Claude Paillat in 1946, started a career as a journalist and in 1949 joins the weekly Paris-Match, who sent him to Indochina

Indochina

The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

 and to Korea. For several years he followed the political events in Morocco and Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

. In 1961, he published his first book: Le Dossier Secret de l'Algérie, 1958-1961. This book marked a turning point in writing French contemporary history, it brought investigative journalism

Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

, personal accounts from some of the main actors, oral testimony that broke the veil of state secrets.

In 1972, he establishes his series of secret files on contemporary France, Dossiers Secrets de la France Contemporaine. Based on memories and documents, most published for the very first time, rare photographs, often taken from family archives, the Dossiers Secrets take us through the events of the end of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and its disastrous Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

 until the end of the Second World War.

The Dossiers Secrets offer the most original perspective on our knowledge of France in the 20th century, not only in Paris, but also from the main economic regions such as Lille, Nantes, Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseille.

Through Claude Paillat's work many key figures have been able to relate their stories, events that may have otherwise never been committed to paper.