The current resident of the Élysée Palace is, after Napoleon I, the head of state who has had the greatest number of men and women interred in the Pantheon. This exercise in remembrance allows him to sidestep his unpopularity, and perhaps he hopes for a reciprocal gesture. --- After Simone and Antoine Veil, Maurice Genevoix, Josephine Baker, Mélinée and Missak Manouchian, and Robert Badinter, on June 23rd it was the turn of the historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch. Certainly the least known to the general public. What did he do to merit Macron's attention?
I think what interests Macron is Bloch's stance as a republican and patriot. Already, during the First World War, on June 1, 1915, he wrote a testamentary letter expressing his satisfaction at dying for his country: "When you read this letter, I will have ceased to live. I will have died 'fighting the enemy.' (...) I died certain of victory, and happy-yes, truly happy, I say it with all the sincerity of my soul-to shed my blood in this way." He would not die there, but this perfectly aligns with the mindset our warmongering President desires for the youth.
Moreover, Marc Bloch's patriotic spirit seems capable of broad unity. It stems from the French Revolution and can bring together people from the Socialist Party to certain segments of the far right. Bloch himself was not a political activist; he only briefly joined the SFIO (French Section of the Workers' International). His main political concern was to have French Jews considered good citizens like everyone else, which is commendable, especially at the time, but hardly revolutionary (after all, it dates back to 1791).
Furthermore, Macron has a fondness for members of the Resistance, especially when they have other talents: artist (Baker), poet (Manouchian), historian (Bloch). This is convenient when you want to honor someone who isn't too politically divisive. The division, as with the Manouchian family's interment in the Panthéon, stems from the presence of representatives from the National Rally (RN), contrary to the families' wishes. The descendants of the collaborators who applauded the execution of Bloch and his comrades on June 16, 1944, will have the right to attend the ceremony "since they are elected representatives of the Republic, that's the rule!"
The reasons why, despite this Macronist appropriation of his image, Marc Bloch remains an interesting figure to me are threefold:
As a medieval historian, he sought to reintegrate the common people and their living conditions into history. He founded, with Lucien Fèvre, the Annales d'histoire économique et sociale (Annals of Economic and Social History), readily crossing the boundaries of his field and engaging with intellectuals from other disciplines.
As a descendant of practicing Jews, but himself completely detached from religion, he was deeply suspicious of Jewish institutions, particularly the Consistoire. In a letter to the mathematician Jean Ulmo in April 1941, he emphasized: "French Jews are French like everyone else and, for the most part, good French citizens. Therefore, there should be no general study on the 'Jewish problem,' on the characteristics of Judaism itself, etc." (...) Let's avoid giving weapons to those who would confine us to any kind of ghetto."
As a member of the Resistance, he didn't hesitate to commit himself personally, even unto death.
Finally, he was a modest, reserved person, yet he could discuss matters on equal footing with the farmers of the Creuse region as well as with Parisian intellectuals. Quite the opposite of the man who honored him in the Pantheon!
Alain, Limoges, June 23
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4762
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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