Maréchal, nous voilà ! (French pronunciation:[maʁeʃalnuvwala]; "Marshal, here we are!") is a 1941 French song dedicated to Marshal Philippe Pétain. The lyrics were composed by André Montagard; its music was attributed to André Montagard and Charles Courtioux but actually plagiarized from a song composed for the 1933 musical La Margoton du battailon by Polish Jewish composer Kazimierz Oberfeld, who was deported to Auschwitz in 1945, where he was murdered.[1]
Although La Marseillaise remained the official national anthem of the state, Maréchal, nous voilà ! was performed in many capacities unofficially as an alternative song for the public, being used as a popular song for events like sports and recreation.[2][3] However, the song never dispelled the use of "La Marseillaise" as the official anthem, and it remained the main hymn of the Vichy State and had official support among the Vichy government.[2] It had multiple performances during the Vichy France Era, often in a famous variation[clarification needed] by André Dassary [fr].
In Pierre Cormon's novel Le Traître, the song plays regularly in a Cairo restaurant in 2002.
Comics
Maréchal, nous voilà by Laurent Rullier (script) and Hervé Duphot (drawing and color); volume II of the Les combattants series, Paris, Delcourt, 2012
Television
1991: Les Chansons rétros, filmed sketch by Les Inconnus, parody.
Notes
^(in French) Nathalie Dompnier, « Entre La Marseillaise et Maréchal, nous voilà ! quel hymne pour le régime de Vichy ? », dans Myriam Chimènes (dir.), La vie musicale sous Vichy, Éditions Complexe – IRPMF-CNRS, coll. « Histoire du temps présent », 2001, p. 71
^ abFancourt, Daisy. "Anthems for France". Music and the Holocaust. ORT. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
(in French) Nathalie Dompnier, « Entre La Marseillaise et Maréchal, nous voilà ! quel hymne pour le régime de Vichy ? », pp. 69–88 [1], in Myriam Chimènes (dir.), La vie musicale sous Vichy, Éditions Complexe – IRPMF-CNRS, coll. « Histoire du temps présent », 2001, 420 p. ISBN2-87027-864-0ISBN978-2870278642