While the Phoney War occasioned a first confrontation with regulations and requisition, the signing of the Armistice marked the start of a complex period for the enterprises in occupied Gironde, in that it prompted a ...
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While the Phoney War occasioned a first confrontation with regulations and requisition, the signing of the Armistice marked the start of a complex period for the enterprises in occupied Gironde, in that it prompted a fruitful dialogue with the Vichy government and the German authorities. These enterprises faced a French German polycracy, which imposed new administrative and territorial executives on their activities. Enterprise became a real power issue. There were points of convergence (the aryanisation of “Jewish enterprises”, the remuneration of work) as there were of conflict (the control of the port, the concentration of production, the workers' departure for Germany). Moreover, the Vichy regime did all it could to make enterprise an ideological showcase (“Révolution Nationale”): ceremonies, support groups, corporatism, political associations, collaborationist movements. Armed with a formidable legislative and repressive arsenal, it managed – with the support of the Germans – to create a place of exclusion, from which were violently removed, any elements that were judged undesirable either for their political activities (communists) or for their religious affiliation, abusively qualified as “racial” (Jews). On the contrary, the strategy which consisted in making each establishment a place of integration of its ideals, was not met with much success. The attachment that the actors of the enterprises had for Maréchal Pétain himself, which was very real in the beginning, soon faded with the trials and constraints that the people of Gironde had to suffer. From this point of view, the social policy of the French State (“Charte du Travail”) did not allow it – with some exceptions – to “bring” employers and workers back to the Vichy realm. In a context of severe shortage (primary goods, labour and means of transport), enterprises in Gironde looked for alternatives to what we commonly call the “economic collaboration”: use of products of replacement, reconversion of activities, readjustment of the productive machine, development of illicit practices (black market). Few entrepreneurs, however, missed the business opportunity that lay in offering their services to the occupying forces. These services were widespread, but varied according to jobs, fields of activity and times of the Occupation. In this way, the occupying forces benefited, from the strengths of the local economic fabric, since they managed to integrate into their war economy not only the industries that had earlier been mobilized for the “Défense Nationale” but also the natural resources of the land: wood, resin, wine.
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