The policy of spoliation of Jews initiated by the German state, based on a legal mechanism, is becoming widespread. It was soon exported to the occupied territories and adopted by the regimes allied with the Reich, following the example of Vichy. The French State integrated the principles of it in 1940 as part of its anti-Semitic policy. To this end, he enacted a specific legislative arsenal aimed at "eliminating all Jewish influence in the national economy" (law of July 22, 1941).
The systematic dispossession of companies and property belonging to Jews is thus engaged on the entire French territory. From the identification of Jews and their assets to their "aryanization" through sale or liquidation, an effective administrative process is put in place, involving not only a significant number of French state administrations, but also large parts of society.
In France, and more broadly in Europe, dispossession was an essential part of the process of exclusion, which later facilitated the implementation of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question".
Based on numerous documents from the National and Departmental Archives, the exhibition aims to explain the bases and workings of this state policy, placing it in the context of Nazi Europe.
