Pétain's property was confiscated in 1945 and his coffin was stolen from Île d'Yeu in 1973

The High Court tried Philippe Pétain from 23 July to 15 August 1945. It sentenced him to death, national indignity and confiscation of his property. De Gaulle commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on 17 August 1945. Pétain was held at Fort du Portalet, then from 16 November 1945 at Fort de Pierre-Levée on Île d'Yeu. He died there at 95 and was buried in the Port-Joinville cemetery. In 1938 he had asked to rest among the dead of Verdun. From 1951 a supporters' association asked for a move to Douaumont, and a 1954 petition gathered nearly 70,000 signatures. On the night of 18 to 19 February 1973 a team led by Hubert Massol dug up the coffin and hid it in a lock-up garage in Saint-Ouen. The lawyer Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour was named as the instigator but never charged. Massol gave himself up on 21 February, and the coffin was found on 22 February. It was flown back and reburied, and the grave was later covered in concrete. Six people were charged with violating a grave. The case was dismissed in July 1975 under an amnesty. Presidents laid wreaths on his Verdun role in 1968, 1973, 1978 and 1984 to 1992. In 2026 the body is still on Île d'Yeu.