Sarah Ann Frank - Hostages of Empire: Colonial Prisoners of War in Vichy France

Hostages of Empireopens a fascinating window to the experiences of French colonial prisoners in World War II. Frank positions colonial captivity in a wider context and sensitively examines the interplay between racism and political pragmatism.

Ruth Ginio, author of The French Army and Its African Soldiers: The Years of Decolonization

Based on meticulous, pathbreaking archival work, Hostages of Empireoffers an impressive new history of wartime captivity. Skillfully centering the voices and experiences of colonial prisoners, it deepens and nuances in important ways our understanding of the entangled histories of the French Empire and the Second World War.

Claire Eldridge, author of From Empire to Exile: History and Memory within the Pied-Noir and Harki Communities, 19622012

France Overseas: Studies in Empire and Decolonization

SERIES EDITORS : A. J. B. Johnston, James D. Le Sueur, and Tyler Stovall

Sarah Ann Frank

University of Nebraska Press | Lincoln

2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover photo courtesy of the ICRC Archives ( ARR ), V-P-HIST -03442-22.

Portions of chapter 9, The Long Road Home, 19401945, originally appeared as Meet the New Empire, Same as the Old Empire: Visions and Realities of French Imperial Policy in 1944, in Reading the Postwar Future, ed. Kirrily Freeman and John Munro (London: Bloomsbury, 2019), 7995.

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Frank, Sarah Ann, author.

Title: Hostages of empire: colonial prisoners of war in Vichy France / Sarah Ann Frank.

Other titles: Colonial prisoners of war in Vichy France

Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, [2021] | Series: France overseas: studies in empire and decolonization | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020037910

ISBN 9781496207777 (hardback)

ISBN 9781496227027 (epub)

ISBN 9781496227041 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH : World War, 19391945Prisoners and prisons, French. | World War, 19391945Prisoners and prisons, German. | FranceHistoryGerman occupation, 19401945. | France. Arme. Troupes colonialesHistoryWorld War, 19391945. | FranceColoniesAfricaHistory, Military20th century.

Classification: LCC D 805. F 8 F 658 2021 | DDC 940.54/7244dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020037910

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

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I was privileged to receive generous funding for the research and writing of this book. My thanks go to the Irish Research Council for funding my doctoral thesis, the Grace Lawless Lee Fund and the Trinity Trust Postgraduate Travel Grants for research funding for travel to archives in France and Senegal, and the International Studies Group at the University of the Free State for funding final research trips to London, Aix, and Paris.

This book would not have been possible without the generous assistance and contribution of many friends and scholars, far too many to name here. In particular, I appreciate the support and patience of my PhD supervisor, Professor John Horne, during the long doctoral process. I thank my colleagues at the International Studies Group and the University of St.