Holocaust remembrance an issue as runoff nears
Amid worries about rising nationalism, French presidential candi- date Emmanuel Macron paid homage Sunday to the tens of thousands of French Jews killed in the Holocaust with a somber, simple message to voters: Never again.
Chants of “Macron, pres- ident!” mixed with tears of sorrowful remembrance as he visited the Holocaust Memorial in Paris, walking past panels bearing the names of those deported to death in Nazi camps, while Holocaust survivors and chil- dren of its victims looked on.
It was the second time in three days that Macron visited a site tied to France’s wartime history, as he seeks to remind voters of the shame of France’s Nazi collaboration — and especially of the anti-Semitic past of his rival Marine Le Pen’s farright National Front party.
The two face a presidential runoff May 7 that will reverberate across Europe.
Le Pen, who has worked for years to detoxify her party’s image, laid a wreath at a memorial to France’s deported Jews in Marseille on Sunday, a national day of remembrance.
Yet the gesture cannot undo decades of anti-Semitism that still poison her party. Her father was con- victed of describing the gas chambers as a “detail” of history, and her temporary party leader was removed last week for similar comments.
After visiting the Holocaust Memorial and a wall honor- ing French people who protected Jews during the German occupation, Macron said, “We have a duty today to their memory.”
The 39-year-old former economy minister lamented a “moral weakening that could tempt some people to say all things are relative, that could tempt others to negate the Holocaust — a position some people find refuge in because what happened is unforgettable and unforgiveable, and should never happen again.”
Michel Pfeffer, 74, is not a fan of Macron but is deter- mined to vote for him next Sunday for one reason: the names of Pfeffer’s father and his grandfather are etched on the wall of the Holocaust Memorial, two of the 76,000 French Jews deported to die.
“It’s inadmissible. It’s unthinkable” that Le Pen could lead France, Pfeffer told The Associated Press as Macron arrived.
France’s election is drawing attention across the European Union just as the bloc nego- tiates Britain’s departure.
Le Pen wants a referendum on France’s membership in the EU, to restore French borders and return to the franc currency instead of the euro.
She visited the Alteo aluminum plant Sunday in the town of Gardanne, but the event appeared to fall flat. She did not meet with work- ers and quickly left after accusing the factory, which has been blamed for polluting the Mediterranean Sea, of being an example of “savage globalization.”