“I find her ordinary.
To me, this is a waste of public money.
» In front of this passer-by in his thirties who is walking in Square Boucicaut in Paris (7th arrondissement), four blue animal silhouettes.
A dog, a horse, a mule… And a man holding a pigeon about to take flight.
The statues were installed “in memory of the animals of war,” says a commemorative plaque.
The complex was inaugurated this Tuesday.
At first glance, the installation is not to everyone's taste.
“I don’t really like it,” comments a man present on site during the inauguration.
I would have preferred something more substantial, in bronze for example.
It’s a shame because it’s important to pay tribute to war animals,” he believes.
“They look like children’s drawings,” comments his neighbor, even more severely.
“Shadow heroes”
This new war memorial, created by Gérard Collin-Thiébaut, was inaugurated in the presence of representatives of the Paris town hall, the 7th arrondissement, Amandine Sanvisens, the co-founder of the PAZ association for animal welfare, as well as as well as the French Remembrance Association.
Around fifty people attended the very solemn ceremony for what was presented as a French first.
A first ?
Not quite actually.
In 2021, a commemorative stele has already been erected in Oise to honor the memory of war animals.
These “shadow heroes of History” were “emotional and moral support for our soldiers,” said René-François Bernard, deputy mayor of the 7th arrondissement in charge of green spaces.
Estimates suggest that between 11 and 14 million animals died during the Great War and around 30 million during the Second World War.