In OTL, the judges at the Petain Trial recommended acquittal on all charges, but the jury convicted him by one vote. What if the juror in question had gone the other way? What would the consequences be for Petain? The newly installed Republican government? The narrative of France during the war?
WI Petain acquitted?
- Thread starter Francisco Cojuanco
- Start date
The Storyteller
Banned
Not sure what he'd do, but I'm guessing that he'd probably be buried in Verdun after his death (OTL, he was buried on the island off the French coast where he was imprisoned after the war).
I wonder what would happen to the trial of, say, Laval. After all, ITTL the head of the lot gets off scot free...
Wolfpaw
Banned
It would be a further blot on France's reputation for its morally indefensible lenience towards Vichyite criminals like Papon and Tulard and Vallat.
If the Vichyites and fascists and reactionaries were even more kosher in post-War France than they already were, the far-right in France could get uncomfortably powerful. And with a collapsing empire to play with, things stand to get very nasty indeed.
If the Vichyites and fascists and reactionaries were even more kosher in post-War France than they already were, the far-right in France could get uncomfortably powerful. And with a collapsing empire to play with, things stand to get very nasty indeed.
Considering how West Germany actually outlawed fascists and neo-nazis, probably worse.
Wolfpaw
Banned
In terms of Nazi whitewashing? Probably better for the mere fact of the fewer number of people France had to deal with, to say nothing of its very active resistance to fascism both at home and abroad.
Probably worse in "damage that could be done," but with regards to sheer number of people who went unpunished for their assistance in the crimes of fascism, Germany takes that cake.