This speech was eagerly awaited: on the occasion of the 80 years of the Liberation of Strasbourg whose ceremonies he presided over, Emmanuel Macron returned this Saturday to the fate of the Alsatian and Moselle inhabitantsa particular story still little known in France. In Alsace and Moselle annexed by the Nazis, more than 130,000 men were forced to wear German uniforms, under penalty of reprisals against their families. Around 40,000 never returned: 30,000 died in combat or in captivity and 10,000 to 12,000 are missing.
“Dressed in a uniform that they hated, serving a cause that made them slaves”
“We must recognize the suffering they suffered”insisted Emmanuel Macron, in his speech at the University Palace of Strasbourg and, more broadly, “the suffering of Alsace – Moselle, this de facto annexation, unique in our territory”.
“These children from Alsace and Moselle were captured, dressed in a uniform that they hated, in the service of a cause which made them slaves, instruments of a crime which also killed them, threatened with reprisals if they attempted to flee”insisted the head of state, adding that their “tragedy must be named, recognized, and taught because it is that of the Nation”.
In 2010 in Colmar, Nicolas Sarkozy was the first French president to pay public tribute to the “Despite us”. “The Despite Us were not traitors” he declared, “but on the contrary the victims of a real war crime”, summed up the former head of state. “We put on them a uniform which was not that of the country towards which their hearts and their loyalty went. They were forced to act against their homeland, their oath, their conscience”.
Today, Emmanuel Macron asks that the teaching of this particular tragedy appears in the history program of 3rd and 12th grade classesthe levels where the Second World War is taught. This is, explains the Elysée, a process to recognize the particularities of the story of each French person.
“We didn’t want to go there” testifies a former Inspite of Us
Among the guests at the ceremonies of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation there was only one former Despite-Nous, Jean-Marie Hostert, 99 years old. “We didn’t want to go“, he insisted at the microphone of Timour Östürk, “We tried everything, but they were so difficult to expel the parents. It's something that is poorly understood now. But it was a problem of protecting my family.”
Emmanuel Macron also spoke of those who have committed voluntarily and whose choice must not mask the injustice done to others. Among the 14 Alsatians of the SS Das Reich division who massacred the population of Oradour-sur-Glane was a volunteer.
