On the French Historiographical “Immunity” to Fascism*

This article deals with the parochial interpretations of fascism and the authoritarian right in France. These narrow readings of interwar history – mostly promoted by French academia – have been used either to exclude national phe-nomena with overt fascist or anti-parliamentary features from this problematic political family or to consider them as marginal fringes. The article shows that foreign historians have challenged this specific historiography and assesses the impact of these historical reconstructions on the categorisation of contemporary extreme-right movements such as the Front National.