The eleventh volume of the Neuengammer Kolloquien is titled “Repression politics and deportation practices in occupied France 1940-1944. Participants, perceptions of an enemy, persecuted groups.” In her dissertation, Christine Eckel focuses on a central element of German occupation policy.

In France, deportation measures between 1941 and 1944 were directed against the Jewish population, but also affected over 76,000 non-Jewish men and women. This second group, which has received little attention in German research to date, is the focus of the book.

In five chapters, the author examines the development of repressive policies and deportation practices in France. Against the backdrop of both German and French research, she focuses in particular on two questions: What was the relationship between the German occupation authorities and the collaborating Vichy regime in the planning and implementation of the measures? How did the expanding concentration camp system, with its growing demand for labor, affect the occupation structures and concrete persecution measures such as deportations?

Using selected case studies, primarily from Auvergne, Brittany, Marseille, and Paris, negotiation processes and conflicts between the German and French groups involved in the repression are analyzed. Furthermore, the background to the arrests and the diversity of the groups affected are presented. These included, among other things, the targeted arrest of resistance fighters, the arrest of a wide variety of people in the context of broad raids, e.g., as a “retaliatory measure” after assassinations, and, in the final phase of the war, the emptying of German and French prisons.

One focus is on deportation to the Neuengamme concentration camp, which was a main destination for transports of non-Jewish people from France. While only small groups or individuals were transferred from France to Neuengamme in the early years, the majority of the more than 11,500 prisoners from France arrived at the camp in five mass transports in 1944. Biographical case studies illustrate the range of deportation practices. An index of persons completes the volume.

Since 2010, the Neuengammer Kolloquien series has been presenting current research related to the Neuengamme concentration camp, its post-war history, and issues of education and remembrance. The series is published by Metropol Verlag.

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