France: Was Renault the worst collaborator?

The lawsuit by the grandchildren of Louis Renault has “rekindled the old debate” about the extent of French collaboration during World War II, said Marie-Amélie Lombard at Le Figaro.

Marie-Amélie Lombard

Le Figaro

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Survivors of Nazi camps routinely brandish a damning photo of Renault proudly showing a model car to Hitler and Göring, and ask how such a man who profited from the Nazis can possibly be exonerated. Others point out that plenty of French companies, including Peugeot and Michelin, worked actively with the French Resistance even as their factories were taken over by the Nazis, while Renault did not. Was Renault treated more harshly than other companies by the free French regime after the war? Yes. “Did it warrant such treatment? Maybe.”