Nazis Meet the Firing Squad - Photo Gallery - LIFE On August 25, 1944, Allied forces and French Resistance fighters liberated Paris after four desperate years of German control and a week of intense street battles. French citizens celebrated like never before ... but they also doggedly hunted down those who had collaborated with the Nazis. On September 2, 1944, legendary LIFE photographer Carl Mydans and John Obsborne, a war correspondent for LIFE and Time, were in Grenoble, at the foot of the French Alps, when they witnessed a grim, bloody proceeding: A group of Resistance fighters (known as Maquis) gathered to execute a half-dozen Nazi collaborators who had worked for the despised, feared Milice -- the Vichy police. Mydans' unflinching photos and Osborne's haunting description of the event -- some of which is excerpted here -- ran in the October 2, 1944 issue of LIFE. Pictured: Armed Resistance fighters march to the execution site. WARNING: The photos that follow are graphic and disturbing.
I think it should be :German collaborators,because a lot of the miliciens were no Nazis,some did not even love the Germans,some became fortuitously member of the milice ,they also could have become member of the resistance .
Absolutely right - LJAd - Milice does not necessarily equal Nazi nor Vichy necessarily equal Nazi. Young men did young men's jobs and the Vichy/fascist ideal was popular, and after the liberation a lot of scores were settled that would not have been settled in that way if left until a proper impartial court was able to be set up. Collaborators is not the right word IMO - it may be for some of them - but not for all - we too often these days think that 'they were just following orders' is actually an indictment rather than just a weak defence.
But as a generalisation that shouldn't include the Milice - they worked for the Vichy government - although for sure some did collaborate with the Germans and with the Nazis if you want to separate the two. Collaborator is a difficult word - Stalin was a Nazi collaborator until they invaded for instance. Many NASA scientists collaborated with Nazis after the war. Many Swiss collaborated with Nazis. The word itself is not good to apply to anyone who wasn't actually an ardent Nazi themselves if you are going to use it with negative meaning. Many people worked with Nazis, towards their goals, during the war, its run up and its aftermath, and they had reasons we might not understand. The Milice were counter terrorist police. Put that in context.
