Historian Jean-Pierre Azéma, who wrote on French Nazi collaboration, dies at 87

Jean-Pierre Azéma, an 87-year-old historian, has died. He was a prominent scholar who chronicled France's collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. Azéma's research, particularly in his book "From Munich to the Liberation," challenged post-war myths that portrayed the Vichy regime and its leader, Marshal Philippe Pétain, as less complicit or more benevolent than they were. His work, characterized by dispassionate analysis, helped shift public and historical understanding of this period, highlighting the authoritarian nature of the Vichy government and its various factions.