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Based on a systematic and detailed study of new sources coming from the Librairie Hachette, on the one hand, and from the Syndicat national de l’édition on the other, this article reexamines French publishers’ attitude during the Second World War. If they accepted the diktat of the German authorities and the expurgation of their catalogues so easily, it was because they had prepared their own lists of proscribed texts. This facilitated the drawing-up of the Otto lists and allowed for a frequently exemplary collaboration. Some publishers resisted but most of them had to turn over the reins at the Liberation and as of 1947 the publishing world regained its pre-war appearance. The new authorities proved unable to break down the powerful Messageries Hachette, so highly coveted by the Nazis in 1940, a clear sign of the resilience of a profession which for centuries had been used to submitting to the orders of rulers, whoever they were.