Marché Noir : The Economy of Survival in Second World War France

Marché Noir explains how and why black markets in France became essential to ordinary consumers and to businesses to survive scarcity and German exploitation. Drawing on archival evidence and diverse records of personal experience, Kenneth Mouré explains the black market's critical role in everyday life in Vichy France.

Kenneth Mouré shows how the black market in Vichy France developed not only to serve German exploitation, but also as an essential strategy for survival for commerce and consumers. His analysis explains how and why the black market became so prevalent and powerful in France and remained necessary after Liberation. Marché Noir draws on diverse French archives as well as diaries, memoirs and contemporary fiction, to highlight the importance of the black market in everyday life. Vichy's economic controls set the context for adaptations – by commerce facing economic and political constraints, and by consumers needing essential goods. Vichy collaboration in this realm seriously damaged the regime's legitimacy. Marché Noir offers new insights into the dynamics of black markets in wartime, and how illicit trade in France served not only to exploit consumer needs and increase German power, but also to aid communities in their strategies for survival.