Until 1978, when a weekly news magazine accused him of being the main organiser behind the infamous Vel’d’Hiv round-up, everyone seemed to have forgotten that in 1942, René Bousquet was the head of French police. The past had caught up with this important civil servant who had brilliantly disguised himself as a if nancier. This was the start of a fifteen-year period during which he would have to answer accusations. To organise his defence, he knew he could count on the support of his family and a network of political relations. Gradually, the compromises and “arrangements” made by virtually all the political forces of the Liberation would appear in all their ambiguity.