany serving 13 million, the Soviet Union serving 35 million and Japan serving 6 million. With millions serving in other countries, an estimated 300 million soldiers saw combat. A total of 72 million people died with the lowest estimate being 40 million dead and the highest estimate being 120 million dead. The leading Axis powers were Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan; while the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, were the "Big Four" Allied powers.
  The countries involved or affected by World War II are listed here alphabetically, with a description of their role in the conflict.
context_section_description: France was one of the original guarantors of Polish security and as such was one of the first countries to declare war on Germany. For several months, little fighting occurred in the Phoney War or drôle de guerre ("funny war"). On May 10, 1940, Germany began its attack on France. After six weeks of intense battling, the French government signed the Armistice of 22 June 1940.
  After the armistice, France was split into two parts, an occupied sector and an unoccupied sector. Within Occupied France, Otto von Stülpnagel and his cousin and successor, Carl-Heinrich, led a military administration. Citizens were subjected to the Service du travail obligatoire, a program of forced labor in Germany. Jews and Roma faced the persecution of the Holocaust in France. An active Resistance fought against the occupying forces throughout the war. Southern France was administered by a puppet government under Philippe Pétain in Vichy, known therefore as Vichy France. In opposition, Charles de Gaulle led Free France, a government-in-exile in London with control over France's unoccupied overseas territories and forces which fought on the Allied side.
  The Liberation of France began with the Allied invasions of 1944, Operation Overlord at Normandy in the north and Operation Dragoon in the south. Allied forces achieved the Liberation of Paris in August. De Gaulle established the Provisional Government of the French Republic, and the entire country returned to the Allies. Further fighting occurred in France during the advance to the Rhine of 1944–1945. After the war, France became a founding member of NATO, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
caption: French Jewish women wearing the yellow badge, Paris, 1942.
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