Italian Occupation of France

Relations between authorities in Vichy and those of the Italian Occupation rested on a fundamental ambiguity. The Germans and Italians had seized control of these zones ‘militarily’, officially for security reasons, in order to protect them from an Allied landing. On 1942-12-17, however, the Germans, followed on 1943-01-15 by the Italians, granted themselves all the powers of an armed Occupation force in their own zone, irrespective of the armistice agreements. The Italians had moreover not relinquished their ambition to annex a portion of the area that they occupied, which explains why they were keen on demonstrating their sovereignty each time they were given the opportunity. The political rivalry between the French and Italian authorities that grew out of this situation worked in favor of the Jews. The Italians let the Germans know right away that they themselves would take care of monitoring ‘undesirable’ people of all sorts within their Occupation Zone.