The Politics of Industrial Collaboration during World War II

Transcription

1 The Politics of Industrial Collaboration during World War II Did Ford SAF sabotage the German war effort by deliberately manufacturing fewer vehicles than they could have? Ford SAF claimed after the war that they did. Exploring the nature and limits of industrial collaboration in occupied France, Imlay and Horn trace the wartime activities of Ford Motor Company s French affiliate. The company began making trucks and engine parts for the French military, but from 1940 until Liberation in 1944 was supplying the Wehrmacht. This book offers a fascinating account of how the company negotiated the conflicting demands of the French, German and American authorities to thrive during the war. It sheds important new light on broader issues such as the wartime relationship between private enterprise and state authority, Nazi Germany s economic policies and the nature of the German occupation of France, collaboration and resistance in Vichy France and the role of American companies in occupied Europe. Talbot Imlay is a Professor at the Department of Historical Sciences at the Université Laval, Québec, Canada Martin Horn is Associate Professor of History at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

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3 The Politics of Industrial Collaboration during World War II Ford France, Talbot Imlay Université Laval and Martin Horn McMaster University

4 University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: / This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Imlay, Talbot C. The politics of industrial collaboration during World War II : Ford France, Vichy and Nazi Germany / Talbot Imlay, Universite Laval and Martin Horn, McMaster University. pages cm ISBN (hardback) 1. Ford SAF History. 2. World War, Economic aspects. 3. Automobile industry and trade France History 20th century. 4. France History German occupation, I. Horn, Martin, 1959 II. Title. HD9710.F72I dc ISBN Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 Contents Preface List of abbreviations page vii ix Introduction 1 1 Ford SAF: The initial struggle for control: A year of transition: A period of decision: the first half of The extent and limits of industrial collaboration: From Liberation to disappearance: Conclusion 264 Appendix A: Ford operations in France 1929 June Appendix B: Ford SAF s production during the Occupation 272 Bibliography 274 Index 289 v

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7 Preface This book began as a standard research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to investigate the experiences of American companies in occupied France during World War II. Preliminary research led us to conclude that the subject was too large: there were simply too many American companies present in too many industries. Accordingly, we decided to focus on one company, Ford SAF the Ford Motor Company s French affiliate. The choice was partly serendipitous. While working in the National Archives in Paris, we discovered several files concerning Ford SAF in the records of the post- Liberation investigation into the wartime activities of François Lehideux, the head of Vichy s Comité d organisation for the automobile industry. The more we read, the more convinced we became that Ford SAF s wartime story was not only worth recounting in its own right but that it also provided an interesting window into the subject of industrial collaboration in occupied France. The resulting book is divided into six chapters together with an introduction and conclusion. Martin Horn wrote chapter 1 and Talbot Imlay wrote chapters 2 through 6. The research for the book was made possible by generous support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as well as from the Université Laval s Fonds de soutien aux activités académiques. The research was conducted in four countries, and we are grateful to the archivists and staffs of the various libraries and archival centres for their assistance. The Université Laval s inter-university library loan staff deserve special mention: they patiently and efficiently processed Talbot Imlay s numerous requests for books and articles. Martin Horn and Talbot Imlay are extremely grateful to Han Otto Frøland and Jonas Scherner for inviting them to present their work at the workshop on Industry in Occupied Europe, which was held at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim in May On a more personal note, Martin Horn would like to thank Katarina Todic for her assistance with the secondary research. He dedicates the book to Lisa, Madelaine and Miranda with his love and gratitude. Talbot vii

8 viii Preface Imlay would like to thank Andrew Barros, Aline Charles, Donald Fyson, Peter Jackson, Simon Kitson, Didier Méhu, Paul Miller and Martin Thomas, all of whom are colleagues and friends and all of whom have helped him in uncountable ways. He would also like to thank Hervé Joly and Pierre-Yves Saunier for their helpful comments on various chapters, and Jean-Louis Loubet for taking the time to answer several questions. He is profoundly grateful to Alexandra, Alicia Kate and Julian, the three great loves of his life, for everything; and to his parents, Robert and Camille Imlay, for their support and encouragement. Finally, he dedicates the book to the memory of his grandparents, Isabelle Hamel-Rouart and Georges Hamel. Both of them lived through the Occupation years, one in Paris and the other in Germany as a prisoner of war.

9 Abbreviations AA ADAP ADY AN AP APP BAL BA-MA BFRC BNF CAEF CCFA CMA CO COA CSCA DIME EAC FMC GBK IB MBA MbF MPI NARA OCRPI OKW PAAA Auswärtiges Amt Akten zur Deutschen Auswärtigen Politik Archives départmentales d Yvelines, Saint-Quentinen-Yvelines Archives nationales, Paris Archives Peugeot, Montbéliard Archives de la préfecture de police, Paris Bundesarchiv, Berlin-Lichterfelde Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, Freiburg Benson Ford Research Center, Dearborn, MI Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris Centre des archives économiques et financières, Savignyle-Temple Comité des constructeurs français d automobiles Commission de modernisation de l automobile Comité d organisation Comité d organisation de l automobile et du cycle Chambre syndicale des constructeurs d automobiles Direction des Industries Mécaniques et Électriques European automobile committee Ford Motor Company Generalbevollmächtigten für das Kraftfahrwesen Industrie Beauftragter Mercedes-Benz Archiv, Stuttgart Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich Ministère de la production industrielle National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD Office central de répartition des produits industriels Oberkommando der Wehrmacht Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts, Berlin ix

10 x RkBfV RWM SAF SäSC SHGN SHGR TNA ZASt List of abbreviations Reichskommissariat für die Behandlung feindlichen Vermögens Reichswirtschaftsministerium Société anonyme française Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Chemnitz Service historique de la gendarmerie nationale, Vincennes Société d histoire du groupe Renault, Boulogne-Billancourt The National Archives, Kew Gardens Zentralauftragsstelle