A mass this Saturday in the city of Verdun in honor of Marshal Pétainone of the most controversial characters in the history of France for having been the leader of the collaborationist regime with the Nazis, has generated a intense controversy in France and some peaceful protests. The religious celebration, attended by just a few dozen people in the church of Saint John the Baptist in Verdun, organized by a small group called Association in Defense of the Memory of Marshal Pétain (ADMP)has taken place under the surveillance of a strong force of law enforcement.
The prefect (government delegate), Xavier Delaruehas justified this device to avoid any confrontation with the demonstrators who gathered outside to protest peacefully, around a hundred people among whom there were numerous public officials. The mayor of Verdun, the socialist Samuel Hazardsaid in statements to the BFMTV channel that he was shocked that the archbishopric had authorized this mass in tribute to a character he considered “the antithesis of humanism”: “I think we are far from the evangelical message,” he stated.
“How can you – Hazard was outraged – honor the memory of someone who is the opposite of who we are?”, responsible for the deportation of “thousands” of Jews and of people who were involved in the resistance to the German occupation of France during the Second World War.
municipal decree
The mayor had tried to ban the religious actor with a municipal decree, but the Administrative Court of Nancy annulled it on Friday because he considered that it had not been proven that this ceremony involved a risk of public order disturbanceand in that case the principle of religious freedom had to prevail.
Image of Marshal Philippe Petain in a 1941 image. / Agencies
The choice of Verdun had a particular meaning since this city was practically destroyed during the First World War and was the symbol of the french resistance to the German attacks, in the same way that Pétain was considered in that conflict one of those who allowed France’s final victory.
With all the prestige he had accumulated, the soldier played a leading role two decades later when in May 1940 Hitler’s troops defeated the French army in a few weeks. Pétain put on at the head of the French regime that signed the armistice with Nazi Germany and collaborated fully, including the arrest of thousands of Jews and members of the resistance who were murdered. At the end of World War II, he was tried and convicted of high treason and imprisoned until his death in 1951, at age 95.
