Statute on Jews

The Statute on Jews (Statut des juifs) was discriminatory legislation against French Jews passed on October 3, 1940 by the Vichy Regime, grouping them as a lower class and depraving them of citizenship before rounding them up at Drancy then taking them to be exterminated in concentration camps. The Vichy Regime voluntarily adopted, without coercion from the German forces, laws that excluded Jews and their children from certain roles in society. According to Pétain's chief of staff, "Germany was not at the origin of the anti-Jewish legislation of Vichy. That legislation was spontaneous and autonomous."

History
On July 22, 1940, the Deputy Secretary of State Raphaël Alibert created a committee to review 500,000 naturalisations given since 1927. This resulted in 15,000 people having their French nationality revoked, of which 40% were Jews. Alibert was the signatory of the Statute on Jews.

These laws were copied from Nazi laws or ordinances, so that they were equally harsh for their victims. They were, therefore, more rigorous than the laws set in place by the Italian fascists. These laws of limitation were put into place from the start of the new regime by Pétain: the first law was put into place barely one month after the Vichy government was established.

The collaborationist regime also put into practice the Nazi policy on hunting Jews, that was enforced by the French police, sending the captive Jews to SNCF stations where they would be sent to French concentration camps as part of the Final Solution.

Similar legislation was subsequently adopted by Algeria (October 7, 1940), Morocco (October 31), and Tunisia (November 30).

Other groups
Other groups within society, such as Freemasons and Communists, were also oppressed by this new regime. Before the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, however, the hunt for communists was not a high priority on the Nazi agenda.

Laws and statutes
Hitler came to power on 30 January 1933. Pétain came to power on 17 June 1940. The following table summarizes antisemitic legislative measures in Vichy France vs. Nazi Germany and time it took to adopt the corresponding measures. Time between the installation of government and passing the statute is denoted in parentheses.