Data and Code for Connections During Democratic Transitions: Insights from the Political Purge in Post-WWII France

We examine how connections shaped transitional justice during France’s post-WWIIdemocratic transition. Parliamentarians who had supported the Vichy regime faced atwo-stage purge process involving two courts. Using a difference-in-differences strategy,we find that Law graduates – an influential group with ties to one of the courts –had a 10 to 14 percentage point higher acquittal rate. We analyze 17,589 documents inindividual defendants’ files to explain this difference. According to this analysis, indirectconnections – connections through third parties – enabled transmission of informationto the judges, highlighting how connected elite groups can navigate transitions despiteinstitutional safeguards.