A local official’s early embrace of the Vichy regime in France is shedding light on collaboration during World War II. Historian Alain Lozac’h, in his new book Vichy en Bretagne (1940-1944), Révolution nationale et Collaboration dans un département breton, labels Jacques Feschotte, the prefect of Côtes-du-Nord between 1940 and 1943, as “the Pétainist prefect.” Appointed to the post at age 46 after serving as a sub-prefect in Haguenau, he arrived in Saint-Brieuc on June 17, 1940—the very day Marshal Pétain delivered his radio address calling for an end to fighting against Nazi Germany. Feschotte wasted no time, immediately authorizing the display of a poster praising the Marshal throughout the city.
Initially appointed by the Third Republic, Feschotte was retained by the Vichy regime on July 10, 1940, deemed compatible with the ideals of the National Revolution. Lozac’h explains, “He did not suffer the same fate as dozens of high-ranking officials…”
