A mob “in honor of Marshal Pétain and his army” took place this Saturday, November 15 in Verdun in a closed church and reserved only for members of the organizing association, said the prefect of the Meuse, Xavier Delarue, while around a hundred demonstrators protested in front of the religious building.
The prefect also announced that he would be filing a complaint against the comments “clearly revisionist” separated from tribute.
At the end of the religious service, a member of the Association for the Defense of the Memory of Marshal Pétain (ADMP) stated to journalists that the leader of the Vichy regime, who was sentenced to death in 1945, had “France’s first resistance fighter”.
“Very small amount” person, “around twenty at most”attended this service at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church, prefect Xavier Delarue said in the morning. The city’s mayor Samuel Hazard has issued an order banning these masses, a “a political demonstration aimed at rehabilitating a condemned figure in history”. The decision was overturned on Friday by Nancy’s administrative court.
In the morning, the prefect explained that he had spoken before the ceremony with the priest celebrating the mass, to ensure that the regulations arising from the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State would be respected, namely that there would be no discussion or distribution of leaflets of a political nature.
Outside, an AFP photographer counted around twenty police officers and gendarmes, while around a hundred demonstrators protested peacefully, chanting Marseillaise. Several elected officials were present with their tricolor scarves.
“I was very shocked, because I thought of all the victims of Nazi barbarism and the national revolution, the ideology of Marshal Pétain”said Samuel Hazard to the press. “There’s no way we’re drifting away like this”said one parishioner, Mariette Descamps, holding a sign that read “Catho is not a fascist”. “I apologize for what happened today.”he said.
The office at the origin of this controversy was organized by the Association to defend the memory of Marshal Pétain (ADMP). This association had been authorized by the archbishop-bishop of Metz, apostolic administrator of Verdun, to celebrate the mass for the repose of the souls of Marshal Pétain and the victims of all wars.
Philippe Pétain, hero of the First World War and later leader of the Vichy regime that collaborated with Nazi Germany, suffered national humiliation in 1945.
Renew at 12:52 p.m. with the announcement of the prefect’s complaint.
