Repressions and deportations in France and in Europe, 1939-1945

Notices in German and French, posted in Paris after the execution of two resistance fighters. France, August 19, 1941. Memorial of the Shoah.

During the Second World War, the Third Reich and its allies implemented a set of repressive policies, with different methods and aims. These were intended not only to repress their opponents and adversaries, but also to reshape the territories under their control, notably by attacking different populations.

At the heart of these repressive policies are the deportations, which played an essential role. If in France this term has become, since the end of the war, synonymous with sending to concentration camps, it nevertheless covers a much broader set of realities. In itself, deportation is a transfer of population, serving an objective, a purpose: deportation to a territory, to concentration camps, to places of assassination...