Marshal Pétain's grave was found vandalized on the morning of November 11th, the Sables-d'Olonne public prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into the frequent degradations against the burial ground on the island of Sables d'Olonne. Yeu off the Vendee.
On the morning of November 11, the date of commemoration of the 14-18 Armistice, Marshal Pétain's grave was found vandalized. The damage - the cross torn off and the words "To my father" tagged on the grave - "were found on the morning of November 11, so it can be assumed that it occurred on the night of the 10th to the 11th or the 11th in the morning. morning, " told AFP the prosecutor of Sables-d'Olonne, Carine Halley.
For now, the investigation has led to no track and it is impossible to draw a parallel with the controversy that occurred during the commemoration of the centenary of the 1914-1918 war around the remarks made by Emmanuel Macron on the Marshal Petain.
The French president had deemed it "legitimate" to include Marshal Pétain in a tribute to the Invalides to the military leaders of the Great War, remarks that had triggered the indignation of the opposition.
On the tomb of Marshal Petain on the island of Yeu, "there are regular degradations, which can take several types of forms, either painting, the cross is often broken, or flower pots or bins that are dumped, " said Carine Halley.
According to her, the grave is degraded once or twice a year, and this "is not necessarily always linked to a particular historical event" .
"Everything can be interpreted one way or another so for now, there are not too many elements and not too many avenues to exploit" in the ongoing investigation, she said , adding that there is "no particular element that would direct us to an author" .
Landed November 15, 1945 on the island of Yeu to serve a sentence of life imprisonment, Philippe Pétain died on the island, July 23, 1951 at age 95, in Port-Joinville where he is buried in the communal cemetery.