One thing I really like about France is how their veterans are honoured and not forgotten. The memories are kept alive all year round, not just on special days. The flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier burns 24/7. The flower tributes are always fresh. The bouquet below had just been delivered when we were there.
And around the city there are engraved stones which have been set into the walls of ordinary buildings where individuals who were victims of the Nazis lived. The stones tell of what happened to those people.
I'm sorry I don't have any photographs to show you, but if you're in Paris, as you're walking around, just look up every now and again and you'll probably spot one. They're written in French (of course) but you don't have to be able to speak the language to understand them; I think everyone knows what 'Gestapo' and 'Auschwitz' mean.
There are people in this world who would have us believe that the holocaust never occurred; well, Paris is one place that's not going to let that happen.
1 comment:
Thank you for that perspective on Paris' tributes to those fallen in war and the Holocaust. I'm rather pathetically one of those who thinks: "France! Those cowards!" without really thinking about it much. It helps to think about it the way you expressed it.
Caroline
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