 Indeed, in the few months that followed the Normandy landings, at least 4,500 alleged collaborators were killed in summary "judicial" executions.De Gaulle and his government needed a legal instrument which, unlike the 1939 law on treason, would not involve harsh sentences and could thus be applied to a wide circle of offenders.They also wanted to avoid enacting an ex post facto law, and created the concept of "continuing" "state of indignity" as a workaround solution.