Why the French Police are so Brutal

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

Use this link to subscribe to Speakly and learn a language today: speakly.app.link/kraut

[@lakastusmanatus]

Hey why the sound work in left headset in the intro?

[@glenquagmire4340]

Your audio is broken

[@Anon13378]

Mono sound in the intro

[@Saloman4ik]

Left mono only in intro pls fix

[@laurentsaint-laurent3659]

Good work, thank you. I wish more people knew about this outside (and even inside TBH) of France... A lot of this only came out in the 1980's and some people still refuse to accept these facts.. . Even before WW2, there were the colonial & anti-labor roots of french police.. There's also a lot to say about pré-WW2 french fascist or proto-fascist groups & movements. Michel Winock's book "Nationalisme, antisemitisme et fascisme en France" is a good start. Zeev Sternhel's work is very interesting, concentrating more on the ideological/intellectual roots of fascism..

[@460mas]

My left ear loves this video

[@quintiax]

Thought it was my earbuds acting up, god bless I'm not the only one.

[@Dunmerdog]

It corrects after the intro.

[@maxmillianwiegel1643]

You’re not alone. It’s not working for me either.

[@lakastusmanatus]

Yes

[@victornunes9845]

Legit thought my earphones were broken lol

[@thebetterdevil]

Babe wake up. It's time for another 30 minute essay on geopolitics

[@jezusbloodie]

Hmmm babe... I'm not.. Ugh no not another one... Ive barely slept since you put on a 4 hour one... Oh! 30 minute *Kraut* essay! I'm awake! Turn on the speakers! to 11, we cant miss a word!

[@anotherrandomguy2386]

[Wojack pain:] Yes my darling... 😂

[@envya4174]

if i had a bf who said that to me id wake right the fuck up lel

[@user-en5pg5vz5s]

You should find someone who isn't called out 24/7 for blatant politicisation of historical events and constant misunderstanding of events and downright inaccuracies in majority of his videos.

[@cowgirltheworld]

​@@user-en5pg5vz5souuuu who are we throwing shade at

[@lyricalcleric8593]

What’s really chilling about this retelling of the paris massacre is just how little coverage it got. When everybody sees a crime, but nobody can admit it’s a crime because it’s the cops doing it, did a crime occur?

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

👆

[@jhtv5757]

@@Kraut_the_Parrot Do you think the increased access to video cameras and social media has set us on a trajectory of slowly exposing the pervasiveness of police brutality against marginalized communities?

[@DieTreppenwitz]

Man i think this in every country where we have crazy cops. Americans have crazy cops but it isn't as crazy as it is in countries like the USSR, or 'democracies' like India or Pakistan and such. These are places where the cops are basically criminals themselves

[@AB0BA_69]

@@Kraut_the_ParrotHonestly, the French police is not being brutal enough. If they were, then France would not have all these riots, terror attacks, and car burnings.

[@luszczi]

​@@AB0BA_69 It's almost like violence begets violence. You get more riots the more police brutality you have. I think I see a pattern here and it's the exact opposite of what you see.

[@javierpaz7954]

In Nantes, 2019, some people were partying in a music festival near the river. They got slightly over the limit hour they had and the police had the idea of sending the riot unit and charge with tear gas and dogs. The result: 17 people fell into the river. Only 16 got out. A young man named Steve, who didn't know how to swim was disappeared and found dead weeks later. The man responsible for the police charge was not only not prosecuted or forced to dismiss, but he was given a medal. He is still the police chief. Here in France politicians are experts in hiding the problems under the rug. And when they rot and the stink is impossible to hide, everyone is surprised.

[@carefourcarefour2785]

The IGPN reports says : - the intervention was legitimate and proportionnate - there was no established link between Steve Caniço's death and the police charge - no witnesses, policemen or civilians, interrogated reported a crow movement, nor panic, nor people running

[@csonracsonra9962]

The French people can't swim? Sorry i read the first paragraph and HAD to ask

[@crazydragy4233]

​@@csonracsonra9962I'd love to know in what way one's nationality bestows upon them the ability to swim or not

[@Warsie]

​@@crazydragy4233if you live in an island nation in the tropics you likely have the ability to swim

[@CLairsoftFTW]

If I can’t swim the last thing I’m doing is going to a music festival by a big body of water lol what an idiot

[@Leroy0ne]

As a Russian who lived in a Siberian city most of my life, i can confirm that USSR torture legacy is also alive and well. We had a notorious detention center where they would put you in a cell with inmates that would "work" you to confess and take charges under pressure. The threat of being raped by several men with HIV or a broomstick is usually enough. All being done under guards supervision.

[@Anonymoose66G]

Retract this, Putin will get you 😂. Alot of former unjustifiable crimes against humanity are forgotten and replaced for systems that are simply better at concealing what they do.

[@stanislavyackon1887]

​@@olivierverdys4673ukrainial law enforcement system is just the same, as russion. Most of all high ranking oficials, key police ane military officers all over eastern europe are the same sort of corrupted bastards and opressors of thair own people. Russian are whorse, and they steped further, waging full scale war, but other are still much more villians, then heroes

[@SolarFlareAmerica]

@@olivierverdys4673 nah, their president is selling off the country piecemeal. Regardless of whether or not you think it's necessary, it's going to leave Ukraine deeply subservient to foreign capital. Ukraine is also banning left-wing parties, so I don't see them doing anything to reform or nationalize themselves out of that situation. It's probably going to remain a depressing place for a while to come, sadly.

[@donaldhysa4836]

@@SolarFlareAmerica Was USSR selling their country piecemeal when they accepted foreign aid and weapons during WW2?

[@LjuboCupic1912]

@@SolarFlareAmerica”Ukraine is banning left-wing parties” This is a Russian propaganda lie. They banned pro-Russian communist parties.

[@officernealy]

If anyone is curious how brutal things really got during Algeria's push for independence, there was an Italian/Algerian film that was made shortly after it gained independence called _"The Battle of Algiers"_ in which the not only were the testimonies of both French & Algerians taken to create the script, but even former FLN guerrillas were cast as the characters. While it doesn't shy away from the morally dubious methods used by the FLN, it goes it to great detail on how barbaric the French, namely French Paratroopers, were in "policing" them. Unsurprisingly, the film was banned in France until the 1970's.

[@Yahya-sb1yo]

@@olivierverdys4673 If they werent granted permission by the french that brought them there do you think they'd still do it?

[@user-ve7hn2dh8h]

​@@olivierverdys4673nothing but a sad whataboutism by a French hurt in his toxic pride

[@tylerbozinovski427]

@@user-ve7hn2dh8h Not really. Both sides were known to have committed many brutal atrocities. Also, don't forget that the FLN was actually pretty closely aligned politically, financially, and ideologically to the Soviet Union, who also supported them in the war.

[@Nostripe361]

@@tylerbozinovski427 While they weren't completely blameless, I still believe the Algerians were better here than the French as they were fighting for their independence while the French were just trying to keep their empire. I mean the Soviet Union supporting them doesn't discount their goals. I mean at one point in Nigeria, the US and the Soviets were supporting the same side of a conflict.

[@shamsishraq6831]

Ah yes, the French freedom of speech we've heard so much about. The one that only becomes relevant when it's a cartoon about Islam.

[@requemero1994]

Dont forget that the french trained the argentinas militar forces with the same tactics of torture and contraintelligence that the Junta Militar then used in the seventies: the infamous figure of the "desaparecidos" has it origins in the dissapearence of algerians during french ocupation. The Junta even gave Papon a condecoration, the "Orden de Mayo al Mérito". And like France, East Germany and Greece, the people who carried this crime then became police officers or even some kind of contraintelligence mercenaries at the service of political parties and the elite. We even have the same negationists of this crimes; fortunally, justice hava been made. As always, great video!!!

[@mabdou79egy]

I'm very happy all of this is finally being discussed in public in Europe. And I can't wait for all the angry European citizens comments calling this channel a communist propaganda;)

[@Kaiyanwang82]

@@mabdou79egy yeah, better to let the commies win, they never kill anyone, right?

[@valentindantec3417]

The fact that it's such a non-subject for us in France is terrifying. I know Macron did recognise the role of the police in the massacre recently, but nothing else really. And it was mostly a bid to try to warm up relations with Algeria, not an acknowledgement of the need to reform the police institution....

[@ReySchultz121]

At the very least, you & your people are willing to remember this.

[@malignantupper2366]

I had no idea about the Paris massacre of 1961, it was shocking to learn of.

[@MrJimheeren]

Same. Fuck me that’s fucked up

[@RT-qd8yl]

Yet not at all surprising

[@luluwachedjari3299]

What France did to us can’t be described and the trauma is still here so it’s better if people read themselves

[@swchwrm020]

Interesting to hear about the term "actions policières" - the Indonesian war for independence against the Dutch (in the late 40's) were also called "police actions" by the imperialist government.

[@jezusbloodie]

Yes, and is still tought under that nomiclature in Dutch Middle schools and not as a proper full-scale war per sé. Although in my class's case, a decade ago, a side note about the disingenuousess was made...

[@electricangel4488]

​@@jezusbloodiesame here. Pretty sure it also taught they where succesful. But the americans pushed for it because of communist populairty there.

[@bums009]

And now Indonesia is doing the same to papa new guinea, bombing villages in the rain forest who defend themselves with bows and arrows. We never learn, its always us or them.

[@DrKosmos]

The British clamped down on Malaysian uprisings after world war two. They called it "The Malay Emergency" to make it sound more like a police action rather than th anti-insurgency war that was taking place. America classified the Korean war as a "Polic action". If you're strong enough to fight a war half way around the world, war is a bad look for you so best call it something else.

[@putra4101]

​@@bums009Bow and Arrows? You serious? They killings and kidnapped civilians and foreigner alike, and then supporting Russia invasions over Ukraine. Where the hell did you living? Under the rock?

[@BlueHawkPictures17]

The amount of time I've had a European laugh at how brutal American police are, they were nine times out of ten a French person.

[@unknown-hunter2559]

I mean there is a difference between lethal force on a suspect, and non-lethal but aggressive police force on riots

[@HighFlyer96]

Although it does not serve as an excuse at all, as Kraut has shown here, Police burtality in Europe is often a relic of the Nazi occupation that has not been dealt with in an appropriate manner. While everyone looked at Germany to get their things straight and they worked hard to deal with the past and educate the future to avoid repetition, all other countries played the victim card when it came to taking responsibility about what happened in their country through their countrymen during the occupation. But last time I checked, USA was not Nazi occupied. Police Brutality was not introduced by German officers. So either a lot of Nazi collaborateurs fled or simply immigrated to the US since they were not as legally held accountable as German soldiers (and as the US always has been and still is a country built by immigrants) or the US does have an issue they can not blame on anyone else but themselves. Police Brutality is a reality in France, yet I've seen people casually cycling through troops gearing up and preparig to break rioters. Cycling inbetween them. In the US, I would not dare to go near them as I would likely be misidentified as a rioter attacking a police formation.

[@luluhightech2831]

American police is a bit more violent but our police have a lot of issues, and they are protected by a lot of politics nowadays, in our country they are even former policeman that often tweet some infamous racist post, they’re even not anonymous, they don’t have to hide, because they’re protected whatever they do, whatever they say and whatever the consequences are.

[@lol-xs9wz]

What I find especially fascinating is that the brutality of the American police came from very different circumstances. Authoritarianism can evolve from many different ways and that makes it so scary.

[@isaac6077]

Euros laugh at american cause most of them cant laugh at their own government

[@haidouk872]

Hi Kraut, Parisian suburber and follower of your channel for some time now here. I liked this video, just how I usually like your videos, but I would a bunch of comments to add. I do think that it's a great thing that you talked about those things, it's a great thing that you talked in-depth about the violence of the police toward Algerians both in Algeria and in Paris, and I myself never thought that there was a link between the methods of the police during WW2 occupation and the violence of the police afterwards. However, I do think that, while really relevant, those explanations alone are not enough to explain the violence of the French police today. All the events you talked about lead to an explanation of the violence of the police and the 50s and 60s, and for the rooting of far right ideas in the mentality of the police, but there is still a 50 years gap between the end of the 60s and today. And while I have no difficulty imagining that what you talked about is the root of a part of the problems, there's a lot of other factors, more recent, that probably played an even greater responsability. In the 50s and 60s the police was indeed violent, but even this extreme violence was mostly limited to Paris police and not France as a whole, as Papon was not head of the police on a national level. But later on, the relationship between the french police and the french people became much better in the 80s, under impulsion of socialist policies, during the "Mitterand years", with the re-growth of municipal police. The rise of the police violence that we see today in France is something that can be observed for the past 20 years. So I'm gonna try to give some points that can explain this. First of all, one of the main problem with the french police is the fact that the police unions are very powerful in France, and the french governement has being very reluctant to confront them. And the power balance has shifted even more in favor of the police unions in the past 20 years, with a rise of violence during protests, but especially ever since the terrorist attacks, and then the yellow jackets movement. The current social climate is very tense, which has made the french government dependent on the police to keep order. This puts the police unions in a position of strength where they know they can kinda blackmail the government. There was a very recent example, where another police violence accident happened, in a very tense climate following the murder of Nahel by a police officer. The policeman responsible for this new accident was put into custody, and there was an official statement by the government that no one was above the law and that police officers were to be put into custody in waiting for a judgement, like anyone. This outraged the police unions, who called for a massive police strike across all of France. As reponse, the defense minister met with the police unions, and while we don't know exactly what was said (I think), he basically just surrendered to them. And as long as the police unions are so powerful and the french government is so dependent on the police, thus putting the police in position of strength, no reform can be conducted on the police, and the internal issues of the police can't be changed. Now, another important point is that there is a clear lack of training and discipline in the police, but especially municipal police. It is very clear that municipal police agents are not trained enough, for situations of tension, and that they are not regulated and controlled enough. There is a lot of sexism, racism and various discriminative mentality, among the police, which could be a consequence of the issues you talked about in your video, maybe around 50% of the police. And because it is such a big proportion, the "group effect" makes it so that most police officers don't want to risk being ostracised by their colleagues, if they ever report a wrong behavior. And since there is not enough regulating bodies, this mentality persists. I read recently an article about intervention corps (who are well trained) who were organising trainings for the municipal police. And the results showed that, in situations of high tension with very little reaction time, almost systematically, municipal police agents would take a decision based on their bias (targetting men, people colour, basically judging the look) rather than analyzing the situation with a cool head. But, coupled with this lack of training and discipline is a very very important aspect: the "over-weaponisation" of the municipal police in France. Municipal police agents, who are only supposed to keep daily life order and are not supposed to take part in risky interventions, are heavily armed, way too much. Stuff like flash-balls, tazers and even lethal weapons. According to estimations, there is at the very least 50% of the municipal police agents who possess firearms, that's huge. This comes from reforms conducted in 2004 by Nicolas Sarkozy, then prime minister, that greatly increased the armament of municipal police agents. This matches with the trend of police violence accidents having become much more frequent for the past 20 years. Imagine, you have a big municipal police bodies, who doesn't have enough training and discipline, and is know to have a lot of toxic mentality inside its ranks, and you give it dangerous weapons at all time, which should only be required in risky interventions. They have effectively given almost the same weapons to municipal police than to national police, but without the amount of training and discipline that should come with it. This makes it so that any police blunder gets transformed into a violent accident. And it is very preoccupating because no one in the police unions or the government seems to show any desire to reverse this trend. It could have changed when the left came back to power in 2012, but because of the terrorist attacks, nothing was done to change it, and things where left this way even after, because of the social climate still remaining extremely tense. And it's important to not downplay the importance of this tense social climate. Because while the responsability of the police itself in its malfunction is certain, one also needs to see the other side of the picture. Since 2015, police agents have been under a lot of stress. First the terrorist attacks, then the yellow jackets, then the pension reform protests, and whole lot of smaller events, ... And it has been aggravated by irresponsible behavior from various political behavior who like to always picture an irreconciliable opposition and antagonism between the people and the police, while all actors should be working toward reconcialiting the people and the police and re-building the trust. Anyway, i should stop there because it's already really long! But I think it's a real missed opportunity for you to have focused only on historical background dating from 50 years at best, instead of also exploring the current issues that come from more recent events. The weaponisation reforms of 2004 have been a huge factor, and you can't talk about current police violence without talking about this. I think it's a really brand new angle of view, to go back to the WW2 roots of the problem, and it could be at the root of several mentality issues in the police. But to frame it as the only culprit is, in my honest opinion, too much of a simplification. But in any case, keep up the good work, I do love your videos, even when I don't agree with everything :)

[@darrenong9064]

Man, this really deserves to be pinned. Extremely informative and insightful!

[@rightonrightonrighton]

Very informative thank you! I'm glad that UK police aren't armed. Even if they're untrained and violent you know they can't do as much harm.

[@arthur__lt]

Very good addition to the video, thank you!

[@jonv931]

Great comment, thank you for sharing. Id like to say that a lot of what you mentioned is reflected in the US aswell. Although we may not have as many Unions as Europe (thanks Reagan), Police Unions here are also very powerful. Social unrest in the US has increased considerably these past two decades due to very similar reasons (9/11, economic crisis’ such as 2008 and Police brutality protests such as the Black Lives Matter movement). This along with the increasing militarization of police (I’m sure you can imagine the types of guns and military equipment the police here receive due to the military-industrial complex), a long history of racism and an over reliance by governments on the Police force for Social control has created an environment where the police are notoriously brutal. Lawsuits against police departments cost local governments so much money that it is entirely possible for some cities to have more than half of their budget allocated to policing. This and Powerful Police Unions which force taxpayers to pay for their mistakes have led people who wish for police reform to suggest taxing police unions directly for lawsuits. Although I personally agree that this could be a way to reign in on brutal policing and that it should be implemented, it is more of a temporary solution to a much deeper problem within our police departments. Anyways, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the striking similarities between France and the US when it comes to the police. Your comment was very insightful and I thank you again for sharing your thoughts with us.

[@hollawar1391]

many thanks for sharing this! I understand it more now

[@knpark2025]

Half of all high-ranking officers in early RoK military used to be Japanese collaborators, who served as officers in Japanese Imperial Army before Korea was liberated on 1945. To this day many liberal and left-leaning Koreans tend to point fingers at those early members and their cultures for the source of a lot of organizational and cultural malice within the military, many of which have parallels to brutal, militaristic, and fascist practices of Japan's imperial military. Blaming remnants of old collaborators in government organizations is like beating a horse that refuses to die, because just like zombies these toxic practices simply refuses to go away without investing a lot of effort to reverse decades' worth of entrenched culture.

[@knpark2025]

One big reasons out of many that I suspect why Nazi collaborators refused to go away after WW2 ended is the Cold War. There was a time when fascists and former collaborators were deemed a lesser evil over Communists. It was also the same for South Korea; it needed any and all people with bureaucratic and military experience to work for the new government immediately, and it had no slack to take time, purge collaborators, and raise personnel with required expertise from the ground up.

[@Antiteshmis]

Rabbis have persistently lashed out at left wing parties in France after the war because of their collaborative practices. The left has a proven track record of embracing S and then deny it ever did once accounts are to be made. Case in point, the war in Algeria war started by the then ruling left wing party, but they will always dismiss it and blame it on "the nation", which they subsequently deny the existence of. Wet soap bars politicians that excel at dodging the consequences of their policies. The "mission to civilize" was a left wing liberal argument, that is now considered abhorrent, but people like Kraut and yourselves are once again trying to bring back to the menu. You just can't fkn stop and accept not everybody wants to live the way you do.

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

@@knpark2025 i think the starkest example of this is probably Japan, who would have been turned into a parking lot by angry vengeful neighbours + the soviet union had it not been for american intervention protecting japan from reprecussions.

[@CrazyHermitVizard]

Was Japanese rule actually that bad? This is a serious question like I want your opinion. I saw statistics how the living standard under Japanese rule rose from 1000 international dollars to 2000. while todays North Korea lives much worse. Also wasn’t the basic idea of the Japanese to assimilate Koreans to Japanese, which seems to me as a better thing than straight out exploitation like in British India or Dutch east India. I am not claiming that South Korea would have been better of staying occupied. But in the case of North Korea it might have been not worse as such

[@Bibbedibob]

@@CrazyHermitVizard Japanese occupation was in some aspects even worse than Nazi German occupation. Nanking massacre, Parit Sulong massacre, Changjioao massacre, Laha massacre, Manila massacre, Sook Ching massacre etc. Mass rapes in Nanking, Manila, "comfort women" etc. Unit 731 human experimentation, torture, cannibalism, slavery etc. It's a long list of crimes against humanity

[@andrewlindsay4773]

The limitation of the size of the Weimar German army meant that Germany raised battalions of "police" who were in reality soldiers. These were the 'police' under the S.D. sent to Eastern Europe for special actions

[@Jonas_M_M]

Good point: the line between police and army can get blurry in illiberal states!

[@Jonas_M_M]

Good point: the line between police and army can get blurry in illiberal states!

[@spacejunk2186]

And these police armies were not raised without reason. Waimar had Nazis and Bolshivists fighting in the street and communist staging mini revolutions and riots in major cities like it's their past time hobby. And those exist because of WW1, which happaned because of a sad serbian man. There is never a clear beginning of historic developements. It's just a series of events motivating the next and each other. A never ending story with people ever going in and out of it.

[@eineperson9849]

There's a book by Mark Jones that talks about this time period and the instability of the weimar republic. In german it's called "Am Anfang war Gewalt" translated litteraly "In the beginning, there was violence". Idk what the Titel is in english but you should check it out!

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

To be fair, the Sicherheitpolizei is the only armed force in Germany that are allowed to have armored vehicles, among other things. Given the restrictions it is imposed upon, it makes sense from Berlin's perspective to exploit and casually ignore the various loopholes and finer details in the treaty due to how much it limits them to respond to say, wars of secession by Commie forces or a coup by right wing paramilitary forces. Prior to the establishment of the Wehrmacht and the rearmament of Germany in 1935, the plan for Germany in case they are faced with an invasion is to integrate into the military first the police then the paramilitary forces of the various political parties in Germany then do the conscription and expansion of the military with their illicitly acquired weapons and equipment...

[@windscar15]

As an American, it’s fascinating to see a different perspective on this issue. In my opinion, the recurring problem of police brutality throughout the western world is the most visible sign of a failure to hold public institutions and the state accountable. It’s a more profound issue than many people realize.

[@aresjerry]

I disagree, the system is not made for those currently living in it. Its like driving, if I learn to drive at 16 I'll be better in most cases than someone who learns to drive at 38. Now imagine they are from the UK and drive on the opposite side of the road. Now imagine their country didn't have cars, or women aren't allowed to drive. And matricide is the usual.

[@andrewlaporte5477]

​@@aresjerryI'm sorry, are you saying that the biggest sign that western Europe's and the America's state and public institutions aren't held responsible for their crimes and mistakes is that they weren't built to handle bigoted immigrants? Or are you saying that police murders are a natural response to a population "unsuited" to modern democracies? What is your position?

[@aresjerry]

@andrewlaporte5477 I said exactly what I said, is your autism getting in the way?

[@theseyi]

@@aresjerry huh…????

[@aresjerry]

@@theseyi read one more time?

[@reaperking2121]

As someone who took a class on Modern French History it's wild just how badly De Gaul fucked his country by declaring all citizens to be part of the resistance. Sure in the short term it allowed France to shake off the dishonor of WWII rapidly, to reassert itself as "La Gran Nacion !" and helped tie the nation back together. But it also left a festering rot in the country the likes of which I have only seen with US slavery and Jim crow. In some ways the Germans were lucky. By being the bad guys and losing so utterrly it made the healing and reconstruction proccess far easier.

[@Inzersdorf93]

I feel like using phrases like "people who worked with the Nazis" or "collaborators" even today paints them too brightly. Those people were Nazis - just not german Nazis, but french Nazis.

[@jochen9367]

I completely get your point and I agree with it but in a way, I understand why De Gaulle did what he did. A lot of people tend to forget this but France before 1939 was on the brink of a Civil War, The Social and Political tensions that France had dragged since the beginning of the Third Republic were still very present and many feared that a Spain-like situation was inevitable. De Gaulle needed a narrative that would avoid this and he needed one that would also not let the Communists be the main heroes. That is why he elevated everyone (from Communists who had refused to fight until 1941) to French Fascists to the rank of heroes and with that created a new France. In that way he succeded but the consequences of those actions are still present with us to this day.

[@felchap1205]

I am Chilean. In a few days we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coup where Pinochet took power. Everything described on this video happened in my country as well. The police killing and kidnapping people, torturing them, sometimes even burning them alive. There are more than 1000 people still missing from that time. Yet many of those responsible, especially civilian that collaborated with the dictatorship continued their lives as if nothing had happened after the return of democracy. Many of today's rigth wing politician either privately or publicly support the the dictatorship. It is eirie to see how similar the situation is in a country like France. It seems that facist behave the same no matter the country. It also shows that when a wound is left open and criminals are not brought to justice, there are always consequences. That shoving the past under the rug for the sake of "unity" or "reconciliation" should never be done.

[@chinesesparrows]

What's scary was those responsible for countless atrocities by Japan before and during WWII continued ruling and whitewashing history. Even those that ran Unit 731 lived as doctors. Hence animosity against Japan remains.

[@mrlambda7580]

As a Frenchman, I don't really agree with your thesis. The books of Zev Stirnell and Robert Paxton have long ceased to be authoritative. France has never been the cradle of fascism and there has never been a fascist party in France (René Rémond). Nazism was greatly inspired by the United States (Johan Chapoutot). Nazism is pan-Germanism. He had collaborators but talking about French Nazis makes no conceptual sense. At best, Nazism has a European project. The French camps and the deportation of the Jews were something that was perpetrated by the Germans. Without Germany, no Jewish genocide so stop dissolving responsibilities. Finally, we can also talk about the responsibility of the United States in the rise of Nazism. The Treaty of Versaille prevented us from dismembering Germany. You financed Nazism. You prevented us from stopping the militarization of Germany and allying ourselves with the Soviet Union. The English and Americans had a delusional Germanophilia (Chamberlain, Alifax, etc.), they were ready to give in for Poland. Roosevelt hated the French. We had a big role in the resistance and in North Africa, we are a great nation.

[@letefte]

I love the fact that when Kraut needs a second example of a country in Europe with an institutional problem, he always has one in hand: Greece. We really are a failed state.

[@balls9420]

UK is not far behind.

[@fenrirgg]

Greece; the Argentina of Europe?

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

No. I am sorry it comes across like that. My obsession with Greek politics comes from somewhere else. Namely that I recently dated a Greek woman.

[@subject_7]

@@Kraut_the_Parrot 🤣 Did she break your heart mate?

[@u2beuser714]

​@@Kraut_the_Parrot A straight greek? Impossible

[@guitoune612]

I have a little story to tell, I lived in Saint-Amand-Montrond a city which Maurice Papon was the mayor during the 70's and go to the city high school name after Jean Moulin the resitant who got torture and kill by Klaus Barbie. There was a commemorative plaque who thanks Papon for oppening the high school back in the 70s. The plaque have been here for decade before it mysteriously desappear in the early 2000s. Pretty weird to see that when during the war the city center got burn by the german, hundreds of civilians were taken hostage, dozens got round up and shot inside the city and 50 jew got throw alive in differents wells.

[@AB0BA_69]

Only 50? :(

[@luluwachedjari3299]

As an Algerian I think this plaque existence is as a British man saying they never burned Jeanne d’arc, please…

[@moseshamlett3887]

Thank you for your honesty. As an American I feel this topic of Nazi occupied France has been washed over, and is certainly not tought here in America. Very few people in modern America know about this history.

[@tavoreparan8091]

It's okay, there's plenty of American history that isn't taught in American schools either.

[@weirdestpersonguaranteed2244]

Why would it?

[@Nothingseen]

The Paris massacre shocks me. I genuinely had no goddamn idea anything like that had happened. I keep thinking about it happening during the civil rights era in america, and how we'd all know about police breaking the arms and legs of protesters and throwing them into the ocean; we'd be disgusted and refer to that whenever any problem happened. How of course america can't fix things, remember what they did to the protesters in DC? But a nazi collaborator carried out one of the most horrific things I've heard of, in Paris, with photographs, and I hadn't learned of it until now. I'm shocked.

[@Alitacyan]

We Europeans are quick to pick out flaws in America, but when it comes to our own flaws we seem to be blind...

[@TheRadPlayer]

America sees itself as a multicultural melting pot, and so failing to live up to it's standards of equality is seen as a huge problem. Europe is a patchwork of mostly homogenous nation-states, where ethnic, cultural, and lingual conformity is the norm, and thus failing to live up to a standard of multicultural acceptance is not seen as a problem, as it would be in America. Atleast, that's how I would explain the different reactions. Starting to slowly not give a shit anymore, either way.

[@aspen1606]

@@TheRadPlayerit’s better to hold yourself to standards than not. It’s stuff like this that despite all the flaws of it, makes me increasingly proud to be American.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

​​@@TheRadPlayer not sure that France is "homogeneous" really. After all, it was a nation of nations, all of which were forcibly assimilated by the powers that be in Paris. Even the colpnies were subjected to this forced assimilation to the point they got full on Stockholm syndrome and migrated in droves to mainland France. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Colonialism in a nutshell.

[@dgiulio2677]

@@aspen1606 you're the epitomy of current neocolonialism though

[@ryanm2279]

@@dgiulio2677 can’t be proud of your home despite its flaws for two seconds without criticism.

[@mushroomman52]

When my dad was visiting France in the 70s, he had only seen a few police officers in the rural Australian town he grew up in. In Paris, police patrolled the city in groups of 10, because any task-force smaller than 10 was vulnerable to attack.

[@longhairdontcare122]

They operate like a occupying force. I'm seeing this trend in more an more western law enforcement organizations.

[@helast3916]

To be fair rural australian towns have a population of 100 peoples

[@cpp3221]

It's not the case anymore, in the center of Paris at least. Now they tend to patrol in cars, and also, by group of 2. It did calmed in a way.

[@methos4866]

​@@cpp3221Nahel Merzouk was killed by a team of two officers. Kid was also of Algerian descent. Wouldn't really call that calmed down.

[@binbows2258]

@@methos4866 2 is smaller than 10. That means calmed down.

[@MiceOnVenus_]

If a group of people fought hard to keep this video hidden, than you know you got something right

[@maxim_ml]

What do you mean?

[@CraftyChicken91]

@@maxim_ml mass flagged by salty frogs saying it contains gore. Getting it age restricted, probably hoping it would be struck down instead.

[@maxim_ml]

@@CraftyChicken91 gotcha

[@TerrAkon3000]

The idea that a shadow of the Nazi regime survived in the nations occupied during the war in part because they were considered the victims is haunting. I don't know why I've never considered that before.

[@Mei-wk5mt]

Cuz its dumb lmao

[@DogDogGodFog]

Also because reforms and overhauls tend to be costly and/or difficult.

[@nathanseper8738]

Depressing is a better word.

[@TheZerech]

See: Austria

[@isabelles.3619]

Parce que c'est une idée complètement idiote

[@ardugaleen2231]

My dad is ethnically provençal and was at charonne one of the most brutal protests. When he talks about the night when they were pushed in mass like sheeps and fell into the craonne subway, how they killed tens of people like cattle he talks about it like he still hears the yells of the dying. On the night of the massacre he was still a student, they were drinking with friends and the bar's owner closed up, as cafés bars etc need a license from the paris prefecture. But even tho they were locked up inside he heared the cries. Here again he talks like the ghosts are still here. I sincerily hope that Papon burns forever in hell, may his entire fucking line die of the plagues, may all that he loves burn. And now people act like nothing ever happened. People don't even know for many. I'm pretty sure the graffiti was from his group, Noir et Rouge, but I am not sure

[@Antiteshmis]

There is no such thing as french ethnicity.

[@ardugaleen2231]

@@Antiteshmis ik i wanted to dumb it down for the foreigners. I'll fix it you are right

[@Antiteshmis]

@@ardugaleen2231 There is also no such thing as ethnically "provencal"

[@Antiteshmis]

@@Jaxon987 There are no French people

[@inferno38]

​@@Antiteshmis There is no Antiteshmis

[@mariomgll146]

I'm half Algerian and did a presentation about this topic in history class in high school. I was horrified when i learned that none of my classmates and not even the teacher had heard about this. Thank you for bringing it in front of so many people!

[@Anonymoose66G]

Honestly nobody can know all the crimes against humanity that happened in the 20th century alone 😂. There's hundreds of cases in different nations.

[@mariomgll146]

@@Anonymoose66G Obviously not, but i went to school in the french speaking part of switzerland so i don't think it's a stretch to expect the teacher or a few classmates to know

[@eineperson9849]

With the classmates I can understand, but the teacher?! You litteraly did their job for them then

[@Anonymoose66G]

@@mariomgll146 Lucky, Switzerland's amazing, I prefer the Germanic side though, Bern especially.

[@aurelian7993]

Womp womp

[@Iggi-mv2ux]

I remember once in high school, a cop came to give a speech about… something (I can’t remember what) It was than that a girl stood up, She explained that in 1987 her mother had been rapęd by a policeman in Oklahoma. She demanded to know why the police in the United States don’t act more like the police in Europe. I will never forget to smile on this horrible man’s face as he looked right in the eye, and said “We do.” I didn’t understand at the time.

[@peelsherrif0995]

It is appallingly ironic how those who were supposed to prevent and fight crime themselves became criminals.

[@donnieblompf6866]

Then everyone clapped

[@calidawg510]

Cops are great and America is too

[@Warsie]

​@@peelsherrif0995you need a criminal mentality to detect criminals I guess

[@DogDogGodFog]

Cap, sounds like a written story

[@MrCorsica51]

I'm French and I just learn how much this massacre was organize and massive.. We never talk or learn about it here.. I thought for years that it has been just few people killed during a protest that turned bad. This story is heart-breaking.. It's not the France I love. As a French citizen, I'm truly sorry and ashamed. All my love to victim's familys. Ps: Amazing video Kraut, as usual

[@zbz5505]

It's a sad reality that pretty much no one wants to acknowledge even the slightest stain, in this case past mistakes possibly tarnishing national pride. I mean, all the majority of Japanese know about the second world war is that the US one day dropped two nukes on them for no reason and that's just ridiculous.

[@vincenthl7077]

I'm French and I Public school told me about this massacre every year since High School. same for The crusader's massacre, Slavery, colonisation and WW2 jew extermination. Every year, you have a TV broadcast about that and why my ancestors are despicable (with a speech of an old man called Badinter or Sartre/Camus/Chirac choose your boomer dead or alive). Even Mitterand is now a collaborator and a culprit in Rwanda Genocide. And every year, they put on my shoulder another crime that I have to answer. The last one is blocus on Haiti in the 19 century. So now I'm decided to embrace it (I know it's bad) but yeah we were an Empire and we used to have a Dream and I refuse to apologize. And yes, I'm responsible for climate change apparently but nevermind...

[@AB0BA_69]

The France you love has been overrun by African migrants. If you do nothing then you will soon lose your home, lmao

[@MrCorsica51]

@@vincenthl7077 Tant mieux si on t'en as parlé à l'école, ce n'était pas mon cas. (peut-être une histoire d'âge ou d'académie) Après tu n'as effectivement pas à t'en excuser si tu ne le souhaites pas, tu n'es pas fautif, tout comme moi d'ailleurs. J'ai juste été ému par l'histoire et je voulais m'excuser en tant que membre du peuple français et non en tant qu'individu. Même si je ne suis pas lié à tout ça, même si ce ne sont que des mots, ça peut faire du bien aux personnes liés aux évènements.

[@jacques.cousteau]

You don't learn about lots of things in school, like the barbary slave trade that the tunisians, moroccans and especially the algerians committed at the expense of Europeans (est. 1.5 million people in 200 years)

[@soarel325]

The institutions of state violence (police, military, etc.) ironically tend to be overlooked when authoritarian states transition to democracy due to their officially “non-partisan” nature. I think it’s something about civilian control of institutions of violence that makes people mistakenly convinced that they’re immune to the legacy of authoritarian states, acting as if they're just tools or weapons in the hands of the civil state and that changing the civil state prevents any lingering ghosts of authoritarianism in them.

[@Antiteshmis]

Assuming democracy isn't authoritarian is the first fallacy. It's the tyranny of the majority, the subjective morality of a collective enforced onto other collectives. Of course it won't try to uproot the "authoritarian legacy" of the institutions of violence, it needs their violent and authoritarian enforcement just as much or even more than the previous state. The moment it falters is becomes impotent and it is replaced.

[@OscarOSullivan]

They should have replaced everybody the people who ran away to the UK,Sweden,Ireland should have replaced those who stayed behind. The Finns and Norwegians are lucky.

[@buckplug2423]

It's cause people see cops as this sort of inhumane force, unwaveringly professional and transparent (an image most police forces try to create themselves, tbh). They see them as robots who can change their behaviour overnight as governments change. But obviously they're people, with everything good and bad about humanity having just as much effect on them as anyone else

[@Croz89]

I think while it is easy to find fault with the governments and institutions who allowed these structures to fester for decades after, we have to acknowledge how difficult police reform is especially after the end of an authoritarian regime, and how radical reform done even with the best of intentions can go horribly wrong. South Africa is a good example of this, the ANC naturally saw the SA police as irredeemably corrupt and racist, so basically tore down and rebuilt the entire institution. This meant thousands of experienced police officers were replaced by novices, and thousands of experienced police officers were now out of work. As you might expect, this led to a spike in crime and disorder as the new police officers were simply not experienced enough to handle things, especially in a country which still had massive economic and racial inequalities and was still very unstable. The newly unemployed experienced police officers then did what any opportunistic person with a background in law enforcement would do, they offered their services as private security, and many got rich protecting those who could afford their services from the crime the police were now too incompetent to tackle. Even today the SA police is notoriously weak and likely just as corrupt as the brutal and oppressive apartheid structure it replaced. I do acknowledge the ANC didn't help themselves here, by doing their usual thing of stuffing important posts based on party loyalty rather than merit, but even so I can see the same thoughts going through the heads of officials in newly liberated European countries in 1945. Especially in France which was probably a lot closer to civil war at the time than many people realise, as different political factions of the former resistance, still with large caches of weapons, were at real risk of turning on each other. In that situation any weakening of the rule of law through a purge of police officers, however temporary, could have disastrous consequences. Even if it doesn't lead to all out war, a rise in civil disorder and crime would also be something that these countries would wish to avoid. So there would be a lot of pressure to keep the status quo, keep experienced police officers in their posts and ignore some of the more more unsavoury aspects of their past, and hope the problems would gradually work their way out of the system given enough time.

[@konstantinosnikolakakis8125]

@OscarOSullivan Picture this: You’re a polish police officer, you wake up ove day to find German tanks in your city’s streets. A few days later you see a poster “Polish Police report for service or face execution.” What do you do? Most people, then and now, would report for service. It’s easy to say “they should’ve fired all the collaborators” when you don’t actually have to deal with the complexities of reestablishing order and government in a recently liberated country.

[@Diego000793]

I think it might be a problem with the audio. I can only hear this video from the left speaker

[@Spectral-Spiff]

yeah indeed it fixes later in video

[@micharon90]

I hope you're not deaf on the right ear 😉

[@abdelmadjidzedira3002]

As an Algerian, it’s rare for our country to be mentioned. Even rarer for our struggle to be discussed. It feels like it was an important worldly topic for a small period of time before slipping into nothingness. I am so moved by your choice of video here. I try to watch all of them and seeing the way you discuss these algerian related issues with such understanding and empathy is honorable. I think of my grandparents each time you name an accord or directive by the French. Mostly because the years u reference are their teenage years. I try to imagine what it was like for them. I cannot. This is the closest I can feel to their struggles outside of hearing them speak of it. And unfortunately they aren’t here to speak Thank you.

[@aurelian7993]

Go back to algeria

[@georgegreen711]

Improve your country so people don't want to leave it while Europe heals itself from the worst civilizational damage we've taken since the Black Plague. Europe is full, and was before the invaders came. Reconquista or Death.

[@lapieblanche6863]

@@dexterkrammer1089why you need to be a bitch about it? If we made you angry it means we won over you.

[@Ironclad404]

@@dexterkrammer1089 Nyes, please, and French wife to impregnate. Or rather several.

[@belendomar964]

@dexterkrammer1089 name a more iconic duo than; youtube comment sections and blatant racism.

[@zineddinebelgaid7303]

As an Algerian living in France. Thank you for this video

[@saahiliyer11]

There’s a dark and twisted irony in the fact that the French committed such a brutal crime against the Algerians on the Pont Saint-Michel-near the Palais de Justice and in full sight of Notre Dame de Paris. An inhuman crime by the state under plain view of God and defiance of the justice system that should have been followed.

[@JohnKruse]

Damn. That is chilling. I have photos from this spring of my kid eating an ice cream cone right next to this bridge. I'll not forget this next time I'm in Paris.

[@aurelian7993]

Why would God have an issue with punishing Muslims.

[@guccifer764]

@@nogent4213 “You have to understand, the police were angy” Also, not all Muslim political organizations immediately are Al-Qaeda or ISIS. Get a new strawman.

[@hyperion3145]

​@@guccifer764 Yeah... If your police are that easily succumb to anger and prejudice, they shouldn't be police and they shouldn't ever have a gun. One of the jobs of law enforcement is that they have to defend literally everyone and anyone regardless of how they feel or if the people even want them.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

​​​​​@@nogent4213 you deserve it. The moment French troops massacred thousands in Setif in 1945, you have sealed your fate. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[@Crytica.]

The way the French called the war in Algeria an " action policière", we Dutch called the terrible war and nasty acts we commited in Indonesia to subjugate them (shortly after WW2) the "Politionele acties" aka the same as what the French called their war in Algeria. What we did over there is the same as what the Nazis did to us in our country. We just called it justified and gave it, just like French, a name that's not called "war".

[@The_New_IKB]

If you call it a war then the insurance may not pay out!

[@kogorun]

Russia called wars in Chechnya "operation for restoration of constitutional order" and "counter-terrorist operation".

[@keepingitreal437]

My great grandad was among the victims of the massacre led by raymond westerling. Those were brutal times, man. The thing is our law enforcement officials right after independence also included several local pro japanese collaborators back in ww2.

[@DocFumeur]

Guys, let's be honest, as would say Robert Baratheon, what keep people together is fear and blood. With sometimes an idea successful enough to push outside the mental boundaries. I guess y'all need to find a pattern that suits you enough in that thing.

[@RandomDude-dc8dd]

"It's not a war, it's a Special Military Operation"

[@nibblrrr7124]

00:00 Introduction 00:17 Sponsor: Speakly 01:26 Police brutality in Europe 02:52 Occupation & police collaboration 05:11 Maurice Papon 09:50 At the height of the Algerian war 15:04 The Paris massacre of 1961 21:03 Reexamination 26:34 Greece 28:12 Europe

[@limmuquan4796]

very helpful, thank you!

[@lukeskywalker82]

It's comments like these that deserve to be pinned!

[@ToxikDouche]

I am an American and other than the collaboration efforts with the Nazis during Vichy France, I had no idea about this legacy. Ive never heard anything like this brought up before. So I thank you for producing such great content and educating people. Youre doing the world a service.

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

Oh no..... I don't understand why the audio is only on one ear with headphones.... in the editing program the audio was on both... I don't understand what went wrong here.

[@hothoploink1509]

Only for the advert, thought that was deliberate :D

[@Splarkszter]

Chech the rendered video. Not the program. Prob a missclick.

[@kingsting12]

I feel ill. Many times historical tragedy just rolls off of me like water on leaves but for some reason this time I feel like there's a stone in my stomach that won't go away. I can only attribute it to your excellent presentation of this horrifying crime against humanity. The police are there to protect the people not mutilate and execute them for sport. Thank you for bringing light to this Kraut.

[@Antiteshmis]

The police have always been there to be the enforcers of rules from the governing body. They care about you just as much as the governing body does, about fkn zero.

[@deponensvogel7261]

I can accept the Holocaust to a degree because, horrific as this insight is, it has become a sort of historical cenotaph to the depths of ideological and human depravity, and it has been recognized by the world as one of the most terrible horrors ever inflicted on humanity. For me, the Parisian massacre, of which I've never heard before this video, is so sickening precisely because of how sucessful the perpetrators were in eradicating the traces of their deeds and victims from the judging eye of history.

[@janflantier7969]

The only ones that feel threatened by the police are the traitors, the communists and the barbarians

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Don't be fooled by the "Serve and Protect" BS police forces spout to you every parade. They aren't called "Law Enforcement" for nothing, they ENFORCE the LAW...

[@Antiteshmis]

@@deponensvogel7261 Interesting. Would you judge the current western regimes in a similar manner ? They are committing atrocities while you are alive, and the liberal left has shown to be very willing to endorse those as long as it furthers "democracy", whatever that is.

[@arthur4350]

Great video I would say. That said I would caveat the whole thing. The French police had a legacy of brutality before the Nazi occupation, only there they would send prisoners to Guyana nicknamed "the dry guillotine". You had the case of Dreyfuss. There were certainly notorious instances of police brutality during the 3rd Republic undoubtedly because France has its native history of authoritarianism going back to the Ancien Regime (whose police continued under the First Republic, even during Robespierre's regime, and then under Napoleon, and his nephew. Most of the Napoleonic system was a police state in France and that system was retained in the Post-Napoleon governments.

[@SilentKnave-mm7bq]

Some more context on Greece: During the Nazi occupation anti-communist collaborators formed "security battalions" to fight ELAS throughout the countryside. In Athens, Organization X (which had collaborators in it) was preparing to fight ELAS after liberation. During the dekemvriana (second phase of the civil war in December 1944) X fought together with the British army against ELAS and carried out a white terror on political enemies throughout the country with the official governments approval. After the dekemvriana, It was agreed in the treaty of Varkiza that collaberators would be punished. After the civil war flared up in 1946, both sides abandoned this agreement and recruited collaborators to fight for them. Nazi collaborators who were members of the security battalions and X were enlisted by the Greek government to fight the communists and were given positions of power in society, as well as the army and police. After the civil war, the military retained ties with the monarchy and the state. Greece functioned as a flawed democracy during this time, and most of the collaborators were never punished. In 1961 a new left wing political party was gaining traction to the worry of the state. During the next election the police and army were sent to intimidate voters to vote for the conservative party. Two years later, left wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis was murdered by people who were covertly tied to the police and army. Finally in 1967 the junta seized power after years of political instability. Many Junta members were alleged to have been members of X or the security battalions during the Nazi occupation. Thank you for making this video Kraut. I did not know about any of these events in France.

[@xixi1x34]

Indian military operation to merge the princely state of Hyderabad to Republic of India was also called "police action".

[@javanese-engineer]

Damn, that got me thinking, I really hope Kraut makes a video about Hindutva movement next

[@yarumillai6180]

Operation Polo is one of the most based things Nehru has done. Thanks to that we have hyderabadi Biryani

[@yarumillai6180]

@@javanese-engineer . He should try to explain the state of Indian politics overall, not just the hindutva movement

[@greyghost2492]

yeah, because the Islamofascist razakars were terrorizing Hindus in an Islamic minoritarian state where Hindus were 80% of the population but treated as 2nd class citizens.

[@xixi1x34]

@@javanese-engineer that that operation happened in 1948.

[@Giorgal]

What a coincidence. I was recently studying the Greek Civil War whose premise was almost the same. Nazi collaborators, not only were their crimes forgotten, but they also became the police force of the newly "liberated" country, while the resistance members of WW2 were systematically disarmed, exiled and executed by the former. Edit: I only just reached the end of the video, I'm happy you also mentioned it

[@tsepzz4742]

Ah yes, the resistance that made deals with the Nazis to get their guns as they retreated and that rounded up children and sent them to the Soviet s

[@mrttripz3236]

Isn’t that what normally happens when you lose a bloody civil war?

[@tylerbozinovski427]

I don't have any sympathy for communists. If they won the civil war, they would've turned Greece into another Bulgaria or Albania.

[@micha0585]

@@mrttripz3236 Communists defeat Nazis Royalists and Colonialists come They free the Nazis from the prisons They defeat the Communists with the Colonialists' help The Coloniasts set up a puppet regime and appoint Nazis to high positions. Would you consider that "normal"?

[@Antiteshmis]

@@micha0585 Communists behave no differently from Nazis. Thought crime, torture, cultural and ethnic genocide ... The soviets had no qualms hunting the returning Polish soldiers after they fought half a decade on the side of the allies, who themselves behaved no differently from the Nazis.

[@JAlucard77]

Unbelievable that these criminals hid behind a badge. Its DISGUSTING that these people are not, and have not been made to pay for their crimes against the people.

[@mryouben]

Very interesting. As a german I lived 3 years in France from 89 to 92. Back then there were regularly cases of interrogations "gone wrong" in which young french with migration background were killed. The subject is touched in the movie "la haine".

[@tumasdedaan2146]

Wikipedia says 1,690 Jews deported by Papon, where did you get your 70,000+ number from?

[@dimitrius9974]

I asked him, he deleted my comment lol. In fact Papon was "only" convicted for his involvment in the deportation of 1,600 Jews from the Gironde department where he worked, he had in fact nothing to do with the creation or organization of the Drancy camp.

[@Norwegian_guy89]

3:20 Collaboration was very bad in Norway in fact when the nazis invaded Norway they had a march outside the royal household and the police stood guard for the marching Nazis while the population of Oslo stood in shock

[@editorrbr2107]

My family is originally from Bergen. My great-aunt was a collaborationist and got ran out after the war, with a Nazi’s bastard child still in her belly. I have an entire sub-line of the family that have been in Sweden now for 80 years - and she was hardly alone.

[@frenchfrog4622]

@@editorrbr2107 isn't your great-aunt's story literraly the plot of a Camilla Läckberg book ?

[@Alec-ej7sh]

doesn‘t really add up with the final messeage of the video. Wish Kraut would add some stats to this as I learned several of his former videos are on a really shacky ground considering historic evidence, so i no longer trust him as I used to.

[@Rndm9]

@@Alec-ej7sh I agree, I noticed several big statements in this video that he just says without any source to back it up. He does sometimes mention a source but not often enough. It just sort of ruins the believability of what he's saying, even if the message is generally right. Also another thing is that he only came at this topic from one angle, it would be better if we could see various perspectives and how such a system as this even came to exist rather than the answer just being 'Nazis'. That said, at least he's bringing to light these Nazi roots which many people (me included) didn't even know about.

[@relight6931]

@@Alec-ej7sh Same story here, Freda really did his job right. Took me three times to get it recommended to finally give it a shot. Kraut gets some flak, for if nothing else, he has shown, he is able to change and learn with time. Usually during "debunking" of some of creators I follow, if their videos are shown as truly manipulative, I will not just unsubscribe, but also make sure their videos never show as recommended for me again. Still, with Freda video watched, I will try my best to watch more diligently, videos that do with history and such, and try to notice the bias of the creator. I am really glad I saw this, since we in Balkans, learn so little of other countries history, since our own is so turbulent and long..

[@sebastianfischer7206]

Watch La Haine, it’s a great perspective on the way disenfranchised people are treated in Paris (and France as a whole)

[@drewc3655]

Not playing for anyone else? takes me back to the home page after community warning.

[@bkondrk]

Thanks for uploading this, Kraut. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant", and I've very glad that you're helping to bring the dark deeds of people like Maurice Papon (and *especially* the institutions and people who committed atrocities under his direction) more fully into the light of public awareness.

[@tongtong4077]

Interesting video Kraut ! Just a tiny error, Maurice Papon was not a high ranking Vichy civil servant, but a local bureaucrat during the Nazi Occupation, in charge of the "Jewish affairs" of the region of Bordeaux (so he did personally oversee the deportation of about 1600 Jews captured in that area). This does not really change his grim legacy. Also the Nazi occupation was not the first time French policemen participated in mass terror and persecution : this already happened in the colonial empire, but these methods had not been tried in metropolitan France yet. The French police has sadly retained a doctrine of counter insurgency towards more impoverished French suburbs (mostly populated by "North Africans" as the 1960s policemen wrote in their reports) that it developed during the Algerian War of Independance, involving constant harrassment and violence against inhabitants of those suburbs. This eventually contributed to creating a very profitable market in France for "innovative" ways of keeping order, such as sublethal weapons (that maim people instead of outright killing them) and anti-protest tactics, first tested in the suburbs, then put to use during broader protests (such as the recent movement against the pension reform or the Yellow Vests movement). As for the shady past of the French Police Nationale (created in 1942 under Pétain) it is still mostly swept under the rug in French schools. The history programs when I was in high school (about 6/7 years ago) let teachers chose between studying the memories of WWII or of the Algerian War. The latter is much more controversial and only the memories of Nazi occupation are generally studied. The infamous name of Papon is only mentioned for his trial in the 1990s and his role as the Paris chief of police in 1961 not mentioned (actually, the events of October 17th are relatively little known outside of immigrant families). It took 50 years for the French State to acknowledge its faults during the Occupation (in a 1995 speech by then-President Jacques Chirac commemorating the biggest roundup of Jews during the war). Meanwhile, the police never had to confront its past, and its ranks are still plagued by far-right, racist, and authoritarian ideology (even more so than the traditionally very conservative Army).

[@ByalKanye]

Wait really? Kraut made it seem like he was chief of the Jewish question in France. Strange facts to miss out

[@isaac6077]

Wow the structure that are the most authoritarian in government are filled with authoritarians…… imagine my shock

[@isaac6077]

@@ByalKanyeyes. Leftists tend to conjoin the deportations and exicution into the same word as a way to make sure u never actually solve the problem

[@ojoemojo]

Kraut drops the first video in a while and it gets a warning. ❤ you Kraut keep making the content you want to make!

[@topiasr628]

Thankful to your community post for alerting me to the fact you'd posted a video. It's crazy how fast they mustve hit it - I would've thought I'd have at least gotten a notification (like I'm supposed to)

[@lamondaforestry]

As a Greek, all these seem all to familiar...

[@DimitrisGenn]

27:34 That part is way off. 1) The civil war was between the national government and the communists. Many republicans joined the government, despite being a monarchy, to fight the communists. 2) The military dictatorship came about in 1967, 20 years after the war had ended.

[@constantinethecataphract5949]

And also none of the leaders of the dictatorship were collaborators nor did they get Brittish funding or support. He also over estimates the % of collaborators that made up the loyalist forces in the civil war, he ignores non communist resistance movements and ofcourse he called the communists republicans lmao

[@Croz89]

@@constantinethecataphract5949 From what I know the British weren't so much pro monarchist as anti communist, they just didn't want the KKE to seize power.

[@TheAmericanPrometheus]

That part also stuck out to me when I heard it. glad I wasn't the only one

[@comradeofthebalance3147]

@@constantinethecataphract5949 Are you sure about that? I remember reading about the pardoning of many collaborators and actual Nazis in order to keep a military structure. Politically maybe not, but what about locally and militarily?

[@johnwotek3816]

2:47 There is no "police departement of Paris" and this is not the insigna of the police of Paris. Paris and it's surrounding area are under the jurisdiction of the police prefectorate of Paris, which is an institution encompassing both gendarmerie and national police element. There is a municipal police in Paris, although, it is a novelty (mostly because of the scars of the commune of Paris) and, like any municipal police in France, it's power are fairly limited. 5:31 the nationalisation of french police did indeed happen under the vichy regime, but there are a few thing to consider. Before that, every police was municipal, so attached to the autority of a mayor, with the exception of the gendarmerie, which had always been a military institution was a fairly centralized organisation. However, municipal police in France were not what most people see as today municipal police in France. They had far more power than their modern counterpart and the very basis of the commissariat system was implemented around the first empire. It's also worth noting what we, french, consider as ourmodern investigation and police intelligence service was mostly developped under Clemenceau under the third Republic. Also, a lot of police violence can actually be imputed to riot control unit, which was developped and ready by 1921 in the french gendarmerie through the creation of the mobile gendarmerie squadron, one which Vichy would later create police unit, that would be disbanded after the liberation of France, then quickly resurrected as the infamous CRS. 5:52 The parisian police wear the red fourragère, which isn't there as a symbol of elite fighting unit (which created confusion and anger among the member of the liberation FFL force showing up in Paris), but as a symbol of parisian police being awared collectively an award (I think it's the Legion of Honor, the highest civilian and military medal in France). They made very sure to be protrayed as heroes, despite their active participation in the Vel' d'Hiv rafle and heavily benefited from the existence of the Milice, which was a paramilitary force dedicated to enforce nazi rules and conduct anti-partisan operation. 9:47 while the police involvement was instrumental during the Algerian war, puting their method simply on nazism is, I think misleading. Like you said, you had veteran of the FFL in Algeria and Indochina pulling out the same shit they fought against in WW2... and thoses shit were happening long before the nazi were a thing. France up until a very recent period, always had a very ham fisted approach when it come to counter insurgency. It pretty much started under Napoleon, with the invasion and occupation of Spain, that would shape the doctrinal idea of people like Bugeaud, whom would be put in charge of the pacification of Algeria a few years later and get very good result with a lot of action that are criminal. Even by then, his enfumade where the target of many criticism in metropolitain France, but that never was enough to actually stop it of change the mentality. Such brutal tactic would be a reccuring theme throuhought french colonisation. To go back to Papon and his goons, it's also important to note that France has a very strong history when it come to antisemitism. The best exemple of this is the Dreyfuss affair, when a jewish captain was accused of spying for Germany and send to the bagne, despite overwhelming evidence that the real culprit was a general. Half of the country defended Dreyfus, the other half was convinced he was guilty, a good part of it because of his jewish origins. For people like Papon, the Dreyfus affair was something that hit pretty hard their childhood or at least their parent. Combine that with the red scare of the time and the popularity of the far right movement in France (which almost resulted in a coup between the two world war) and you have a pretty big idea of how a good chunk of France was. Finally, Algeria was an official part of France and nothing was off the table to keep it, especially considering the insurgent were just as brutal as us back then. This brutality is sadly a reality of how asymetrical warfare was percieved and fought back in those days. German themselves, did not developp such method with the nazi. It was actually their disastrous encounter with french franc-tireur in 1870 that made them very fond of using harsh occupation tactic, which was particulary notable in WW1 against the Belgian and northern French population. The biggest novelty of the nazi was the very targetted and systematic extermination of jew that was not even relied to a shred of a twisted tactical or strategic need. 15:18 The Paris police massacre is pretty much the conclusion of a serie of event brought by that infernal cycle of violence and Papon organized torture ring. France was shit show back then and it was pretty much a three way free for all between the OAS, the FLN and the french government. Papon "for one of us, ten of them shall fall" wasn't actually an official note, but part of a speech given during one of the funeral of the numerous parisian police officier killed over the last years. He, however, visited precint in the capital, saying to his men they could shoot if they felt threatned and would be covered for it, some police union even claiming weapon would be given by higher up to be planted on suspect if necessary. During the event itself, the cops were convinced they were facing an armed threat and fake messages about cops being killed knife were going around on the radio. Meanwhile, there are report of FLN militant preventing protester to run away. 16:16 Actually, there was only 1600 officer engaged that day in a public order capacity, not 7000. 20:13 While the legacy of Papon is still a stain on french law enforcement and more specifically the Paris police prefectorate, I think the conclusion, here, is a bit hasty. Lots of things have evolved since then, be it the institution or the society they work in. 25:53 the problem of modern french police are different than thoses of 1961. There is no civil war going on, no former collabo running the PP, far less racial prejudice at an individual level and better law and structure to prevent police abuse. But, yeah, they do have a serious problem at looking at themselves. The BAC, or anti-crime squads are the unit that are always brought forward when we talk about violence in french law enforcement. Thoses are plain clothes unit, but defining their role is very difficult. They do everything: investigation, intervention, riot control, etc... they're mostly based on a 70 unit dubbed the "north african brigade" in St Denis, that was heavily staffed by Algerian war veteran. Their mission are so vague and wide they basically act however they want and they're known to attract often corrupt and violent police officer. And they're mostly active in neighbourhood populated by poor people from minority ethnic background. But the BAC isn't the only problem. They're only the most visible aspect of it and it's pretty much the entire public safety branch that is concerned. Most people visiting a police station in France tend to be quickly disappointed by the rather unprofessional attitude of the officers. We saw it recently, when pretty much every cops went to strike in the country, to protest one of their own being detained following a rather impressive feat of police violence where a man lost a chunk of his skull. 26:29 Yeah no. French far right group have been, theses last 20 years, regularly on the governement shit list and regularly disbanded one after the other and the yellow vest movement never was an ethnic problem to begin with. Papon and it's work did help to create, to a certain extent, a climate of impunity in french law enforcement, but that was something that was more or less already there and we never managed to get rid off. There is a reason France was a pioneer in riot control tactics. Napoleon bombed royalist in Paris and the Versaillais would massacre the communard barelly a century later. It would be by 1921 that we would have a proper method to actually deal with protest without killing them with rifles. And it's been pretty much since 1968 since we didn't have massive protest that resulted in massives casualties. We understood a long time ago that killing protester only give martyr and this is something that has been refined. In the end, French law enforcement has a culture that doesn't really make it afraid to hurt people and this isn't something that started with Papon or the nazi. Also, overall, far less people are killed by the french police than the american one. 28:41 I think it's a rather biased way to see it. As you can see on the map, most of Europe has been occupied by the nazis at some point. Those among the best are island country, like UK or Iceland, that indeed escaped occupation, but also have a very different tradition when it come to policing, difference that existed way before the nazi were even a thing. Also, you have places like Denmark were law enforcement killing are smaller than in the UK... then, broadening the view, we have countries like Australia and Canada that have rate higher than thoses of Europe. Explaining the violence of the french police through the sole legacy of the nazi occupation is like laying the sole blame of the massacre of 1961 on Papon. It's a seducing theory, but it doesn't hold much weight once you start to look further.

[@tearsinpain]

I agree that this a bit surface level investigation because when the answer to a hard question (Why the French police is violent) is that (insert easy answer) because they retained the same procedures of the Nazi and that the police officers were all collaborator's , seems a bit one-dimensional . I liked the video because i didnt knew the massacre and I reckon most of the French dont know about the Massacre.

[@myowngenesis]

You are amazing. Regardless of whatever politics leanings you might prefer, you still fight for the truth, undiluted, unmarred. You sir deserve far more respect than what you receive. Greetings from Norway

[@spo666tty]

My grandfather told me a story of his many visits to France. He said he remembers seeing the French police (this was either the 60’s or 70’s) having pulled over a man clearly from North Africa, most likely Algeria. He didn’t know why they had done this but they then proceeded to set upon him unprovoked and hit him to the ground, hitting him with their truncheons. Im not surprised the French police have a history of being heavy handed when I have anecdotal evidence of it in my immediate family.

[@d-damianos]

Hello, a fan from Greece here. First of all, I really enjoyed the video, especially the remarks on greek police. I'll have to add that during the 2012 elections, more than 50% of greek policemen voted for the neo-nazi party "Golden Dawn". But I have some comments in regard your statetments about the Greek Civil War of 1946-49. The Greek Civil War was between the Greek State (supported by the British) and the remaining communist resistance groups. The civil war ended at 1949. The 3 colonel's junda you refer to at the end (with their symbol of the rising phoenix) came to power at 1967, after a military coup during a period of political instability in the country. It was not a direct result of the Civil War

[@Thalanna]

Ah yeah, forgot about that... for the last presidential elections, the CEVIPOF (a French scientific & research organism working on political sciences) ended up with an approximate ~60% of French policemen voting for the Front National. A political party founded by none other than a bunch of either former nazi volunteers, or Pétain enthusiasts >.>

[@ianhomerpura8937]

It was still a direct result of the Cold War though. The military was emboldened enough that they even overthrew King Constantine. They knew that as long as they hid their actions in the name of "republican democracy", no one would intervene.

[@andreasdelacoux4869]

Yes absolutely. And to add another point of clarification the junta was backed by the Americans not the British.

[@vetdino]

It was one communist resistance group, the “Democratic Army”, which was largely the successor of ELAS (the biggest resistance group during the nazi occupation). However, it is important to note that on the side of the Greek State, you had all political reactions, from the center left to the extreme right, including Nazi collaborators. The Greek Civil War is quite complicated and Kraut oversimplified it in his description.

[@kiwikemist]

Why does it seem that europeans are all inherently drawn towards fascism? Even liberals support fascists in order to put down worker's revolts.

[@tylerandrews4375]

“This content may be inappropriate for some viewers” who the fudge is offended by a historical discussion

[@akumaking1]

Leftoids, the professionally offended, regressives, etc

[@ydid687]

far right, far left and all those far from a realist perspective

[@thorakvideos2495]

The only thing we learned at school (in France) about the Algerian Independance war; is that it happened & that De Gaulle gave the Algerians their independance. We got 0 details... I didn't know, even now, about the Paris massacre. :/

[@luluwachedjari3299]

You must read, what your country has done to mine it’s your responsibility to know so that you understand the present, actually it’s quite nice that now Algeria that was French as they said has only migration in France, it’s a miracle that we didn’t revenge

[@cebonvieuxjack]

the other reason why Papon began to be distrusted during the 80's was because "Resistancialism" had finally and completely worn off in the mind of public opinion, the common question "what did you do during the war ?" began appearing in 1972 as soon as Paxton released his works on Vichy France and the wide spread collaboration of most institutions during the Occupation. in any case, great video as always!

[@Calamari200]

My left ear enjoyed the intro.

[@77cicero77]

Perhaps banners reading “ici on noie les algeriens” should make a few appearances during the Paris Olympics.

[@stephenkramer7157]

I have to respect Kraut for putting the swastika on screen like he doesn't care.

[@Disorder327]

Maurice Papon went to live for 5 more years after he was released from jail , died at the ripe age of 96. These monsters must feed off their victims to maintain such longevity.

[@ColorPandora]

Thanks Kraut for another well researched and moving video. I’m from Poland and we dont really discuss the modern Western European history in such a detail, so its always an interesting watch for me. Unfortunately the story of Maurice Papon didn’t even surprise me that much, many Nazi Germans who personally sent Jews to the gas chambers made brilliant political and business careers after the war in the free Germany, never punished for their crimes against humanity.

[@JohnKruse]

Poland suffered more than any other country in WWII, with I'm sure its share of collaborators (as with any other occupied country). Did many of them make it into positions of power after the communist took over?

[@ibrahimmohammedibrahim9273]

Well West European is known for brutal history since collapse Roman empire

[@moscuadelendaest]

@@ibrahimmohammedibrahim9273 Is that the reason you used a literal te rror.1st as your profile picture?

[@alfyryan6949]

The Paris Massacre of 1961. That it could have been covered up so efficiently, in a democratic republic. It boggles the mind. And such meaningless brutality upon the innocent.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

The Philippines did the same as well, especially its homesteading and atrocities in Mindanao in the 60s and 70s, even before the declaration of martial law in 1972.

[@shellshockedgerman3947]

​@@ianhomerpura8937Can you actually link me to the massacres committed by the 3rd Philippine Republic? I knew about the government policy of "Christianizing" Mindanao by encouraging Luzoners and Visayans to migrate there, but I didn't know that armed action against natives and Moros were already happening.

[@aresjerry]

Uh they were doing a January 6th so obviously they were criminals?

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@aresjerry colonialists deserve it.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

​@@shellshockedgerman3947Look up on the "Ilaga" Christian militias that operate in Mindanao from the 1960's until sometime in 2007. You'd be surprised by the many events that were left unsaid from this period of time...

[@mpbomber1491]

Every Policemen knows that though gouverments may change, the police remain - Leon Trotzky

[@LarryWater]

Good quote

[@BigMek456]

Ouchie my back - Leon Trotzky

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Said by the guy who established the Cheka and the political commissariat to enforce their rule...

[@ianhomerpura8937]

​@@theotherohlourdespadua1131that's the point. He formed the Cheka from the same forces who tortured thousands under the Czarist regime.

[@infusedtoddler8697]

This is a incredible video. Extremely well researched too. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@justsomestudent7271]

As an American studying political science I always find your videos educational and thought provoking. I am curious where I could find your sources if I wanted to my own research, thank as always for a good video.

[@easy_eight2810]

Being someone from Indochina. History has taught us that French government personnel are sure brutal

[@ardugaleen2231]

One of my great grandparents was there he held a base in vietnam as a former free french. He liked your people a lot thought this war was doomed from the start and that we had nothing to do there. My great great uncle on the paternal side this time left to Indochina when he returned from the great war he couldnt stay w the french he left and redid his life there. What our goverment did in your countries was fucking disgusting man I hope you can find the greatness lf heart to forgive us when we will be worthy of it which isnt now rly ahah.

[@malegria9641]

so sorry

[@dilbertdonges910]

There is a reason that many of the problems that come with geopolitics across the world today often get blamed on France, and for good reason.

[@linola644]

It was often told to me in history classes that it was better to be in the occupied portion of France rather than the "free" one because the police and environnement was way worse in the south, they were doing things that the nazis never asked of them just because

[@rrai1999]

@@kimok4716 Who said the germans were nice guys? All he said is that Vichy France was more abusive to civilians. Reductive and useless

[@Ar_Classic]

From what I know the massacre of French civilians took place in the occupied areas, not the free ones

[@saintboris7922]

Kind of depends , it's true that petain and his government deported more jews than the nazi asked for thinking this was a way to gain more autonomy ,otherwise , french police in the south wouldn't arrest some résistants and that angered the german

[@616Regis]

Frankly, I have no idea where this strange idea of the Occupied Zone having it better than the Free zone comes from. It simply doesn't resist scrutiny. First, let's note that "better" depends greatly on who you ask. If you were a Jew, your chances of survival were much, much higher in the Free Zone. If you lived in one of the "Zones Interdites" in Occupied France (like the Somme) that the Germans intended to use for future German colonisation, you'd be expelled with your entire family, often with nothing but the clothes you were wearing. If you lived in one of the zones under direct German administration (like Pas-de-Calais), well... the Germans regularly rounded up the population for slave labour. If you were in one of the Annexed territories (like Alsace), you were considered "German" and therefore forced to join the German army, and should you refuse your whole family would be deported. I could carry on. Let's also note that contrary to popular belief, most of the Occupied zone as well as the French police in both Occupied and Free Zones were actually under the same administration: the Vichy government, so it would make little to no sense for them to be more accommodating to the Germans in the South but not the North. Finally, let's also note that it is especially after 1943 that the Vichy government and the police become significantly more oppressive (in particular with the creation of the Milice). At that point in time, there was no "Free Zone" because all of metropolitan France was occupied.

[@nicolaswohrer2272]

@@Ar_ClassicOradour sur Glanes (the most infamous) was in the south, but after the occupation of 1942

[@beacebrocess]

Good coverage on an important topic. Impressive how you were able to touch on so many issues.

[@___.51]

Lol. Two pop-up warnings before the video telling me there is disturbing content in the video. I already knew I was clicking on a video about the French, thanks.

[@jezusbloodie]

Wohooo new Kraut video Edit: the graphic styles are really neat and clean. The monochrome blackwhite images create such impactful visuals. I really like the innovation how you use flags to create evolving collages Edit: Im deeply distraught from what I'm learning in this docu. (edit: elsewhere in the comments a dutch history teacher noted that these days until very recentely the following isn't quite the case anymore) I'd like to point out that even in Dutch schools now, the Indonesian independence war is being thaught under the term "politionele acties". I was lucky enough to have had a teacher that pointed out the the disingenuousess of it back in middle school, but I've never heard of this direct connection to nazi methodology nor that France was doing in Algeries was even called the same. Also, 2 years ago the dutch Chamber of Representative silently approved an ammendment that reduces the penalty for a police officer killing someone during a riot or pretest from 5y for manslaughter to max 2y for not following superior's orders

[@Anonymoose66G]

By the way instead of saying a teacher thought, the correct wording is a teacher "taught", just thought I'd let you know.

[@jezusbloodie]

@@Anonymoose66G thank you, I fixed it! I'm dyslectic and due to similarities in dutch, my native language, the ou au case is one that often slips past me

[@Anonymoose66G]

@@jezusbloodie No problem.

[@kevincronk7981]

How does kraut only have over 500k subscribers? This is some of the best content on youtube

[@jordanschlansky4093]

We're living in a dumb era where TikTok-trends and influencers are what people stuff their brains with, sadly

[@ennuiii]

Part of it is folks who wont let the past die and don't understand people can change.

[@certaindeath7776]

30% of people in the educated western world (!) are barely able to read a complex sentence and understand its meaning (if they can read at all, which 6-8% of people cant). the whole human development comes from just a few bright minds. the average human isnt what i would call a "homo sapiens"... i needed many years to really understand how simpleminded average humans are. since that i have stopped to be an anarchist, because anarchism needs a degree of self ownership from almost everyone to function. now im just a social democrat, which is wondering how much societal libertarism we can afford realistically ( i would love all of it, but i fear its impossible)^^

[@Telhias]

He posts too rarely. It is a sad truth that if you want to get a lot of subscribers you need to release a lot of videos. A video gains most of its views and subscribers very early on after it is released. Once a video is "old" the algorithm tends to bury it.

[@user-hc9td4zi6o]

I know I'm commenting late on this but I'd have to disagree at the conclusion there a bit. When he said that " police brutality is the worse where the nazis occupied" he showed a lot of countries that yes, were occupied by the nazis but they were also then after the war occupied by comunists. Now I can't speak on behalf of all of these countries of course and I don't want to, but I can at least share my view as a bulgarian for my own country at least. Here in Bulgaria after the liberation of the nazis there was a big cleanse. A lot of the facists got bruttaly tortured ans executed. All of the facist party was trialed (excluding the ones who tried to flee, some of them got killed along the way like Alexander Belev). But the new regiment was very strict and brutal, they tortured Lilyana Panitsa, the secretary of Alexander Belev, who was actually helping the Jews from getting depicted by sharing the fascists' secrets on the deportations and pakued a key role in the rescues. Jewish citizens and the rabbi at the time had to testify many times to finally let her go. But she dies a few months afterwards because of the brutal torture. There are a lot of documents showing how the new regime tired to purge everything and put a new one. A lot of the head police officers also had strong communist ties (after all it provided a lot of benefits and more opportunity). Also I really am not trying to say "communism worse!" Just want to clarify that for some instances I wouldn't go it is 100% a legacy of fascism witout considering the whole history and politics of the regions first. I really think that Bulgaria given it's history, the many sufferings so many went through communism and its legacy still echoing to some part, has more communist influence. A lot of the cops stayed after communism fell as wel. I just think there was a very simplified and kind of flawed conclusion there at the end, idk.

[@stegoheg]

I live in France and always stay away from any demonstrations as you are risking injury or worse. This video left me speechless as I had no inkling - extraordinary work - you must carry on. Subbed.

[@electricangel4488]

I feel this is more of a historic background then an outright explination of french police brutality

[@Jonas_M_M]

Kraut falls more often into the trap of equating historical events to current politics without further explaination. If he does it on purpose for actvivism or "just" uses it as clickbait, I do not know.

[@gabe75001]

No offense, but it seemed pretty clear. French police are brutal because of the institutions and practices carried over from the Vichy regime.

[@TheGalaxyWings]

@@gabe75001 there were already abusive practices under the 3rd republic though

[@nicolasduhaut7331]

It explains a lot French police has Always been super right win leaning. When le Pen came to the 2nd round of the election in 2002, the french only gave him 18, but he got 48% in the police. In 2022 Le Pen had 42%, she got 84% in the police. Our Interior Minister always were the most right leaning people in the government. Pasqua in the 70s said to beat the crap out of leftists. Sarkozy in the 2000s talked about bringing Karcher to criminals and hard police action. His own Minister Hortefeux was one the most racist people ever and talked about arming the police more and giving them the right to shoot at their own appréciation Valls, in Hollande left government, was talking about going hard on gypsie. Darmamin under Macron Always sends brutal police responses to protests. Our police was shaped by nazism, is one of the most Far right leaning corp in all the country and political leaders are Keen to use violent and racist language to keep them happy.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

It's super clear. People don't act like that in a vacuum, there should exist some link from the past that would help explain that behavior. And he presented it clearly...

[@marcuswestphal4955]

Kraut always does a good job explaining things like this.

[@MacAnters]

Crazy how a video can have almost 2k comments after not even 10 hours after being uploaded. Anyway, I'm happy to see any video of yours show up! Still hyped (as a Dutchman) about the Netherlands video, but good stuff as always!

[@michaelevenhuis4683]

Thanks for educating me on topics I did not get taught in school, and probably wouldn't have found out myself. It is good to look critically at your own culture. I'm not from France but from the Netherlands, and only recently started educating myself on the atrocities commited by the Dutch in Indonesia. This is not taught very extensively in school and way too many Dutch people look back on our colonial past with pride. It's funny that the Indonesian war for independence is also called the "Politionele akties", or police actions in Dutch. I think a general video on Europe's view of colonialism in the past linked with nationalism, populism and pride nowadays would be very interesting.

[@nuggs4snuggs516]

It reminds me of some of the research I've done into the two Indochina Wars, how French officials attempting to restore French rule in Indochina released Japanese PoWs, armed them, and sent them out to brutalize the Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians, or how incredibly difficult the Americans found it to try and find a non-Communist to rule South Vietnam whose reputation wasn't tarnished by collaboration with the French or the Japanese, even if Ngo Dinh Diem had been offered the role of Prime Minister of the brief Empire of Vietnam established by the Japanese after the liberation of France, which he initially refused before changing his mind.

[@Warsie]

The way I remember it the Japanese surrendered to the Viet Minh/let them take their weapons if possible lol.

[@TonymanCS]

As Vietnamese we know well first hand about the brutality of French authority but JFC what happened in 1961 is especially shocking and shameful for Europe's biggest democracy and even more shameful is the fact the brutal legacy lives on with French police force.

[@Antiteshmis]

Democracy doesn't exist.

[@HM-iy3dc]

Who told you that France is Europe's biggest democracy?

[@lelionnoir4523]

Vietnamese people are the best for having calmed quite a few arseholes : France, the US, China and the Khmer rouge, to name but those few.

[@aurelian7993]

don’t use the Lord’s name in vain

[@ianhomerpura8937]

​@@HM-iy3dc well, France is pretty big.

[@kingstontheone]

I am most horrofied of what i have learned today, never in my life would i have even considered that such a country who waves around their pride of freedom, democracy and human rights would have such a past of covering up, burtalizing and systematically try to eradicate people who would fight for their own nations independence. Kraut you are a gem for bringing up the dark corners of history and shining a light on events that have been systematically covered up by western nations and groups of people who still leave their mark on goverement institutions and for shining a light on nations or goverment organs who would rather sweep it under the rug than recognizing the disgusting truth of the democracies they claim to run. I am in tears from hearing the massacare that took place and i dont know why but this horryyfying truth really pierced my heart and got me to think why history is so important to remember and to teach other generations. This is something i never thought i would learn about but i am eterneally greatful that you spoke of this. I dont think i have ever been so schocked to learn about such a dark piece of history taking place in a land that takes pride in being the inventor of democracy. You are a gem kraut never stop telling theese historical events theese are peaces of history that needs to have more lights shined uppon and the attrocities commited by a broken system still being run or influenced by one of the darkest forces ever to have walked the earth. This is so tragic and dark (Sorry for my shitty english and word structuring).

[@fillman86]

what fantastic story telling, able to bring something like this to light without trying to alienate people, and showing that people aren't just "evil" but instead are lead down a bad path over time

[@snoopsauce6294]

It would be nice having the list of sources be available in the comments for further reading.

[@TheRadPlayer]

Also, should probably have them on-screen whenever referenced. Like in one of the corners.

[@DakarrtheTerminator]

I noticed this over years of french riots, even since the yellow vest protests. I don't know whether you're going to mention them, I have yet to watch, but this is a great topic to have chosen. Genuinely something I have been curious about, thank you.

[@monkey35462]

Dude i really like these types of videos i like how you are branching off from your country ball videos and covering recent and not talked about news

[@sirierieott5882]

Always amazes me how there are so many details of WWII and the post war period that still need to be exposed and explained! I was horrified and riveted in equal measure!

[@chrisz7494]

Honestly, Kraut, I'm loving this new style of visuals. It's very polished and engaging

[@Jacob-df5hr]

I like this style for the political videos, but I love the little country balls for the history/geopolitical videos, they are so cute

[@abdullahx8118]

Its his old style brought back he tends to do it for current day stuff that isnt SUPER historical and is much more recent

[@Srbahator]

Magnificient video as always. While it's not as brutal as in the 60s, sadly with the far-right rise and blatant welcome by the right, most politicians and nearlly all french media it's commign back. The french police is activelly trying to undermine the justice system and place it under its control. Every day I listen to the news about my country I see it copying the Weimar republic errors and I despair about the greel of some and the grim acceptance of others. I don't believe the far right can be stopped now as there is a good chance that Darmanin (known sexual abuser and ex far right activist who was in the Action française, a near terrorist organisation) will try to succeed macron and will face Lepen. He will fail as the legacy of mediocrity of the traditional right, left and "center" (wich is right without the catholic elements) has left peoples with deep resentment or even hatred against them. The left aliance beeing brittle, quite divided and unable to create compromise between it's different parts will not acces the second round. The far right will win the next presidential election or the other one after. We will have to hope their incompetence will be too much to govern effectivelly and that they will accept to give back power in time (if they don't do it orban style).

[@Akash-jo6oo]

YOU PUT A LOT OF EFFORTS IN YOUR VIDEOS. You deserve more subscribers and patreons.

[@cumoforspotify]

Everything is either Russia or Hitler's fault. I held my breath at 2:50 while the two options were juggling. "Why do Americans have school shootings...? To understand why we have to go back to the 1940s... " "Why did the British create the concentration camp in the 19th century? To understand why we have to go up to the 1940s" "Why did Jesus get crucified? Why did the Ottoman empire conquer the Balkans? Why did the US Invade Vietnam? Why did muslims enslave slavs? Who shot Kennedy? ... let me tell you son.... you'll have to go back (or forth) to the ... you guessed it... THE 1940S!!!"

[@speedfiref8212]

Thank you for this Video. As a Frenchman, I really appreciate the work you made to illustrate the problem of police brutality and the incomprehention it can create. Often we point, as the cause of police violence , the dissolution of the proximity police (police de proximité) by president Sarkozy. But as you said, the cause leid with the collaboration of the french state with the nazis and the creation of two france : one which fight for the liberation and one which fight against itself for the nazis. For a more personnel note, I have been part in all the demonstration against the pension reform (réforme des retraites) and I have experience the violence of the police. Now I feel fear for me and others when a police patrol arrive in my street. I hope that the fascist shadow that hasn't quit europe will someday. Thanks for the video because its important, as europeans, that we know history and its consequences.

[@speedfiref8212]

@olivierverdys4673 Yeah I know that police existed before the nazi thx. And you right, the french police system was created at the basis to respond to the orders of an autoritarian monarque and dictatorial state. Even with the fall of the "Ancien Régime" the police and gendarme remained has an instution of repression. I didnt wanted to say that police before the nazis was an association of flower-givers. And suddently during and after the occupation, it was transform into a brutal institution of criminal. I just wanted to say that I think that the principale cause of police violence in france at the present day was the lacking denazification after the war and the permanence of institutions created during Vichy France (ex : police national). But yeah I know that French police will keep being French police, even if we do change the SA and gestapo part.

[@K0sm]

​@olivierverdys4673The Police Nationale was founded under Vichy in 1941...

[@Thalanna]

@@speedfiref8212 (That said, and for context from a French person if someone needs it - people going "WELL ACKHUALLY! The French police PREDATED Vichy! You see nazis everywhere you leftists!!" is a classic answer from far-right people, that is better discarded. They send this, thinking it would invalidate the whole rest, while... really it's barely a technical aspect of it. The whole rest of it, and the massive prevalence of former nazi sympathizers in the French police since occupation, remains fully there, no matter when the French Police was created.)

[@JohnKruse]

Interesting. I had to go look up "police de proximité". It is called Community Policing in the US. In much of the US, the police functions quite well driving around in cars and just showing up when there is a problem. But in high-crime areas (e.g. south Chicago), the police aren't trusted by the populace. Thus, when there is a murder, no one will talk to the police even if half of the block knows who is responsible. It all goes back to Sir Robert Peel's 1829 Policing Principles, _"#2. To recognize always that the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect."_ I reside in Italy now. The police are numerous, but kind of absent other than at public gatherings/protests. In fact, it is rare to even see them doing traffic enforcement as it is 90% speed and red light cameras. They tend to not be where crime is (e.g., around the train station) and people often don't bother to call them when there is a theft/break in. Nevertheless, I feel safe. I'm not sure if they are effective or if the Italian populace just isn't criminal beyond petty theft and tax evasion.

[@balpreetsingh6834]

I dont think putting everything on the Nazis is correct. The French were colonisers first and we all know what happened during multiple French Revolutions. State soponsored violence was already instilled in French society before the Nazi occupation and this excuse by Kraut seems very lacking.

[@tylerbozinovski427]

Yeah just seeing the arrogance and ruthlessness of the French in the late 19th and early 20th centuries further demonstrates this. Their obsession over Alsace-Lorraine contributed to WWI.

[@MaxMustermann-go8xf]

I agree, but I don't think Kraut wanted to make that point. I think he just wanted to show how the Nazi occupation benefitted a shift towards even more police violence that had a lasting impact on the system. And Kraut also addressed how the Nazis relied heavily on the cooperation of the police forces in each occupied country.

[@starmaker75]

if there is any racial conflict that is happening now, you can said it goes back to European colonialism of 17tth to 19th century and you will be 80% right

[@helast3916]

@@starmaker75 not true since countries like sweden austria or italy (most african immigrants there are moroccoan) have big immigrant population and those were never colonizers. Modern immigrants to europe are mostly there only for modern economic reason

[@ShankarSivarajan]

@@tylerbozinovski427 Elsaß-Lothringen.

[@anthonyroosenmaallen2679]

I've never heard of the Paris Massacre of 1961, genuinely horrifying. Thank you for the video

[@mrsupremegascon]

Did your heard about the Oran massacre and Constantine massacre ? If you want the full story, you might want to check those, and see how brutal Algerians were.

[@LeHappiste]

@@mrsupremegascon The Philippeville massacre in 1955 was even worse than those. Algerians raped and disemboweled pied-noirs women, slamed babies against the wall, castrated a jewish dude in front of his children...etc. It was at the very start of the independence war and the horrors shocked the French so much it greatly increased their brutality.

[@jayanderson5864]

How coincidental that this gets recommended to me after my sudden interest in the Algerian War. This video was eye-opener for many including myself, and I thank you for informing us on this topic.

[@philongninh]

I wait so long for each episode but I’m just as glad when it comes out 😭