The hunt for Nazi spies : fighting espionage in Vichy France / / Simon Kitson ; translated by Catherine Tihanyi

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910825228503321
• Autore: Kitson Simon
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2008
• ISBN: 1-281-95728-3; 9786611957285; 0-226-43895-3
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (241 p.)
• Disciplina: 940.54/8644
• Soggetti: World War, 1939-1945 - Collaborationists - France; World War, 1939-1945 - Secret service - France; World War, 1939-1945 - Secret service - Germany; Espionage, German - France - History - 20th century; Spies - Germany - History - 20th century; France History German occupation, 1940-1945
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: "Originally published as Vichy et la chasse aux espions nazis, c2005 by Editions"--T.p. verso.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-208) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- CONTENTS -- Preface to the English Language Edition -- Acknowledgments -- Glossary and Abbreviations -- Chronology of World War II France -- Introduction -- 1. Organizing German Espionage -- 2. Becoming a Spy -- 3. The Structures of French Counterespionage -- 4. Secret Service Ambiguities -- 5. Everyday Counterespionage -- 6. The Fate of the Spies -- 7. Understanding Vichy's Policy -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: From 1940 to 1942, French secret agents arrested more than two thousand spies working for the Germans and executed several dozen of them-all despite the Vichy government's declared collaboration with the Third Reich. A previously untold chapter in the history of World War II, this duplicitous activity is the gripping subject of The Hunt for Nazi Spies, a tautly narrated chronicle of the Vichy regime's attempts to maintain sovereignty while supporting its Nazi occupiers. Simon Kitson informs this remarkable story with findings from his investigation-the ; first by any historian-of thousands of Vichy documents seized in turn by the Nazis and the Soviets and returned to France only in the 1990's. His pioneering detective work uncovers a puzzling paradox: a French government that was hunting down left-wing activists and supporters of Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces was also working to undermine the influence of German spies who were pursuing the same Gaullists and resisters. In light of this apparent contradiction, Kitson does not deny that Vichy France was committed to assisting the Nazi cause, but illuminates the complex agendas that characterized the collaboration and shows how it was possible to be both anti-German and anti-Gaullist. Combining nuanced conclusions with dramatic accounts of the lives of spies on both sides, The Hunt for Nazi Spies adds an important new dimension to our understanding of the French predicament under German occupation and the shadowy world of World War II espionage.