French Nazi collaborator Petain’s tomb vandalised

LES HERBIERS, France: The tomb of Marshal Philippe Petain, who led France’s collaborationist Vichy regime under Nazi occupation, was vandalised on Saturday, the eve of the 66th anniversary of his death, police said.

Police and firefighters were called to the site of the tomb on Ile d’Yeu in western France at 4am ( 0200 GMT) on reports of a trash bin fire at the Port- Joinville cemetery.

The fire was quickly extinguished, but police then discovered that the cross on Petain’s tomb had been broken.

Some letters were also written on the tombstone but police were unsure of their significance.

In 2007, Petain’s tomb was also vandalised with the white cross broken and trash dumped on the site.

Petain, a French military leader hailed as a hero of World War I, was the head of the government that capitulated to the Nazis and subsequently collaborated with their occupation of France, including the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews to death camps.

“It happens from time to time that the tomb is targeted and some people throw things on top of it,” local official Sylvie Groc told AFP.

“We avoid disclosing it so people don’t get bad ideas,” she said, adding that now “we have to lock the cemetery at night”.

The incident comes the day before the anniversary of Petain’s death on July 23, 1951, at the age of 95.

While the Nazis occupied the north of France, Petain led so- called Vichy France in the centre and the south of the country, with its headquarters in the eponymous spa city. — AFP