“C’est un acte belliqueux, c’est sûr. Un acte d’ingérence, c’est clair. Mais ce qui est surtout problématique, c’est qu’il est fait sans attendre l’ouverture de l’enquête internationale. Les faits sont affreux, il faut donc trouver les coupables. Mais encore faut-il qu’une commission internationale puisse mener une enquête indépendante pour pouvoir donner des éléments. Là, il n’y a aucun élément” 8 avril 2017
“La France n’est pas responsable du Vel’ d’Hiv. Je pense que de manière générale, plus généralement d’ailleurs, s’il y a des responsables, c’est ceux qui étaient au pouvoir à l’époque, c’est pas la France.” 9 avril 2017
Archive for WWII
God save the Queen, the fascist Marine
Posted in Statistics with tags collaboration, Donald Trump, extreme-right, France, French elections, Front National, Le Vel' d'Hiv, Marine Le Pen, Shoah, Syrian civil war, WWII on April 11, 2017 by xi'an
snapshot from Vienna (#2)
Posted in pictures, Running, Travel with tags Austria, Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee, Red Army, Siege of Vienna, Vienna, WWII on September 23, 2014 by xi'an
Berlin impressions
Posted in pictures, Travel with tags Berlin, Cold War, Stolperstein, WWII on July 7, 2011 by xi'an
Even I stayed just a few days in Berlin, I was quite impressed by its congenial atmosphere, the (mostly) graceful moves of the numerous bikes in every street, the highly lively (day and night) life (that it was June and warmth did help!), the numerous reconstructed monuments, like the “new” synagogue above that was rebuilt in 1995, Continue reading
War memories
Posted in Kids with tags food shortage, war prisonner, WWII on December 31, 2009 by xi'an
Yesterday, I went to see my grandmother and she started talking about the hard times she had during the second World War. Before and after Saint Lô’s bombing. She described how the food restrictions were so harsh during the war years that items like trousers and socks, when available, had to be traded against butter or meat. How the sole delivery of meat my grandparents could pretend to for a whole week was often set aside to be cooked within a piece of bread in the local bakery and was sent as a package to a brother who remained a war prisoner in Pomerania for the whole duration of the war. She even showed us the receipts of all those packages, kept within a jar, which were dutifully delivered by the German post at the time rather than by the Red Cross…. All those privations while another sister who lived in a farm with unlimited access to this restricted food never contributed to support this brother. The same sister who would not lift a finger to help when my grandparents found themselves homeless after Saint Lô’s bombing. A selfish behaviour my grandmother still resents today for they were close family. Much more than the thefts of neighbours right after the bombing, when my grandfather recovered the large knife I saw him using all his life from those neighbours’ table during their lunch. More also than the laundry soiled by German troops occupying the ruins of my grandparents’ house for a few days during the Saint Lô’s battle. The hardships of those years is so remote from our current life that it seems difficult to believe it only happened seventy years ago.
