In November 2023, Anne Hidalgo announced her intention to rename avenue Bugeaud because of the “eminently harmful role” played by the marshal during colonization.
Don’t call it Avenue Bugeaud anymore. The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo inaugurated on Monday October 14 an avenue Hubert-Germain, the last Companion of the Liberation who died in 2021, in the 16th arrondissement of the capital in place of the road hitherto named in the name of Marshal Bugeaud, figure of the colonization of Algeria by France in the 19th century. Through this change of name, the City wishes “pay one last respect” to this resistance fighter, who was “the last survivor of the Companions of the Liberation” upon his death in 2021, she explains in a press release released on Wednesday.
Hubert Germain, born in the 16th arrondissement, had joined the Free French Forces in June 1940 and had participated in the Provence landings in 1944. The PS mayor had announced her intention to rename avenue Bugeaud in November 2023, due to of “eminently harmful role” played by the marshal. In Algeria, in the years 1830-1840, it was “made guilty of what would today be described as war crimes”. “If these scoundrels retreat into their caves, smoke them like foxes”praised the soldier for example. He also committed «exactions» In France, “particularly during the suppression of the republican insurrection of 1834», Underlined the town hall to justify its choice.
Fifth place renamed in Paris since 2001
The decision was voted unanimously in the Paris Council on July 11, even if some elected officials showed their reluctance to rename streets: “Let us come and denounce [le colonialisme] today, yes. Erasing it completely is absurd and won’t help anyone.”had pleaded the elected LR Francis Szpiner. “Explain it instead of renaming the streets or taking down the statues. This measure must remain exceptional. We must not give in to wokism because to deconstruct the history of France is to deconstruct the soul of our country. he added last July to the Paris Council.
This is the fifth place renamed in Paris since 2001. These operations only concern “exceptional cases”according to the town hall. The last example dates back to 2013: the Vincent-d’Indy college, in the 12th arrondissement, had lost the name of this composer with anti-Semitic positions to become the Germaine-Tillion college. In 2003, Bertrand Delanoë renamed rue Alexis-Carrel, after the French surgeon who was a supporter of Nazi Germany. The old plaques in the name of Marshal Bugeaud will be kept at the Carnavalet museum, which traces the history of the capital.
