Regeneration and Exclusion: Ambivalence in Vichy France [Review of the book Pétain’s Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942, by Daniel Lee]

A review of Pétain\u27s Jewish Children: French Jewish Youth and the Vichy Regime, 1940-1942 by Daniel Lee. Under the Vichy regime, the French government sought to enact a National Revolution intended to rebuild France after its shocking defeat. Based on traditional values, such as a return to working the land, manual labor and nationalism, the National Revolution was also predicated on the exclusion of Jews from the national community. In Petain\u27s Jewish Children, Daniel Lee explores the ways in which the seemingly contradictory goals of regeneration and exclusion actually created a space for French Jewish youth to participate in the National Revolution during the first two years of the German occupation. Lee also demonstrates the heterogeneity of opinions regarding Jews at the highest levels of government, as well as areas of convergence between some Jewish organizations and the National Revolution