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| At New Holocaust Center, French Leader Confronts Past | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| PARIS — President François Hollande inaugurated a new Holocaust memorial center on Friday with an address that underscored the direct approach he has taken to France’s collaborationist past, a grim and still uncomfortable chapter that French leaders and politicians have often preferred to skirt. | PARIS — President François Hollande inaugurated a new Holocaust memorial center on Friday with an address that underscored the direct approach he has taken to France’s collaborationist past, a grim and still uncomfortable chapter that French leaders and politicians have often preferred to skirt. |
| The reality of French collaboration with the Nazis has been demonstrated and accepted, Mr. Hollande said in his address at the memorial, in Drancy, a city north of Paris that was the site of a major transit camp for Jews being deported to death camps in the east. He urged that the nation now turn to the “transmission,” or passing on, of that difficult history. | |
| “Our work is no longer about establishing the truth,” Mr. Hollande said at the Mémorial de la Shoah à Drancy, a five-story glass and concrete structure that looks out upon the buildings once used to imprison tens of thousands of French and foreign Jews. “Today, our work is to transmit. That is the spirit of this memorial. Transmission: there resides the future of remembering.” | “Our work is no longer about establishing the truth,” Mr. Hollande said at the Mémorial de la Shoah à Drancy, a five-story glass and concrete structure that looks out upon the buildings once used to imprison tens of thousands of French and foreign Jews. “Today, our work is to transmit. That is the spirit of this memorial. Transmission: there resides the future of remembering.” |
| Of the 76,000 Jews deported from France during World War II, 63,000 were sent off from Drancy, Mr. Hollande noted in his speech. From 1941 to 1944, Jews were held before being deported in the concrete structures of the Cité de la Muette, a housing project requisitioned by the Germans. Shortly after the war, the buildings were returned to use as public housing. | |
| Monuments to the deported were erected near the structures in 1976 and 1988. A larger Holocaust museum opened in central Paris in 2005. | Monuments to the deported were erected near the structures in 1976 and 1988. A larger Holocaust museum opened in central Paris in 2005. |
| The new memorial center at the Cité de la Muette, a project conceived about a decade ago, was financed by the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, a private French organization. It houses several conference rooms, a collection of documents related to the camp and a permanent exhibit. The building was designed by the Swiss architect Roger Diener. | The new memorial center at the Cité de la Muette, a project conceived about a decade ago, was financed by the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, a private French organization. It houses several conference rooms, a collection of documents related to the camp and a permanent exhibit. The building was designed by the Swiss architect Roger Diener. |
| “Through the transparent facade, the outside observer can always see what’s happening inside: the work of memory,” Mr. Diener says in a statement on the center’s Web site. | “Through the transparent facade, the outside observer can always see what’s happening inside: the work of memory,” Mr. Diener says in a statement on the center’s Web site. |
| Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault inaugurated a similar memorial in Aix-en-Provence, in southern France, this month. | Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault inaugurated a similar memorial in Aix-en-Provence, in southern France, this month. |
| In July, in an address commemorating the roundup of more than 13,000 Jews by the French police in 1942, Mr. Hollande spoke of a crime committed “by France.” In so doing, he broke with his mentor and a hero of the French left, former President François Mitterrand, who refused to acknowledge a broad French role in the detentions and deportations. Some opposition politicians complained that Mr. Hollande assigned guilt too broadly. | In July, in an address commemorating the roundup of more than 13,000 Jews by the French police in 1942, Mr. Hollande spoke of a crime committed “by France.” In so doing, he broke with his mentor and a hero of the French left, former President François Mitterrand, who refused to acknowledge a broad French role in the detentions and deportations. Some opposition politicians complained that Mr. Hollande assigned guilt too broadly. |
| Widespread acknowledgment of collaboration under the Nazi occupation has come to France only in the past two decades, notably after a speech in 1995 by President Jacques Chirac, who spoke of the country’s “collective wrongdoing.” | Widespread acknowledgment of collaboration under the Nazi occupation has come to France only in the past two decades, notably after a speech in 1995 by President Jacques Chirac, who spoke of the country’s “collective wrongdoing.” |
| Mr. Hollande has also been outspoken on modern anti-Semitism. In August, Mr. Hollande stripped the fashion designer John Galliano of the Legion of Honor; Mr. Galliano was convicted in 2011 of making anti-Semitic remarks, during the presidency of Mr. Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy. | Mr. Hollande has also been outspoken on modern anti-Semitism. In August, Mr. Hollande stripped the fashion designer John Galliano of the Legion of Honor; Mr. Galliano was convicted in 2011 of making anti-Semitic remarks, during the presidency of Mr. Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy. |