Abetz played a significant role in strengthening ties between Nazi Germany and Vichy France during World War II.

Abetz played a significant role in strengthening ties between Nazi Germany and the collaborationist Vichy government.

Abetz played a significant role in facilitating the persecution and deportation of Jews by the Nazi regime from France during the Holocaust.

[7] The group brought together German and French youth of all professions, social classes, political leanings, and religious affiliation.

[7] The group maintained relations with the media through Luchaire's connection to Notre Temps, and Abetz started the Sohlberg Circle (Sohlbergkreis).

In 1934 the Sohlberg Circle was reborn as the Franco-German Committee (Comité France-Allemagne), which included Pierre Drieu la Rochelle and Jacques Benoist-Mechin.

[13] Following Hitler's June 30 directive, Abetz was assigned by Ribbentrop the looting of all objects of art, public, private, and especially Jewish-owned.

In November 1940 Abetz was appointed to the German Embassy in Paris, in occupied France, at the age of 37 – a post he held until July 1944.

It was Abetz who proposed the deportation of stateless Jews to France's unoccupied zone and later to extermination camps in the East.

Abetz assumed a prominent role in the deportation process, targeting both foreign Jewish refugees and French-born Jews, particularly after the occupation of southern France by Germany.

On July 2, 1942, Abetz advocated for the deportation of 40,000 Jews from France to Auschwitz in a telegram, emphasising the need for comprehensive measures within both the occupied and unoccupied zones.

[18] The Embassy was theoretically responsible for all political questions in occupied France, which included SD operations, and for advising the German police and military.

One of Eric's brothers, another great-nephew, the Reverend Peter Abetz, was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, also representing the Liberal Party.