It was started as a propaganda initiative in the aftermath of the German occupation to influence left-leaning segments of French public opinion.
The Director, Jean Drault, was a French anti-Semite while its editor, Georges Oltramare, was a pro-Nazi Swiss journalist who broadcast on French radio.
The extent of German control is evident in that editorial meetings were held directly in the German embassy on the rue de Lille.
The newspaper was fairly successful with sales of 92,000 in the first weeks rising to 180,000 by August 1940.
Exposure by the clandestine Communist press as well as mainstream French newspapers, however, ensured a steady, and then permanent, decline.