French President Emmanuel Macaron sparked controversy by praising a general during the First World War, later collaborating with the Nazis in World War II.
Marshal Philippe Petain led the French army to victory in Verdun in 1916, but the shame followed, and was convicted of treason for his actions as leader of Fascist France from 1940-1944.
McCron said on Wednesday in Charles Ville Mezier that Petain deserves praise for being a "great soldier" in World War I, even though he made "deadly choices during World War II."
PARIS, France's leading Jewish organization, described the words as "shocking" and "insulting."
In 1942, Betan conspired to deport 13,000 Jews from France as part of mass arrests that were part of the Holocaust.
