L'affaire Papon

Résumé du livre

An investigation by two journalists on the period when Maurice Papon was secretary general of the police in the Gironde region, in charge of the Jewish question. Traces the deterioration of French-Jewish relations back to the 1930s, much before the Jews' official relegation to inferior status in 1941. The authors interviewed various French personalities who were closely connected with the occupation government. Emphasizes the role of Michel Slitinsky who, in 1981, first revealed evidence to the press of Papon's signature on antisemitic decrees in Bordeaux. Concludes that doubts regarding Papon's role in the Résistance (an argument put forward by the defense) dominated the trial, rather than confrontation with the real issue - Gaullist disregard of his wartime past.