Pétain’s name to be stricken in France

In the years after World War I, virtually every town in France had a street named for Marshal Philippe Pétain, whose military leadership helped the Allies outlast the Central Powers in the Great War.

In fact, so vast was his fame that a dozen or so towns and cities in the United States also named streets for him, according to the New York Times.

Not so any more. Today, there is a but a single street in France named for the World War I hero, and that’s about to change. That would be because for all the good Pétain did in the First World War, he served as France’s head of state during the Second World War, when his administration in the unoccupied part of the country that was known as Vichy France collaborated with Nazi Germany in eliminating its enemies, notably the Jews.