The president of the National Rally (RN) Marine Le Pen will travel to the Ile de Sein in Brittany to commemorate the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle's June 18 call to fight Nazi Germany, RN announced on Thursday.
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Marine Le Pen, accompanied by a delegation of parliamentarians, will travel to Île de Sein (Finistère) " to commemorate the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle's appeal in front of the monument paying tribute to Breton sailors who, from 18 June 1940 joined Free France in London, "the party said in a statement. The head of the RN will notably deliver a speech in front of the monument of the Free French Forces in the place called Meneï.
More than a hundred Senans went by boat, including fishing, to Great Britain after hearing this call on June 22, then learning about the order of the Germans on the continent to surrender, according to the historian at the university. de Brest, Christian Bougeard. They will join other Breton fishermen in English ports to form the first units of the Free Naval Forces.
The RN is the "continuity" of General de Gaulle's ideas
General de Gaulle himself came to the Ile de Sein to pay tribute to them in August 1946 and then as president in September 1960 to inaugurate the monument to the FFL. The far-right leader says that the RN is the " continuity " of General de Gaulle's ideas, although his party has historically fought against it.
Asked about this tribute, the former president of the party Jean-Marie Le Pen told AFP that the departure of the Senans after the call on June 18 was " a legend ". " No one heard de Gaulle's speech " and the Senans left " because the 'Boches' were coming, " he said.
De Gaulle remains for Marine Le Pen's father a source of " suffering " as he wrote in his Memoirs " because there was the case of Algeria and the purge of the government with the Communists at the Liberation ”. " There were a number of things that didn't make him kind to our minds and our hearts, " added Jean-Marie Le Pen.
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