Indignité nationale was a legally defined
offenseIn law, an offence is a violation of the criminal law .In England and Wales, as well as in Hong Kong the term "offence" means the same thing as, and is interchangeable with, the term "crime"....
, created at the Liberation in the context of the “
Épuration légaleThe Épuration légale was the wave of official trials that followed the Liberation of France and the fall of the Vichy Regime...
”. The offence of
Indignité nationale was meant to fill a legal void: while the laws in application in 1939 had provisions against treason, murder and such crimes, they did not take into account reprehensible behaviours which occurred during the Occupation and in the
Vichy regimeVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, such as participation in the Waffen SS or in the
MiliceThe Milice française , generally called simply Milice, was a paramilitary force created on January 30, 1943 by the Vichy Regime, with German aid, to help fight the French Resistance. The Milice's formal leader was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, though its chief of operations, and actual leader, was...
. The bill of the "Ordinance Instituting National Indignity" was presented by the
Provisional Government of the French RepublicThe Provisional Government of the French Republic was an interim government which governed France from 1944 to 1946, following the fall of Vichy France and prior to the Fourth French Republic....
government on June 26, 1944 and adopted by the national Assembly on August 26, 1944.
Indignité nationale ceased to be a criminal offense in January 1951 but the people convicted in 1944–1951 remained deprived of their civil rights until August 1953.
GaullistGaullism is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Resistance leader then president Charles de Gaulle.-Foreign policy:...
legal preparations to post-war purges started in
LyonLyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
in 1942. Chief prosecutor for Paris Maurice Rolland joined the Lyon Commission in 1943.
Charles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
leaned to leave the post-war purification to
ad hocAd hoc is a Latin phrase meaning "for this". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and not intended to be able to be adapted to other purposes. Compare A priori....
decisions of the judges, relying solely on the 1939 statute that punished treason with death. Meetings of the Consultative Assembly, which convened since January 11, 1944, persuaded de Gaulle that "containing vengeance" would be more difficult than he thought. Indeed, in the few months that followed the Normandy landings, at least 4,500 alleged collaborators were killed in summary
judicial executions.
De Gaulle and his government needed a legal instrument which, unlike the 1939 law on treason, would not involve harsh sentences and was thus could be applied to a wide circle of offenders. They also wanted to avoid enacting an
ex post facto lawAn ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law...
, and created the concept of
continuing "state of indignity" as a workaround solution. The new law instituted a new concept of a criminal
state of a person, the state of indignity. A person entered the state of indignity through committing certain acts (not necessarily crimes) in the past, and this
state continued until redemption through punishment. The acts leading to "state of indignity" included any voluntary aid to
Axis powersThe Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
after June 16, 1940, or any of numerous specific offences outlined in the law:
- participation in the Vichy Cabinet
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
;
- executive posts in the Vichy propaganda or the Commisariat for Jewish Affairs;
- active participation in pro-collaboration demonstrations
- mere membership in pro-collaboration organizations.
The offense of
indignité nationale was subject to sentences of
dégradation nationaleThe dégradation nationale was a sentence introduced in France after the Liberation. It was applied during the épuration légale which followed the fall of the Vichy regime....
and, since September 30, 1944 confiscation of property. The alleged offenders were reduced to a class of second-rate citizens, deprived of election rights, banned from government service, trade unions, mass media, executive appointments in semi-public companies. Duration of disqualification, from five years to life, was decided by the court individually. The courts were allowed to suspend, but not completely lift, the penalty for those who served in the
Free French ForcesThe Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
or participated in the Resistance. The courts were not allowed to choose specific form of disqualification, and had to invoke the whole set of bans, or acquit the person on a technicality. The only elective punishments were the confiscation of property, and a ban to live in certain areas. The offenders also lost their pension rights, although this was not intended by the legislators, and was uncommon in practice.
By the beginning of 1951, when
indignité nationale ceased to be a criminal offense, more than 46,000 people were convicted: 3,158 persons convicted by the Courts of Justice (counting only the cases where
indignité nationale was the main offence) and 46,145 cases tried by the Civic Chambers, less 3,184 people acquitted. In 1953 all the survivors, except those convicted by the High Court, were
amnestiedAmnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
of
indignité nationale charges.