"Our democracies are subjected to bad winds, to a form of negation of history and its darkest hours, almost to erase our responsibility", she lamented after a visit to the Oradour memorial, where 643 people were massacred on June 10, 1944 by the German SS Das Reich division.

"If we are not vigilant, if we let history do its job of forgetting, of amnesia, then anything is possible", she warned in front of the press, estimating that "either by cowardice, or for lack of courage "," anything can happen again ".

For the socialist candidate, "there is a danger of populism, of fascism" in the face of "our history and this memory" carried in particular by the elected officials whom she urged to "affirm our democratic values ​​loud and clear".

"When a candidate allows himself to say that Marshal Pétain and General de Gaulle are the same thing: yes, there is a real risk", she added later at a press conference, directly targeting the putative far-right candidate Eric Zemmour.

The mayor of Paris called on the French to be "sentries, lookouts and fighters for republican values", repeatedly emphasizing "the seriousness of the moment we are living".

"The duty of memory and reconciliation is very important," Robert Hébras, 96, the last survivor of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre, told AFP alongside Ms. Hidalgo.

"You are a lesson for all," she replied.

The arrival of the socialist candidate delighted local elected officials and members of the families of victims, for whom we must "show the place of memory in our political" debates, at a time when several candidates for 2022 have returned the memorial debate to the center of the debate. campaign.

For Benoît Sadry, secretary of the National Association of Families of Martyrs, the presence of Mrs. Hidalgo is "a moment of appeasement which shows a certain respect for France and its history".

"Oradour, it goes beyond the political context," said the mayor of the town of 2,500 inhabitants, Philippe Lacroix, to AFP.

"Our village is attached to democratic, humanist and tolerance values," he insisted.

The socialist candidate gathered at the end of the afternoon in front of the tomb of the victims, visibly moved, before laying a wreath there alongside Mr. Hebras, Mr. Lacroix and Mr. Sadry.

And to respect a minute of silence in this high place of memory.

© 2021 AFP