The Head of State went to the spa on Wednesday, a first for a President of the Republic since General de Gaulle, in 1959. He was accompanied by Serge and Beate Klarsfeld.
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The night fell, Wednesday, December 8th. Christmas garlands and some floor lamps illuminate the path of Emmanuel Macron under the Gallery of the Vichy Sources Park (Allier). The head of state goes back to the cold, the coat collar raised, alongside Serge and Beate Klarsfeld. Wears a cap. She, a cap. The lawyer and his wife, 86 and 82, have trailed of the former Nazi dignitaries and the defense of the memory of the Jewish deportees during the Second World War the fight of a life. On August 26, 1992, they had come to the Park Hotel, headquarters of the Colonseal Government of Marshal Petain, to deposit a stele, fifty years for the day after the decision taken by the French State to reflect in free zone 6,500 Jews foreigners. The monument, now, throne along the park.
The delegation collects, silent. This is the first time since General de Gaulle, in 1959, that a president of the Republic in Exercise comes to Vichy to touch this disturbing past, which mixes, in collective memory, the spa city in Petain. Emmanuel Macron himself mentioned, in 2019, the “dark hours of Vichy”, which had had the gift of annoying the mayor (the Republicans, LR) of the city, Frédéric Aguilera. He would prefer to hear about “Petain government”.
The troop continues his way to the opera, a few tens of meters away. A plaque was affixed to the facade to pay tribute to the 80 parliamentarians who had risen, on July 10, 1940, against the transfer of full powers to Marshal. Serge Klarsfeld lingers a bit to talk to the press. “It’s a moment of emotion and relief to see the President of the Republic come to Vichy, not for the thermal baths or the casino, but for the symbol that it represents, he breaths. It’s important in The presidential election period: we need a president who is opposed to the far right, a Republican president. “
The story” is written by historians and historians “
The name of Eric Zemmour is not pronounced but its flat shadow. The extreme right polemicist, candidate for the April 2022 vote, saturated the public debate in recent weeks by arguing that “Vichy saved French Jews”. The Figaro Leave Journalist sometimes attacks Serge Klarsfeld in his tests.
Emmanuel Macron, he does not pronounce a word. The head of state prefers to head towards the eager crowd of selfies on the other side of the park. The image of his benevolent presence at the side of the lawyer speaks of herself. The tenant of the Elysée has already mounted the sound, a few hours earlier, at the Micro de France blue Country of Auvergne. History, he supported, “is written by historians and historians, it’s a good thing to stick to it.” “Let’s go to handle it, to agitate it, to see it again,” said Macron, without mentioning the name of Eric Zemmour.
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