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Macron Stokes Anger with Plan to Honor Nazi Collaborator Petain
(AFP-France 24) French President Emmanuel Macron faced a wave of criticism Wednesday after defending Nazi collaborator Philippe Petain, who led France's Vichy regime during World War II. The French army announced Tuesday that a ceremony would be held Saturday to commemorate the eight marshals who commanded French forces during WWI, including Petain. Francis Kalifat of the CRIF association of French Jewish groups said he was "shocked" by Macron's comments praising a leader who helped deport thousands of Jews to their deaths. "The only thing we will remember about Petain is that he was convicted, in the name of the French people, of national indignity during his trial in 1945." As head of the Vichy regime, Petain actively collaborated with the Nazi occupiers, pursuing French resistance fighters while enacting second-class status for Jews and helping German soldiers round them up for the death camps. After the war's end he was arrested for treason and given the death sentence, which was commuted to life imprisonment.