When the Berlin Reichstag went up in flames in February 1933, the first wave of mass immigration began. Many people moved to the country of human rights, France, where they felt safe. Communists, Jews, artists. But Nazi Germany then invaded Poland, and World War II began. When Hitler’s troops marched into France, former World War I hero Marshal Pétain agreed to work with the Germans. A crushing defeat for France. This “collaboration” is still a trauma today. The virulent racism of the Germans led to one of the greatest atrocities against mankind, the Holocaust.
