In Vichy, the painful work of memory on the war of 39-45

HISTORY – Sometimes the transition from memory to history seems difficult. When it is painful, the memory struggles to move. To evolve in knowledge and recognition. The city of Vichy (Allier), chosen by Marshal Pétain to install his government there during the Occupation between 1940 and 1944, knows something about it.

More than 75 years later, Vichy is still fighting against his own fear. Fear of being stigmatized, at the end of the war, like a city of “collaborators”. Fear that his status as a “victim” of the war will not be recognized. Fear of being associated forever with the Pétain regime, when France resisted from London.

Even today, memory work is complex. No museum dedicated to the Second World War has been erected there. The emblematic places of the collaboration, such as the Hôtel du Parc where Pétain lived, are not indicated. Most of them have become apartment buildings.

This article is part of our feature “Memory in motion”. While Emmanuel Macron wanted to develop a list of personalities to better represent “the diversity of our national identity”, The HuffPost delves into the history of France and current events to question our collective memory.

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At the Tourist Office, we prefer to focus on the strengths of the city. Which are, it is true, numerous: the architectural heritage of the Second Empire, the Belle Époque, the virtues of water and the thermal baths, the Vichy Opera and its Art Nouveau style, pastilles and cosmetic products.

In the tradition of his predecessors, the mayor of Vichy, Frédéric Aguilera (LR), in office since 2017, is fighting to obtain a memorial visit from a head of state in office, which has not happened since the general de Gaulle in 1959. And so that we stop using the expression “Vichy regime” to designate the government of Pétain.

The Vichy Jewish community did not wait to start this work. In the synagogue, which is the only one in Allier, names are regularly added to the plaques listing the people deported to Vichy and to the department. In order to preserve memory, so that History does not repeat itself.

See also on The HuffPost: What to do with Colbert? These deputies answer us

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