Joséphine Baker, air force officer, mother of twelve children, and buried elsewhere than in the Pantheon? The true from the false junior

Le Vrai du faux junior, the meeting for verifying and deciphering information carried out with adolescents and their teachers. This week, the students of the third media class of the Jules-Ferry college in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (Essonne) wonder about certain events in the life of Joséphine Baker, who entered the Panthéon on Tuesday, November 30. Sébastien Baer, ​​head of the reporting service at franceinfo and who covered the entry to the Pantheon of the artist, activist and Franco-American resistance, agreed to answer their questions.

“Is it true that Joséphine Baker was forced to wear a banana belt when arriving in France?“asks Marius.

No, that’s not quite how it happened. Joséphine Baker, dancer in shows and musicals, she wanted to shock and be spotted when she arrived in Paris in 1925. She even said that to become a “star” She was supposed to be “scandalous“. So she chose to wear this famous banana belt, which is a symbol of the racist clichés that targeted black people at the time. This belt will make her famous, but later she decides to get rid of it and not wants to hear more about it.

“Is it true that Josephine Baker was an Air Force officer during WWII and what position did she occupy?“asks Kilian.

Yes, it’s true. Before that, Joséphine Baker acquired French nationality in 1937. At the start of World War II, in 1939, she was a music hall star, whom all soldiers dreamed of seeing. She gives shows, near the front, to support the morale of the troops. Then, she will take advantage of her star status to act as a counter-espionage agent for the secret services of Free France. And it was in 1944 that Joséphine Baker was promoted to second lieutenant in the auxiliary female troops of the Air Force.

For her acts of bravery and resistance, Joséphine Baker was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1961 and also received the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945.

“Is it true that Josephine Baker raised children of different nationalities and religions?“asks Marius.

Yes, it’s true. Josephine Baker wants to prove that there is only one human race, regardless of skin color and religion. She fights against racism and segregation, which she herself suffered when she was little. And to demonstrate this ideal world, she adopts, with her husband, twelve children all over the world who will form the “rainbow tribe“.

Several students of the third media class of the Jules-Ferry college in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (Essonne) were surprised to learn that the remains of Joséphine Baker do not rest in the Pantheon.

Yes, it is true, because the family of Joséphine Baker wished that the remains of the artist remain in Monaco, where it was buried in 1975. It rests in particular very close to the princess Grace of Monaco, who was one of the few people to help her when she found herself broke at the very end of her life.

It is therefore a coffin without a body that the six aviators carried during the pantheonization ceremony. But the coffin was not completely empty, as four pots filled with soil were placed there. They were filled with soil from four places dear to Josephine Baker: Missouri, in the United States, her native land; Paris, where she knew glory; the Château des Milandes, in the Dordogne, where she spent her best years; and Monaco, where she rests.