This book reconstructs the trials and tribulations of the colorful individuals accused of collaboration with the Germans in southwestern France.
This is a compelling study of human folly, vengeance, opportunism and betrayal during the German occupation of the French Basque Country and Bearn. Based on extensive fieldwork and a close reading of trial dossiers, Ott focuses on ordinary people who formed relationships with Germans during 1940-4 and were later accused of 'collaboration'.
Introduction; Part I. The Context: 1. Pyrenean borderlands: setting and cultures; 2. World wars, civil war, and German occupation; 3. Violence and the process of liberation; 4. The purge, the judiciary, and the court of justice; Part II. The Narratives and the Trials: 5. A black market bicycle vendor; 6. A teenaged informer and the tragedy of Portet; 7. A pro-German Basque farmer; 8. The changing face of the enemy; 9. A town hall secretary and a Vichy police commissioner; 10. Friendship with a Nazi officer; 11. A Basque double agent and a Nazi officer; 12. A teenaged volunteer in the Waffen-SS; 13. Sex, vengeance, and duplicity: the strange case of Dr Vérité; Part III. Conclusions.