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Junior Rory Hart (Equinunk, Pa.) is examining how and why French citizens’ responses to German occupation changed over the course of World War II in an intensive independent study.
Hart, a history and government & law major, is working under the guidance of Robert Weiner, Jones Professor of History.
An award-winning teacher, Weiner has presented his research in journal articles and at conferences such as last year’s annual meeting of Western Society for French History, which included his paper in its selective proceedings. His excellence also has been recognized by The Teaching Company, which will videotape 36 of Weiner’s lectures in August 2004 and make them available in a series titled “The Long 19th Century: A History of Europe, 1789-1917.”
Hart says his project is an in-depth look at the years 1941-45, when Germany occupied a large part of France while an ultra-conservative government stationed in the city of Vichy ruled the remainder of it.
“The most exciting aspect of this is having the liberty to stretch the boundaries of academic study and leaping from standard course study to the realm of scholarly research and academia,” says Hart. He took a course taught by Weiner in Germany and the Czech Republic over Lafayette’s January interim session between semesters called The Open Wall and the New Europe: Berlin, Prague, and Munich.
He is finding variations in the generally passive responses of French citizens to the occupation. “In the beginning of the occupation, the French were upset and in some ways embarrassed by their quick defeat,” Hart explains. “The foreign forces caused the French to rethink previous stereotypes they had cultivated during the Franco-Prussian War and World War I.”
The German troops were friendly, talkative, organized, and disciplined, and some in France thought the occupiers might provide the restructuring and discipline their country needed, and thus supported the Vichy government of Marshal Henri Petain.
“Only after the French and the Germans began to enforce policies detrimental to individual French citizens did many people begin to actively or passively resist,” says Hart.
This did not occur with the deportation of French Jews, political enemies, or outcasts, but rather when the Vichy government began to ship French workers to Germany to work in undermanned factories, he says. Still, at no time from 1941-44 did a majority of the population either collaborate or resist; instead, most remained passive.
Hart says the project has become very important to him because it focuses on his main interest in history while allowing him to work with a faculty member whom he admires and respects greatly.
“I feel honored to be working closely with Professor Weiner, especially after all of the wonderful experiences we have had in the classroom and during our recent course abroad,” he says. “Not only do I find him to be thoroughly qualified, but his personal knowledge of the authors I’m reading gives me a better understanding of why they analyze this portion of history and why they do it in their own unique style.”
Hart says Lafayette provides a great opportunity for an independent study, offering “phenomenal” resources.
“You gain amazing experience as a history major here,” he says. “The personal attention you receive from an experienced and knowledgeable department is a commodity that makes this education worth every cent. Through lectures, dinners, brown bag lunches, and open office doors, the history department makes the major an all-day study and, most importantly, extremely enjoyable.”
Weiner describes Hart as an “extraordinary student” with wonderful analytical skills, a quick reader, and a good writer who is learning to work on an independent basis.
Hart, who intends to go on to graduate school and become a professor, is an orientation leader and a member of Phi Kappa Phi fraternity and the Experience Lafayette Committee. He has been a coordinator of the student representative program for the Admissions office and has rowed on Crew Club. This summer he plans on traveling to Bonn, Germany, to further his knowledge of German. He has also studied French and Latin at Lafayette.