Jacques Boncompain, head of the Association to Defend the Memory of Philippe Pétain, after organizing a mass in tribute to the disgraced WWII-era leader in Verdun, northeastern France, November 15, 2025. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP
French prosecutors opened on Monday, November 17, an investigation over comments made praising Philippe Pétain, France's collaborationist wartime leader convicted of treason after World War II. The chief prosecutor of Verdun said the event's organizer was being investigated for denial of crimes against humanity. The row is the latest controversy over the legacy of Pétain, a World War I hero disgraced for his collaboration with the Nazis.
The Association to Defend the Memory of Marshal Pétain (ADMP) organized a mass Saturday at Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in Verdun, where Pétain won a famous WWI battle in 1916. Around 20 association members attended. Outside, about 100 people, watched by police, gathered to protest the ceremony.
After the mass, ADMP president Jacques Boncompain told journalists that Pétain had been "the first resistant of France." Boncompain also said Pétain's post-war conviction for treason by a High Court of Justice had not been fair. Protestors booed one member of the pro-Pétain group as he sang a song in praise of Pétain, "Maréchal, Nous Voilà" ("Marshal, Here We Are"). The local prefect, announcing legal action, said the comments had been "clearly revisionist."
