Contenu du sommaire : Varia

The Diffusion of the Italian Trade Union Movement Throughout Europe in the Early 20th Century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Italian trade union movement, bolstered by its strong national presence, made its first appearance on the international scene, addressing the diverse realities that existed in the other leading European countries. The “free” German trade union provided a vital organisational model for socialists, particularly for federation leaders. From a political perspective, however, British Labourism remained the dominant model, while the maturity of the British system also proved appealing to republicans. The French model, on the other hand, mostly attracted the attention of more revolutionary elements, including trade unionists and anarchists. For Catholics, German faith-based associations constituted both an organisational and ideological reference point.

On the Difficulty of Representing the Winners
In January 1920, the French embassy, legation and consulates were reopened in Germany, leading to the brutal re-insertion of French diplomats and consular employeesthroughout a country traumatised by its defeat and political upheaval, as well as by international treaties. Sent as emissaries of the winners, French diplomats and consuls were quickly seen by German residents as being responsible for the unfair treatment imposed on their country. The diplomats consequently had to face widespread hostility on a daily basis, which came to a head in 1923. Their difficult living and working conditions shed light on the diplomatic profession, as well as on Franco-German relations following the First World War.

Serge Lifar and the Issue of Collaboration with the German Authorities under the Occupation of Paris (1940-1949)This article examines the political and artistic activities of dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar at the Paris Opéra both during and immediately after the occupation of Paris. Although Lifar was eventually cleared of all charges of collaborationism with the German authorities after the war, accusations of collaboration re-emerged following the rehabilitation of his aesthetic by the Paris Opéra and a number of other dance companies. Using archival materials usually ignored by dance scholars, this article examines Lifar's political activities, convictions, and ambitions. His theory of ballet as set forth in La Danse : les grands courants de la danse académique (Dance: Main Currents of Academic Dance, 1938) and one of his popular ballets during that period, Joan de Zarissa (1942), are analysed from the perspective of his politics.

The Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich and the Genesis of the “Final Solution” in France (1941-1942)The question of who implemented the deportation of Jews during the Occupation of France is still hotly debated. Revisiting this question from the perspective of the MbF's security strategy in its larger European context allows us to gain new insight. Recently unearthed documents invite us to reconsider the logic behind the outsourcing of repression that governed the retaliatory deportation of Jews and communists to Eastern Europe, a practice officially adopted in December 1941. Closely intertwined, the MbF's repressive policies and the methods of the SiPo (Security Police)-SD jointly led to the persecution of the Jewish population, setting off the genocide in France earlier than in the rest of Western Europe.

Narratives of a Holocaust Survivor, Simon Srebnik
As soon as the Nazi concentration camps were opened to the public, survivors' accounts were collected using volunteer audio-visual mediation. Like most survivors, Simon Srebnik, one of the few to escape the Chelmno extermination camp, never had total control over his story. However, he agreed to present his account several times between 1945 and 2003, three years before his death. By choosing some of the key moments in these narratives, this article will illustrate how such narratives are conditioned by the individual or organisation soliciting and shaping them, while also questioning their ability to withstand the test of time once no survivors remain.

Business Strategies in Cambodia
French colonial archives allow us to follow the career of a Teochew Chinese businessman and understand how he gained the support of a family of Cambodian civil servants at the provincial level. Through a client-patron bond, the alliance between these two allowed them to take control of the most profitable businesses in Kampong Thom province. Tea Meng Ly, a grain merchant from South China, settled in Cambodia at the beginning of the 20th century. He then diversified his activities, growing to include transportation and fisheries at the beginning of the 1930s. Despite the Great Depression, Tea Meng Ly became very wealthy and his partners, the noble Seang family, rose to the top of the Cambodian social hierarchy.

The Birth of the Adapted Military Service Overseas
Following its implementation in metropolitan France in 2015 to target unemployed youth “at risk of desocialisation”, the SMA, or Adapted Military Service, has become a popular institution, some fifty years after its creation. Originally developed as a system of mass conscription, the SMA was first established in the French West Indies and Guyana before spreading to the rest of the country's overseas territories, as the latter's political relations with the French government were rapidly deteriorating. Widely criticized at its inception by public opinion in the West Indies as a symbolic institution of colonialism, the birth of this military institution adapted to overseas circumstances now represents the vestiges of French colonialism.

Scientific Norms Illustrated by the Reports on Doctoral Theses in the Physical Sciences
After 1944, the face of the physical sciences changed completely in France: these were the first disciplines to be confronted by the exponential rise of a higher education and research system for the masses, which restructured many academic fields, with profound consequences on relationships between actors and their craft. By studying the thesis reports written by the examiners for the doctorate in physical sciences awarded by the faculty of sciences of Paris, this article analyses the transformation of the norms that structured access to research careers. Furthermore, it illustrates how the scientific habitus, hitherto profoundly structured by the old ideal type of the scholar during the 1940s, was then progressively reconfigured into the new ideal of the researcher.

The War on Catechism
Thanks to the Ferry Act of 1882, Thursday was established as the day when the students of the newly secular public schools could receive religious instruction. Shifted to Wednesday in 1972, this midweek break in school attendance was threatened in the 1970s by the demands of some parents to eliminate Saturday morning classes. However, in the name of religious instruction, bishops opposed the transfer of classes from Saturday morning to Wednesday morning. In the context of the Pope's call for a “new evangelization”, this issue was a major source of tension in the 1980s. Moreover, it illustrates the difficulties religious authorities face with regard to the growing secularisation of society.