European University Institute Library

Denaturalized, how thousands lost their citizenship and lives in Vichy France, Claire Zalc ; translated by Catherine Porter

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Denaturalized

bibliography

1141438057

Claire Zalc ; translated by Catherine Porter

how thousands lost their citizenship and lives in Vichy France

"At its core, this is a detective story. How do we trace a citizen made alien by the law? How do we solve a murder when the body has vanished? Faced with the absence of straightforward evidence, Zalc turned to the original naturalization papers in order to uncover how denaturalization later occurred. She discovered that, in many cases, the very officials who granted citizenship to foreigners before 1940 were the ones who retracted it under Vichy rule. The idea of citizenship has always existed alongside the threat of its revocation, and this is especially true for those who are naturalized citizens of a modern state. At a time when the status of millions of naturalized citizens in the United States and around the world is under greater scrutiny, Denaturalized turns our attention to the precariousness of the naturalized experience-the darkness that can befall those who suddenly find themselves legally cast out"--, Provided by publisher

Prologue: 53552X -- Introduction -- In the beginning was the law -- New men? The actors behind the denaturalization policy -- The Commission's first selections: political logic and administrative anti-Semitism -- Singling out the unworthy at the local level: denaturalizing from the bottom up -- The Commission at work -- Investigations and investigators -- Denaturalized, and then what? -- Protests -- Summing up -- Conclusion