Moving ceremony on Platform A of the Nice train station organized by the Prefect for the national day in memory of the victims of racist and anti-Semitic crimes of the French State and in tribute to the Righteous Among the Nations of France.
This (justified) state repentance, which we owe to Jacques Chirac, particularly for the Vel d’Hiv roundup, is the manifestation of a duty of remembrance that France has too often neglected towards its Jewish compatriots.
A bit surprised to be the only representative of the political left among the Estrosi and Ciotti supporters (why?), I particularly appreciated Martine Ouaknine’s tribute to Claude Lanzmann, the recently deceased author of “Shoah.”
The lighting of candles by camp survivors and the Prefect’s speech conveying the minister’s message were other highlights of a ceremony that was all the more fitting as it took place at the very site where thousands of Nice Jews or refugees were sent to their deaths.
Patrick Mottard
