A bust of Hitler, legacy of the German occupation, is in the cellars of the Senate, which its president Gérard Larcher said ignore, but research "in depth" were launched.
Le Monde has revealed that this bust 35 cm high, and a Nazi flag 2 meters by 3 are preserved since the Second World War in the Senate reserves. The Luxembourg Palace was occupied between 1940 and 1944 by the General Staff of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) for the entire Western Front.
Gérard Larcher asks "to deepen the research on objects"
In a press conference, Gerard Larcher said he "ignored (t) the presence of this bust". "I asked the questure (responsible for the management of the institution, ed) to further research on all objects," he said, noting that follow-up will be given to this expected report .
President LR, whose own office was that of German Marshal Sperrle, was "certain that the services have not sought anything to hide, besides the bunker has already been visited by TV crews, newspapers" . A bunker was built in 1937 under the garden of Petit Luxembourg, seat of the presidency of the Senate.
The objects "would have been better to be listed," he admitted. "I asked for an in-depth work, and at the same time a reflection on this period.It was, it seems, on the part of agents who were there moments of patriotism that I would not not obscure, "added Gerard Larcher, who made the link with the Liberation of Paris. The Luxembourg Palace was liberated on August 25, 1944. The Senate had left the Luxembourg Palace on June 10, 1940, first for Tours, then, from June 14, for Bordeaux (where the government and the two chambers remained until June 29), before arriving in Vichy on July 3rd.
MP Philippe Gosselin writes to the presidency of the Assembly
For his part, the deputy LR of the Channel Philippe Gosselin wrote Wednesday to the President of the Assembly Richard Ferrand (LREM), asking him "if the archives of the National Assembly have such objects, dating from those times". "Like those of the Palais du Luxembourg, the walls of the National Assembly also housed part of the staff of the Luftwaffe but also the administration of 'Gross-Paris', as well as the service of the question. Jewish, "he says in this letter.
"Mirrors of a dark period, it seems to me that the place of these elements must be in museums and not in the archives or cellars of our assemblies, or at least in a specific exhibition within our institutions to recall the unspeakable ", according to Philippe Gosselin.