Dégradation nationale

The dégradation nationale ("National stripping of rank") was a sentence introduced in France after the Liberation. It was applied during the épuration légale ("legal purge") which followed the fall of the Vichy regime.

The dégradation nationale was one of the sentences available to the Cours de justice. It was meant to punish offences of Indignité nationale.

Individuals sentenced to the dégradation nationale lost their political, civil and professional rights. They effectively became second-class citizens.