It was October 26, 1931, in New York. Philippe Pétain, Marshal of France, walked up Broadway, cheered by the crowd, under a shower of confetti, in the company of American General John Pershing, commander of the American expeditionary force in Europe in 1917, before being received with great pomp at the town hall.
In this “Canyon of heroes”, where more than two hundred parades have passed since the inauguration of the Statue of Liberty in 1886, America honored the winner of Verdun. The latter was entitled to a commemorative plaque sealed on the famous avenue of Manhattan. She was still there, with a “Phillipe” decked out with two “l”, fallen into oblivion, until the wave of debunking of monuments to the glory of Southerners during the war occurred, with the events of Charlottesville. of Secession.
New York Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, running for re-election in November, may not have many pro-secessionist monuments to tear down in his city, but he intends to take his share nonetheless. “After the violent events in Charlottesville, the city of New York will conduct a three-month review of all hate symbols in its territory”, announcement on Twitter Bill de Blasio, which adds: “The memorial plaque for Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain in the Canyon of Heroes will be one of the first to be removed. »
Realpolitik
However, the operation should take place in an orderly manner: a commission composed of experts and representatives of the various communities will have to define the criteria and issue recommendations. High priority will be given to monuments with links to Nazism and slavery. The subject is particularly sensitive in an anti-Trump city that has strong Jewish and African-American communities.
But why were these plates not removed sooner? Probably because the parades took place before the Second World War. We can also recall that the relations of the United States with Pétain at the beginning of the war were complex. Washington fully recognized the Vichy regime until November 1942, after the invasion of the southern French zone, the German response to the Allied landings in North Africa.
And to lead the Maghreb, Roosevelt then cynically preferred Pétain’s former prime minister, Admiral Darlan (assassinated in December 1942), to Free France. In these years of war, realpolitik dominated: Roosevelt wanted to guarantee that the French fleet would not pass into the hands of the Axis, to facilitate war operations, particularly in North Africa and… to avoid De Gaulle at all costs.
Another plaque, less famous, commemorates a parade that took place five days before that of Pétain, on October 22, 1931: that of Pierre Laval, young president of the council of the Third Republic (48 years old), then named man of the year by the magazine Times, and who was shot at the Liberation. It will also be removed.
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