There wasn't a week that went by when I was growing up during which there wasn't a movie about World War II. This was back in the one channel universe, late seventies early eighties. Many American movies, but a large number of French movies too, even comedies based in WW II. Was this onslaught of World War II subject material necessary therapy for the collective consciousness of my country? Or was it something else?
Of course most of the home grown movies had something to do with the Resistance or the suffering under German Occupation. There was very little about collaboration, Vichy or Pétain. Most of my relatives had in fact joined the resistance movement in London under De Gaulle. Free France was ever present especially since these forces had liberated the island late in 1941. One uncle had been in the RAF, another had been posted to transatlantic convoys, one aunt was in Washington, and another was working for the Free French coding service in London where she lived through many a V2 attack like all Britons. I grew up listening to their many stories and was very proud of my family's contribution. But there were relatives who were never mentioned. Even to this day I'd rather not discuss this in much detail, except to say that they had chosen the "wrong side". To this day, in villages, towns and cities across France, some people still don't talk to each other because they chose to openly support different sides.
Through my many readings I have tried to learn more about this dark era of France's history. During my stay in Bordeaux (see previous article), the scars of World War II were everywhere. U-boats in the Garonne river near Bourg sur Gironde, the submarine base near Bordeaux, the bunker in the middle of the university residences that had been used as Gestapo offices during occupation... the list goes on. In the local Church or the veteran's monument, one could find plaques commemorating the dead of both wars.
During my high school years, the subject was treated with a lot of care but the truth about the large-scale collaboration of occupied France was not hidden from us. Fortunately France's youth is being told about the many mistakes of yesteryear. But that is still not enough and from time to time a news item reminds us all about the not so distant past. The Papon affair, the Bousquet affair, the Klaus Barbie affair, revelations about president Mitterrand's past all reminded us of the many dark episodes that surround this era.
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