AS FRANCE remembered its war dead yesterday, 92 years after the end of hostilities in the first World War, president Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to the thousands of students who marked the anniversary in 1940 by defying the Nazi occupiers.
On November 11th, 1940 – a few months after the Nazi occupation began – some 2,500 students gathered at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, in breach of a ban on public gatherings, for the armistice anniversary. It constituted the first act of public protest against the occupier and was quickly dispersed by the Wehrmacht.
Yesterday Mr Sarkozy stood at the same spot and unveiled a plaque to the students of “the other November 11th” and commended the protesters’ courage.
“They remind us that love of France is a precious thing, which we must cherish, nurture, defend, whatever the circumstances, whatever our origins, whatever our convictions,” he said.
After laying a wreath at the feet of the first World War leader Georges Clemenceau’s statue during a rain-soaked ceremony, Mr Sarkozy reviewed the troops and rekindled the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
The armistice commemoration allowed France to celebrate the “heroism of a generation which experienced the worst suffering” before peace was restored.
“We must draw from this symbol of November 11th the force to surmount the difficulties of the present, the antagonisms and the partisan divisions, so that, with courage and determination, we can do what the future of our country demands.”
Last year, Angela Merkel became the first German chancellor to take part in an Armistice Day ceremony in Paris, when she joined Mr Sarkozy in laying a wreath under the Arc de Triomphe.
“The Germans and the French, once bitter enemies, now stand united as neighbours in a way that gives hope and confidence that elsewhere in the world too, deep trenches can be bridged and overcome,” Dr Merkel said.
Meanwhile, a ceremony took place yesterday at the Great Mosque in Paris to honour the memory of Muslims who fought for France in the two world wars.
"Many Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians and Senegalese came to defend France [and] our values [of] liberté, égalité, fraternité," said veterans affairs minister Hubert Falco, who was joined at the ceremony by defence minister Hervé Morin. "It's right that we honour these Muslims who perished."
France’s human link to the first World War was finally severed in 2008 with the death of Lazare Ponticelli, its last recognised veteran of the trenches.