The Special Sections (''Sections spéciales'') was a

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of V ...

law writ into statute on 14 August 1941.Weisberg, R.H. (2013) ''Vichy Law and the Holocaust in France'', Volume 3 of Studies in antisemitis
page 376
Routledge Retrieved February 2015

History

They were tribunals set up in

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the Fascism, fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of ...

, one for each Court of Appeal, charged with judging Communists and anarchists. They were organised by the Vichy authorities during the German reprisals for the assassination on the métro Barbès by

Pierre Georges Pierre Georges (21 January 1919 – 27 December 1944), better known as ''Colonel Fabien'', was one of the two members of the French Communist Party who perpetrated the first assassinations of German personnel during the Occupation of France during ...

on 21 August 1941. They feature in the 1975 film ''

Section spéciale ''Special Section'' (french: Section spéciale) is a 1975 French film directed by Costa-Gavras and based on the novel ''L'affaire de la Section Spéciale'' by Hervé Villeré. It stars Louis Seigner, Roland Bertin, Michael Lonsdale, Ivo Garrani, ...

''.

References

{{Vichy France French collaboration during World War II Legal history of Vichy France Judiciary of France 1941 establishments in France Courts and tribunals established in 1941