Following France's capitulation to Adolph Hitler in 1940, Marshal Philippe Pétain led a puppet government that collaborated with the Nazis in repressing the French Resistance.

Now, in a chilling echo of that shameful period of French history, present-day collaborators are to prosecute Marine Le Pen for tweeting pictures of Islam-inspired atrocities.

Her parliamentary immunity as an MEP has been suspended.

Madame Le Pen, leader of the patriotic National Rally party, posted the pictures in 2015 after a French journalist had compared her party to Islamic State.

French far-right [sic] leader Marine Le Pen has been ordered to stand trial for tweeting pictures of Islamic State atrocities, a judicial source told AFP on Wednesday.

Le Pen shared the gruesome images in December 2015, a few weeks after IS jihadists killed 130 people in attacks in Paris.

A judge in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre ordered that the National Rally leader stand trial on charges of circulating 'violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity' and that can be viewed by a minor.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($85,000).

Last year, an investigative magistrate called for Le Pen to undergo psychiatric tests in connection with the IS tweets.

After the Second World War, Marshal Pétain was tried and convicted of treason.

Take heart - because history has a habit of repeating itself.