It is certainly the most (im) popular arm of the moment on social networks. Since Sunday, a photograph taken from the terrace of a Parisian cafe showing a policeman with two iron crosses tattooed on his arm has greatly reacted on Internet users. The person behind the photo, who confirmed to Liberation that the photo was taken on Sunday around 5 p.m. rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis in Paris, tweeted the photo with the following text: "I was drinking a beer on the terrace in the 10th and the cops arrived, one with tattoos of "iron cross", it's not racist there, it's neo-Nazi. "
I was drinking a beer on the terrace in the 10th and the cops arrived, one with tattoos of "iron cross", it's not racist there, it's neo-Nazi. @prefpolice pic.twitter.com/Ry5Gqlie5r
- Papotin et Caramel (@ARMATEUR_GREC) June 14, 2020FAKE OFF
To understand the meaning of this emblem, 20 Minutes contacted Jean-Yves Camus, political scientist specializing in the extreme right and co-author of the book “Extreme rights in Europe” in 2015 (Seuil). “Whether it is an iron cross, there is absolutely no shadow of a doubt. But any historian who is interested in the history of the German army knows that the iron cross was not invented by the Nazis, ”he poses immediately.
“It is a decoration created at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1813 exactly, by King Frederick William III of Prussia. It was awarded to all the German soldiers who deserved it, whatever the conflict, including during the First World War, explains Jean-Yves Camus. It continued to be distributed during the Second World War, with an obvious Nazi connotation since it was the power of the time that awarded it. But factually, we can conclude nothing from this photo and the political ideas of this gentleman. "
The shadow of the Third Reich hovers over the iron cross
The researcher associated with the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) also recalls that the iron cross is also "used in certain circles" bikers ", and by metal music groups like Motörhead, whose frontman [the leader] Lemmy Kilmister, who died a few years ago, regularly wore an iron cross without any neo-Nazi overtones. Finally, still according to Jean-Yves Camus, if we look even further into the retro of history, this emblem can also be assimilated to "orders of chivalry, including the Templars, but not only".
However, it will not have escaped his notice that this iron cross is, in the collective imagination, most often associated with the Nazi regime. "Indeed, it is immediately assimilated to National Socialism and the Second World War, because it is the closest and most cataclysmic event in recent history," he admits. This cross was used by Hitler in a spirit of appropriation of the historical continuity by the Nazi regime, which distributed it to its soldiers, including the soldiers of the Wafen SS. "For Stéphane François, a historian specializing in neo-Nazism interviewed by our colleagues from Liberation, the iron cross " is one of the symbols that give a marker, but that are vague enough so that it is not too connoted ".
"The follow-up is under study"
However, Jean-Yves Camus calls for caution by giving us as an example a particular case which could also lend itself to a bad interpretation. Present during the demonstration against police violence in Paris on Saturday, he said: "I don't know if it was a demonstrator or a plainclothes policeman, it was very close to the cordon of forces at the corner of Boulevard du Temple, but I saw someone wearing a necklace [sort of necklace] with Thor's hammer. "
"Immediately, it refers to a" Nordiscist ", paganist, Germanist imagery, sometimes used in ultra-right or neo-Nazi circles, but also in certain musical circles, or by pagans who are not Nazis, or people who do not know what it is… Be careful, you must not get carried away excessively ”, he pleads.
Nevertheless, the case made enough noise on social networks for the Paris Prefecture of Police to step up to the plate to explain itself. On Europe 1, the latter indicated that “permanent or temporary tattoos cannot be accepted as soon as they constitute a manifest sign of belonging to a political, trade union, confessional or associative organization or if they undermine values fundamental of the Nation ”.
It thus repeats word for word the terms of a circular from the general direction of the national police (DGPN) dated Friday, January 12, 2018 relating to the procedures for the wearing of tattoos, beards, mustaches, jewelry and fashion accessories by the staff of active services of the national police. Concerning the tattoo of this policeman, the Prefecture of Police concluded that "the follow-up to be given is under study".
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