His visit was eagerly awaited.
Emmanuel Macron gathered in front of a stele in memory of the deportees in Vichy (Allier), a city whose mayor asked to no longer be associated with “the French shame” of the Pétain regime.
The Head of State respected a moment of silence in front of the stele erected in homage to the 6,500 Jews victims of the roundup of August 26, 1942. He was in particular in the company of the spouses Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, defenders of the memory of the deportees of France .
"It is a moment of emotion and a moment of relief to see a president come to Vichy", reacted Serge Klarsfeld, while the previous memorial gesture of a Head of State dated back to that of General de Gaulle in 1959. Emmanuel Macron then stopped in front of the plaque bearing the names of the 80 parliamentarians who refused to vote full powers for Marshal Pétain in June 1940.
Warning against any "manipulation" of History
The Head of State, who has been traveling since Tuesday in the Cher and Allier, warned, in an interview granted in the morning to France Bleu Pays d'Auvergne, against any "manipulation" of History, an allusion to the controversy over the name of Vichy but also to that over the regime of Marshal Pétain launched by Eric Zemmour. “Vichy takes us back to a History. We have lived this History, it is written by historians ”,“ let us be careful not to manipulate it, to agitate it, to see it again ”, he said.
The Head of State evoked the controversy over the name "Vichy regime" which has been used by many historians to name the regime of Marshal Pétain who ruled France, from Vichy, between 1940 and 1944. His comments refer to also to the controversy launched by the presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, who claimed that Marshal Pétain had saved French Jews.
Words that raised an outcry in the political class, many politicians considering that they fall under "revisionism and traditional anti-Semitism" like the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.
The city of Vichy, "expiatory victim"
Speaking in the presence of the Head of State before the ceremony, the mayor Frédéric Aguilera (LR) wished to see the disappearance of the expression "Vichy regime", which is "a semantic ball that continues to ballast the flight" of his city. “We measure the weight of words on a daily basis, the weight of unfair stigmatization. Vichy remains associated with French shame, Vichy is French shame. Vichy is the expiatory victim of a country which is struggling to face its past, ”he regretted.
However, according to him, “Vichy is resolutely focused on its future” around three priorities - sport, hydrotherapy and heritage - to which 200 million investments will be devoted in the coming years.
Emmanuel Macron, who also explained that he wanted to "look to the future", strolled through the city center and was to debate with about fifty Vichy associations to mark the 120 years of the law on freedom of association.
Politics
Emmanuel Macron in Vichy: A symbolic visit to avoid “manipulating” history and responding to Eric Zemmour
Politics
Presidential 2022: Faced with the attacks of Eric Zemmour, the macronie seeks the parade
Anti semitism
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Emmanuel Macron
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