Le Figaro Nantes
On June 10, 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane became infamous after the massacre of 643 innocent victims by Nazis. One year before the commemoration of the 80th anniversary, a large collection, open to all - individuals, companies, communities - was launched to preserve this martyred village. "As the years go by, the ruins, subject to the vagaries of the weather and the vicissitudes of time, today require increased attention," said in a statement the Heritage Foundation, at the initiative of this call for donations, with the Ministry of Culture. Two million euros are sought.
During the regional session of the Pays de la Loire on June 22, the elected representatives of the Printemps de la Loire, rallying the left, challenged the majority (right) on the financial participation of the Region. "Across France, some communities have already indicated that they will contribute," they wrote in a statement, before deploring the fact that the Region does not participate. "To refuse to support Oradour-sur-Glane is to deny the universal character of this place of memory: it is not in honor of our region, which was also a land of suffering and land of Resistance," castigates Guillaume Garot, president of the group and PS deputy of Mayenne.
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We are particularly aware of the historical importance of Oradour-sur-Glane; who wouldn't? But is it the role of the region to finance a place of memory outside the Pays de la Loire when there is already so much to do here, "says the Region, solicited by Le Figaro. The left is giving itself the beautiful role: its proposal costs nothing to formulate, but it is completely out of step with the means of the community and the needs of the territory."
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A subsidy for Hellfest, not for Oradour
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There are symbols that must not become financial priorities mediated by budgets, nor leave room for petty and derisory ideological debates. Oradour-sur-Glane is one of these symbols, "shares in an open letter addressed to Christelle Morançais the mayor of Saint-Viaud (Loire-Atlantique), Roch Chéraud. "Oradour could have been in Sarthe, Mayenne, Maine-et-Loire or Loire-Atlantique at random of the route of the SS division Das Reich," continues the elected without label who believes "that it is not too late for the Regional Council of Pays de la Loire to pull itself together".
According to our information, this decision also raises misunderstandings in the ranks of the local right, even though the President of the Region has returned to the Hellfest festival by granting it a subsidy this year, which was no longer the case since 2016. In addition, the Region is exchanging with festival-goers on the project of Guardian of Darkness, a statue of several meters that will be able to move and will be installed all year round in Clisson. But nothing has yet been decided or recorded, says the regional council.
Robert Hébras, last survivor of the massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane, died
It is obviously the role and responsibility of the State to carry out these memorial missions for the transmission of our common history.
The position of the Pays de la Loire Region
In its argument, the Region still considers that financing such a place of memory is not part of its role. "Why should the Pays de la Loire Region do in Oradour-sur-Glane what the State and the communities primarily concerned do not do? And if we did it in Oradour-sur-Glane, why not do it elsewhere - there is no shortage of places of memory in France? It is obviously the role and responsibility of the State to carry out these memorial missions for the transmission of our common history.
»On Wednesday, the prize pool, launched on June 18, amounted to more than 56,000 euros. "The decision depends on the governing bodies (municipal or community council...) This explains why payment periods are longer. But we already have many intentions for donations that will materialize in the near future," says Alain Soularue, regional delegate of the Heritage Foundation in the Limousin. "As for the decision of this or that community to give or not, it is not for us to judge. We remain scrupulously in our role of animation and collection, "he concludes.