General Philippe Pétain was a very complicated figure in French history. On the one hand, he was a big hero from World War I, but on the other hand, he was the President of the French State from 1940 to 1944.

Pétain came back to France, on his own free will, from Switzerland, where he stayed shortly after the surrender of fascist Germany in April 1945.

Many in France found the gesture of returning to France very honourable, but he had to face justice. He was tried for treason in a trial, in which he kept his dignity. He received the death penalty, but de Gaulle commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.

Many books have been written on Pétain which are worth reading. Did he really commit treason in his French State government, or did he simply try to make the best out of a bad situation?

"We are a conquered country, let's make the best of it" was one of the slogans of his government -- could we call that treason? And at his advanced age, was Pétain simply a figurehead for a criminal government?