The government of French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin is to compensate the children of members of the Resistance movement murdered by the Germans during World War II. Up to 8,000 "victims of Nazi barbarity" are eligible for payments of close on US$33,386. The amount to be paid -- in a single sum or, if they prefer, a lifelong monthly pension -- is the same as that offered to Jewish orphans three years ago.
The question of compensation has been revived only since President Jacques Chirac was elected in 1995. During the administration of former president Francois Mitterand, who worked as a minor official for the Vichy regime, discussion of France's wartime record was not encouraged.
The war itself is not forgotten. Still vivid in France's national memory is the tragedy that struck Oradour-sur-Glane, a village near Limoges, when 642 men, women and children were massacred on June 10, 1944 by the retreating SS Das Reich Division of the German army.
On that dreadful day they also burnt 123 houses and more than 200 barns. A new town has arisen since then, yet the ruins of the old town still stand as a permanent memorial to the slaughtered civilians.
Life has moved on. Yet historians and older generations are determined that the grimmest tragedies, the grandest moments and the greatest heroes should be properly remembered.
In France, where mention of the Vichy collaborationist regime even now causes embarrassment and contentious debate, the word Resistance is framed in a holy light: it was a national movement yet, probably more than any region in France, the Vercors, in south east France, remembers tragic events and honors its heroes.
The Vercors, west of Grenoble and the high Alps, is a spectacular area of limestone mountains, stark river gorges and green valleys dotted by ancient stone villages. Most of it is within a l7,000ha Natural Regional Park, the largest in France. The hardy people here raise goats -- for cheese and woolly sweaters -- and in places produce a mildly sparkling, low-alcohol wine called Clairette.
Yet in 1943 and 1944 the "massif" of the Vercors was the heartland of a fiercely militant Resistance movement. There was a "montagnard" plan, a mountain people's Trojan horse, approved by Jean Moulin -- the governor who became a renowned Resistance leader -- and by General Charles de Gaulle in London.
The plan foresaw a force that would block a northward German movement when the Allies, as expected, landed in Provence. Instead, the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 -- a pivotal moment in history for surviving Allied soldiers and residents of northern France -- provoked a dynamic response in the Vercors. In July, some 4,000 "maquisards," resistance fighters, blocked entry routes into the mountains, proclaimed the Republic and raised the tricolore, the French flag
The principal effect of this brave gesture, unfortunately, was to infuriate the German general based in Grenoble, Karl Pflaum. He ordered an assault on the Vercors by land and by air using 15,000 troops and gliders that could land on flat-topped plateaux.
In the unequal battle, 600 resistance fighters and 100 Germans died. The civilian population of the villages paid a heavy price.
More than 200 were shot, 40 people were deported to the death camps, and 570 homes were destroyed.
Each person, each village, is remembered. At Chapelle-en-Vercors, where the Germans executed six young men and burned the village houses to the ground, a low-key display pays tribute to the dead.
Discovering a cave, "la grotte de la Luire," used as a secret hospital, German forces killed 19 of the wounded men on the spot, deported seven nurses and, taking them first to Grenoble, shot two doctors and a priest.
Tragic encounters between the Resistance and German troops are described and memorialized in numerous locations. At Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte, where a futile battle took place, lies a national cemetery of Vercors heroes. Among the graves is that of Jean Prevost, a famous writer who was also a leading member of the Resistance.
In a tragedy compared with Oradour, 73 civilians from a population of 430 in the village of Vassieux-en-Vercors, and a further 91 from the local Resistance group, were massacred. Here there is a Museum of the Resistance and, close by, cut into the mountainside, a striking memorial. Additionally, in more than 60 places in the dramatic Vercors landscape are more tributes -- a cross, a small monument, a plaque and some 60 yew trees planted in memory of the dead and their spirit of resistance.
Nearly 60 years after the end of World War II, Germany is France's closest ally in Europe. Teenagers today, and most of their parents, bear no grudge against Germans. The evils perpetrated by Nazis are in the past. With compensation at last being paid to the surviving children of the Resistance fighters -- all of them 60 years old or more -- another chapter has ended.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing
A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance. Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials. That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath