Sébastien Ledoux, historian specializing in memory issues, analyzes the tribute paid by Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday in Vassieux-en-Vercors, in Drôme, for the 80th anniversary of the attack on the Vercors maquis.
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“It is not simply a question of paying homage and commemorating a past event, but of considering that the commemoration as such must be an event. A political event, a media event”said Tuesday April 16 on franceinfo Sébastien Ledoux, historian specializing in memory issues, while Emmanuel Macron presides over an unprecedented tribute to the resistance fighters and civilian victims of the Vercors plateau, in Vassieux-en-Vercors (Drôme).
The head of state is the first to preside over a ceremony paying tribute to this maquis, which was attacked 80 years ago by the French militia, before a final assault by German troops. “We are looking to create a commemorative event”underlines Sébastien Ledoux. “We tend to say that the presidents of the Fifth Republic are ‘speakers of the Nation'”they “want to both embody History, be embodied in History, and to do so tell History”specifies the historian.
“Memorial mobilization” allow “to rearm a national imagination”explains Sébastien Ledoux. “For some, this is part of the ‘presidential monarchy'”he adds.
