Bank holiday. Need a breather. Friday I launched my latest novel VICHYSSOISE, about the Vichy government during WWII. Unlike the Nazis and Hitler, not much is known about the motives of Philippe Petain, the old French leader at that time. Why did he sign that infamous armistice with Hitler? As a writer it's important to me to write about that which I know, and clearly all this happened before I was born. So, soon after we moved to France in 2005 I set about delving into original, French historical texts for accuracy. It soon became clear to me that Petain was no Hitler, simply the wrong man to be leading France back then. As French friends Gerard and Monique agreed with me yesterday, Petain was too old, too weak, in pain, so chose the 'easiest' option in a misguided attempt to salve the suffering of his people. Do you agree? Get your copy by clicking on the VICHYSSOISE image on the right. Looking forward to reading all your reviews on Amazon in due course.
Blog Extra. All those in the creative arts like to depict what's real to them. So, I've decided that this blog, as well as my usual Sunday slot, should develop an extra wing each Wednesday, covering the work of those who write about different countries. I'm kicking off next Wed with writer Angela Wren who wrote Messandrierre about France.
Showing posts with label Nazis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nazis. Show all posts
10th January 2016
Yesterday the French paid homage to the victims killed by terrorists one year ago. I often hear, especially from young people, that we shouldn't dwell on the past but move on. However, this is a mistake that has proven costly over the centuries. A few weeks ago France opened access to police and legal archives drawn from one of the country's darkest hours when the Vichy regime collaborated with the Nazis. On the right you can see the covers of my two books covering WW2, to be published in Feb and May. In the second, Vichyssoise, I've attempted to show that atrocities can also happen indirectly via such things as weak leadership and poor governance. In the chaos theory of life, bad things are sometimes played out not by obvious evil but by an accumulation of events that start by the election of the wrong people at the helm. Petain was not Hitler but the outcome was almost the same! Whatever country you live in, remember this: elect someone who is well-educated, of proven balanced mind and not so old that they take the easiest option at times of crisis as Petain did. Never forget. Our futures may depend on it.
23rd September 2012
If only......
Yesterday French President Hollande and his German counterpart Angela Merkel celebrated an important anniversary. 50 years ago Charles de Gaulle made a speech to German youth that marked the start of the two countries' close relationship, sealed by signing the new Friendship Treaty with Adenauer. Yes, despite all the hate that Hitler had shown and the appalling atrocities against their own innocent countrymen, the Frenchman found it in his heart to tell the German youngsters that theirs was still a great country. Even more amazing considering that De Gaulle was the only senior French officer never to accept the terms of the June 1940 armistice nor the Vichy regime following France's defeat by the Nazis. It was that speech that set the scene for an amazing reconciliation between the two countries that would have been inconceivable a decade before - yet still persists today.
Fast forward to 2012: where are the statesmen willing to do what De Gaulle did? Why can't someone have the guts to talk to the youth living in Muslim countries around the world. Tell them that, despite the past, theirs is still a great country and we would like to sign a friendship treaty with them.
The enemy may have changed, but the hatred persists. So, do something.
Yesterday French President Hollande and his German counterpart Angela Merkel celebrated an important anniversary. 50 years ago Charles de Gaulle made a speech to German youth that marked the start of the two countries' close relationship, sealed by signing the new Friendship Treaty with Adenauer. Yes, despite all the hate that Hitler had shown and the appalling atrocities against their own innocent countrymen, the Frenchman found it in his heart to tell the German youngsters that theirs was still a great country. Even more amazing considering that De Gaulle was the only senior French officer never to accept the terms of the June 1940 armistice nor the Vichy regime following France's defeat by the Nazis. It was that speech that set the scene for an amazing reconciliation between the two countries that would have been inconceivable a decade before - yet still persists today.
Fast forward to 2012: where are the statesmen willing to do what De Gaulle did? Why can't someone have the guts to talk to the youth living in Muslim countries around the world. Tell them that, despite the past, theirs is still a great country and we would like to sign a friendship treaty with them.
The enemy may have changed, but the hatred persists. So, do something.
9th December 2008
In a small corner of Burgundy is a place that teaches hope. Its name is Taize, founded by a man everyone called Brother Roger. Essentially it's a community of peace-loving monks, who live by making items like pottery, jewellery and stained glass. As it's situated just south of the border between what used to be the occupied part of France during WW2, in the 'free zone', Taize was well-placed to shelter refugees such as Jews fleeing from the Nazis.
But history is littered with good men who were murdered by the very people they sought to help. So too was Brother Roger in 05 when he was stabbed to death during evening prayers. But the community lives on with a new leader, still striving for a better world.
On a day when I see that hundreds of Muslim tombstones have been desecrated with swastikas in Arras, I wonder whether man can ever learn to love those who are perceived as 'different' from himself. The old conflict of one tribe v another tribe continues ad infinitum. The 'tribe' names may change, but so the enmity goes on - until one magical day in the future when we are all members of one community: that of earth.
In the meantime, thousands still come to Taize to find inspiration in this still turbulent world. Forty-thousand are expected at its New Year meeting, which this year will be held in Brussels. Those wishing to go on a French-organised coach can contact rencontres@taize.fr to book a place.
And for me? I don't care what label people put on themselves. I look for the goodness within.
But history is littered with good men who were murdered by the very people they sought to help. So too was Brother Roger in 05 when he was stabbed to death during evening prayers. But the community lives on with a new leader, still striving for a better world.
On a day when I see that hundreds of Muslim tombstones have been desecrated with swastikas in Arras, I wonder whether man can ever learn to love those who are perceived as 'different' from himself. The old conflict of one tribe v another tribe continues ad infinitum. The 'tribe' names may change, but so the enmity goes on - until one magical day in the future when we are all members of one community: that of earth.
In the meantime, thousands still come to Taize to find inspiration in this still turbulent world. Forty-thousand are expected at its New Year meeting, which this year will be held in Brussels. Those wishing to go on a French-organised coach can contact rencontres@taize.fr to book a place.
And for me? I don't care what label people put on themselves. I look for the goodness within.
8th November 2008
The French are no different to others around the world in harboring resentment for years and years, sometimes deep within themselves. Take last Tuesday. Thirty people were arrested and three police officers wounded after a protest against European immigration policy turned violent in the French city of Vichy. This was the town that was the shamed capital of France's horrific WW2 experiences, and locals have never forgotten that time.
The world tries to move on, and indeed brave organisers tried to reinvent the town by hosting its first international conference there since the war so that they could shake off their wartime stigma and become a popular spa resort once more. But several busloads of militants had other ideas, with many linking current French policy to that of the pro-Nazi past.
I have often thought that too much of what happened during WW2 has been airbrushed away by nations (especially Germany) who wish only to forget what happened and to move on to what is happening today. What they fail to realise is that by pushing all those wartime attrocities into a locked compartment - things that changed families' lives for ever - people can never be free of the memory.
My solution would be to hold an international conference, but not one on immigration. My proposed agenda would be to confront all the international issues that arose in the years immediately preceding WW2 and trace the individual events that happened, one by one, that led to what happened in that fateful holocaust. It's never one thing, but many - sometimes coming together by chance - that cause eventual disaster. Having a megalomaniac at the helm of a non-democracy is one!
Sometimes you have to confront a festering boil, even one that has been fermenting for over 60 years, and probe deep within to see how it happened before lancing the boil once and for all. A quick clean cut. At a stroke then we learn to recognise how atrocities happened so that they may never happen again. Then, and only then, can proper healing take place.
The world tries to move on, and indeed brave organisers tried to reinvent the town by hosting its first international conference there since the war so that they could shake off their wartime stigma and become a popular spa resort once more. But several busloads of militants had other ideas, with many linking current French policy to that of the pro-Nazi past.
I have often thought that too much of what happened during WW2 has been airbrushed away by nations (especially Germany) who wish only to forget what happened and to move on to what is happening today. What they fail to realise is that by pushing all those wartime attrocities into a locked compartment - things that changed families' lives for ever - people can never be free of the memory.
My solution would be to hold an international conference, but not one on immigration. My proposed agenda would be to confront all the international issues that arose in the years immediately preceding WW2 and trace the individual events that happened, one by one, that led to what happened in that fateful holocaust. It's never one thing, but many - sometimes coming together by chance - that cause eventual disaster. Having a megalomaniac at the helm of a non-democracy is one!
Sometimes you have to confront a festering boil, even one that has been fermenting for over 60 years, and probe deep within to see how it happened before lancing the boil once and for all. A quick clean cut. At a stroke then we learn to recognise how atrocities happened so that they may never happen again. Then, and only then, can proper healing take place.
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