Posted on 02/15/2008 7:19:37 AM PST by beaversmom
I think it’s a good idea too...wasn’t France the only government in Europe to openly collaborate with Hitler...the French children (including Muslim schoolchildren) should feel a sense of responsibility to carry the memory forward so that it never happens again...remember anti-Semitism is ripe in France.
What? No Sarkozy rule?
No, the 11,000 children are those who were deported by the collaborators and subsequently murdered by the Nazis. They're all dead.
The French government has put up signs at schools throughout Paris listing the number of children at each school who were murdered. In a few schools in historically Jewish neighborhoods, hundreds of students were killed. It's chilling to read those signs and see children playing today in the playgrounds.
the is just morbid for todays society whose children today did nothing but must pay some price.
That is just morbid for todays society the children today did nothing but must pay some price.
That's ridiculous. The Vichy government collaborated, but not to the extent of Austria, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Ukraine, Finland, Lithuania, etc., all of which actually fought alongside the Nazis.
The French fought Hitler, were defeated, and were then ruled by a puppet collaborationist regime. That's something completely different.
I don't understand. What price are you suggesting today's children have to pay? They're just being taught history.
No, Poland was the only European government not to collaborate with Hitler. That Hitler's ambitions toward Poland were genocidal as well was a major factor, but the fact is they were the only ones without a collaborationist government.
On the other hand, France was particularly helpful. They were one of the very few (only?) to round up Jews with their own police/militia.
Wonder if anyone has asked they about this, i think they're around 10% of the population. I'm thinking they'd rather adopt an SS member.
There’s been an article excerpted on FR regarding a similar phenom in British schools.
‘A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch’ is a wonderful primer on the wonders of the Soviet gulag system.
It’s a short book that personalizes the experience by simply describing one day, just one day, in the life of a prisoner in a Soviet gulag.
I read Anne Frank when I was a seventh grader, age 12. It was a seminal moment in my development, the beginning of adult awareness and sensitivity. Yes, let the children know.
Thanks for the ping. Thanks for posting, beaversmom. Very interesting. Hooray Sarkozy!
Although they lost the Continuation War (the second phase) the USSR was happy to pull out of the Western half of the country and kept only the Eastern half. As part of the deal Finland has to expel 250,000 German troops who'd been moved into the area by Germany.
They turned around and booted the Germans out. However, not before the Germans tried to lay waste to Lappland County (where most of the winter troops came from who'd beat the USSR to a standstill, and who were beating them to a standstill as well. This has made some of my family genealogical studies very difficult, but not insurmountable.).
It's noteworthy that Finland simultaneously continued to pay its WWI debt to the USA, beat the Red Army to the ground, and smash the Nazi Army ~ and yet it took the combined forces of America, the British Empire, the French Empire, the United Kingdom and a variety of other nations, including the USSR, to beat Nazi Germany to the point where resistance was futile.
That sort of thing doesn't happen every day you know.
Ordinary Germans, Jews and Soldiers were the three categories.
Some towns have stupendously long lists of people in all three categories.
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