The President of the Republic delivered justice to the historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch on Saturday November 23 in Strasbourg. “For his work, his teaching and his courage, we decide that Marc Bloch will enter the Pantheon”he announced at midday from the aula of the University of Strasbourg, in front of Daniel Bloch, 98 years old, son of the historian, decorated on this occasion with the Legion of Honor, and Hélène Seguret , 50 years old, great-granddaughter of Marc Bloch.
Read the story | Article reserved for our subscribers The war of Marc Bloch, “rare survivor” of Vichy’s anti-Jewish laws but caught by the Gestapo
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Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the “scathing lucidity” and at “physical courage” from the author of The Strange Defeat. Coming from an Alsatian Jewish family, professor of medieval history at the University of Strasbourg (1919-1936), this intellectual became one of the leaders of the Resistance during the Second World War. Imprisoned, tortured and shot by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, he wrote in 1940 “the story of this strange defeat, that of our French will blunted by conservatism, put to sleep by conformism, softened by bureaucracy, abandoned by part of its elites”praised the head of state.
The idea of a pantheonization of Marc Bloch, after those of Simone Veil, Maurice Genevoix, Joséphine Baker, Missak Manouchian and Robert Badinter, had been circulating for a long time in the mind of the head of state, who made The Strange Defeat his bedside book. In June 2006, a group of historians requested the transfer to the Pantheon of the ashes of their illustrious colleague, who renewed historical discipline, but the family was opposed for a long time. The Head of State himself only recently decided, around two weeks ago, to conclude the long memorial cycle around the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of France with this highly symbolic gesture.
“The family is very moved and completely satisfied with this entry into the Pantheon, reacted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Hélène Seguret, after attending the president's speech. We hope that this tribute which will be paid to him will make it possible to make his work known better and more widely.” In a letter to the President of the Republic, the family also requests that “the extreme right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony” entrance to the Pantheon.
“Malgré-nous”, Natzweiler-Struthof…
Emmanuel Macron also mentioned in his speech the “despite us”, these 130,000 Alsatians and Mosellans considered German after the annexation of these territories, forcibly incorporated into the German army. Their “tragedy must be named, recognized, and taught because it is that of the Nation”enjoined the head of state. This tragic episode of the Second World War should now appear on the curriculum for third and final year students.
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