The North of France under the Occupation, 1940-1944
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From the invasion to the liberation, a little known part of history ...
	1. The violence of the invasion 2. A particular status 3. A harsh occupation 4. The problems of daily life 5. The refusal to collaborate 6. The persecution of the Jews 7. The Resistance in the Nord—Pas-de-Calais 8. Waiting for the Normandy landings 9. A lightning liberation

The persecution of the Jews

Two types of Jewish communities were established in the Nord—Pas-de-Calais before the war: the families in the large towns and cities (Lille, Valenciennes, Dunkirk), forming part of France and the Republic for generations; the Polish Jewish community, installed in the mining area during the inter-war period, which had retained its own strong particularisms.

Both were victims of a double persecution: that of the Germans and that which resulted from the application of the "status of Vichy Jews".

Discreet and methodical from the end of 1940, the persecution abruptly worsened in 1942: work camps were set up along the coast and in June it became compulsory to wear the yellow star.

A big raid, organised on 11th September 1942, carried out by the German police with the assistance of the French police, led to the internment and execution, in Auschwitz, of more than 500 people.