Macron Recalls Dark Side Of French WWII History In Resistance Tribute

President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday hailed the heroism of members of the World War II Resistance based on a remote Alpine plateau, but also remembered the "errors" of French collaborationist forces who sided with the Germans against them

VassieuxenVercors, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Apr, 2024) President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday hailed the heroism of members of the World War II Resistance based on a remote Alpine plateau, but also remembered the "errors" of French collaborationist forces who sided with the Germans against them.

The Resistance used the Vercors Plateau as a refuge after the occupation of France from 1940, receiving airdrops from the Allies and even occasional visits by British agents with the top-secret Special Operations Executive unit.

With 2024 marking eight decades since the penultimate year of World War II, Macron is making a series of high-profile commemorations to remember Resistance heroes but also to note the role played by French collaborationist militia in the German occupation.

"Here 80 years ago French people killed other French people," Macron said in the village of Vassieux-en-Vercors.

It was the first such commemoration in the village by a French president.

Conspicuously he had chosen to visit on April 16 -- the date marking 80 years since the French militia attacked the Resistance holdout -- rather than July 21 when German army forces launched a full-scale assault.

"Let us also remember these French people, their choices and errors," Macron said, referring to the collaborators.

"Because it was not just a time when French people did not love each other. It was also a time when some French people did not love France," he said.