From 1940 to 1944, all of France was occupied by the Nazis except for the southern third. However, that southern zone, known as Vichy, was ruled by an equally antisemitic government, led by Marshal Philippe Pétain.

The Vichy regime enacted discriminatory and humiliating policies against Jews, which culminated in arrests, internments, and deportations to Nazi death camps. Few victims survived. One-third of the 84,000 Jews deported from France came from this unoccupied zone. Vichy passed the "Jewish Statute," which racially defined "Jewishness" and barred Jews from positions of authority. A census located Jews and listed their addresses, jobs, and wealth. Juif (Jew) stamps marked ration cards and identity papers. Yellow posters identified Jewish businesses, while "Aryanization" robbed them of their property.

Non-French Jews fared worse. Roundups of "undesirable refugees" netted 30,000 Jews. Thrown into special camps, 3000 people died because of deplorable conditions. At Gurs, in the Pyrénées Mountains, 1167 died of starvation, dysentery, and typhoid. At Rivesaltes, where children were imprisoned separate from their mothers, mortality rates were equally high. Horrible sanitary conditions; lack of food, water, and adequate shelter from the cold; and sadistic harassment by guards were standard features of Vichy's concentration camps. In time, deportation to the East emptied the camps.