How could the Nazi regime implement the assassination of the Jews in the heart of Christian Europe, before the eyes of the clergy and the faithful? Between prejudice, diplomacy, mutual aid and resistance, why did men and women of the Church protest, act, while others remained silent? For eighty years, these questions have continued to question the European conscience.

April 1998: at the end of a 6-month historical trial, Maurice Papon was sentenced to 10 years of criminal imprisonment for his role in the arrest of 1,600 Jews while he was Secretary General of the Gironde prefecture between 1942 and 1944. This trial at the assize marked the spirits:

Because he is the first, and only, of a Vichy official for complicity in crimes against humanity.

Because many witnesses have been called to the stand.

Because justice had to be done.

At the time, Riss followed the entire trial for «Charlie Hebdo», tracing the intensity of this historical moment through more than 400 audience drawings. With his keen sense of observation, his causticity always on the side of the victims, and his incomparable talent, the artist gives us to see every moment of this unique judicial moment.

To contextualize the selection of drawings, archival documents and television excerpts from the period are also presented to visitors. Finally, the documentary film Le procès Papon, conceived by the National Archives on the occasion of the exhibition Filmer les procès: a social issue allows visitors to see excerpts from the audiovisual archives of Justice recorded during a 380-hour trial, immersing them in the heart of the judicial debates.