The New Industrial Order: Reorganising French Industry in a German Europe, 1940

Following the Fall of France in June 1940, the Vichy regime issued sweeping laws, on 16 August and 10 September, that reordered French industrial production and ushered in a new dirigiste model. It is generally held that the law of 16 August was hurriedly improvised in mid-August by the Minister of Industrial Production, René Belin. Moreover, it is held that this law was an audacious assertion of French sovereignty that angered the German authorities and undercut their plans. By examining the relevant archives, however, I show that virtually every element of that law had already been implemented by the French authorities in Paris over the course of July. Crucially, each of these measures was taken with the explicit approval of the German authorities. Furthermore, the French industrial reorganisation took place in the shadow of the plans articulated by German Minister of Economics Walther Funk to create an integrated European economy, albeit one under German hegemony. The French authorities responded directly to this line of Nazi rhetoric and constructed their new industrial order with the objective of integrating the French and German economies, particularly the coal and steel industries. Far from being an anti-German assertion of French sovereignty, the restructuring of French industry was carried out in order to further economic collaboration between the Vichy and Nazi regimes. The importance of these laws is significant. The organisms created in the summer of 1940 would outlive Vichy, remaining in place until 1946. Moreover, the principal actors in this new industrial order would escape the post-war épuration and continue to guide French industry after 1944. In this respect, it is possible to observe continuities between Vichy and not only the Fourth Republic, but also the European Coal and Steel Community.