“It is the memory of the great successes of the Republic, we need epic, need to go beyond the living”, believes Jean Viard

On February 21, 2024, 80 years after the tragic events of Mont-Valérien, the Armenian worker and poet Missak Manouchian, shot with most of his resistance comrades, will enter the Pantheon with his wife Mélinée. In a few months, this will also be the case for Robert Badinter, the former Minister of Justice who died on February 9.

Missak Manouchian, hero of the Resistance, will enter the Pantheon on February 21. This will also be the case in a few months, from Robert Badinter. Emmanuel Macron announced it this week during the national tribute to the former Minister of Justice. A social question deciphered by sociologist Jean Viard.

franceinfo: Where does this need come from, in our society, to pay homage in this way to the great figures of our country?

Jean Viard: I rely on a book that I like, The great man and his power by Jean-Baptiste de Cherf. He says that it is an imagination that was born in the Romantic era, at a time when we had the impression that the world was known everywhere, so there was no longer a great epic and that, on the other side, there was no longer a king, so there was no longer a great sacred leader. And basically, all the great romantics, Chateaubriand, Hegel, then later, Barrès, Bergson, this whole era of thinkers, they looked for great figures to bring people together.

So there are people who have kept them, the Queen of England for example. The Americans have the four founders, George Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, whom they carved into an enormous mountain. And it is their first four presidents who are their tutelary figures. So everyone has a story. And then, at the same time, each president wants to show his political color and try to bring the people together around his values.

With President Macron, there is both the Manouchian couple, the resistance fighters, the stateless people, all these people who fought during the Second War, who took a long time to recognize, and Robert Badinter, in a few months . Basically, he defines his vision of the hero in a certain way. And in a world where we don’t know where we are going, we are indeed coming together. And besides, if I may, these are not political speeches, they are often very fine speeches.

Remember Malraux’s speech on Jean Moulin, which we generally remember: “Enter here Jean Moulin, with your terrible procession, with those who died in the cellars without having spoken like you, and even, what is perhaps more atrocious, having spoken.” These are very beautiful moments in the history of the Republic. And so we try to come together around that.

Is this a way of also passing on our history to younger generations?

Yes, it’s a way of telling stories about great men. Great men exist, war leaders, great artists, people who, at one moment in their time, make sense to others. We adhere to them, we love them, we watch what they do. We could cite Picasso, you can cite great artists, great writers. It changes a little depending on the period.

But the idea of ​​bringing them together in the same place, somewhere, is the memory of the great successes of the Republic. And that’s important. We tell each other that we live together. There are some who have extraordinary successes, we must respect them, they are still magnificent figures in Republican history. I think it’s a positive transmission for young people.

And the French seem attached to these moments of unity, widely followed on television, with people also on site to follow these ceremonies. Doesn’t it go out of style?

No, it’s not going out of fashion because we need it, to the extent that today, you can travel around the world by plane with the Internet in ten seconds, the earth has become very small. We need epicness, we need to go beyond the living, we need to go beyond death. We need to be part of History.

And it gives meaning to each of our individual lives. Everyone does it at their own level, but these moments are moments that bring us together and in general, they are very beautiful figures who little by little build the republican story and its historical evolution.