Bust of Hitler found stored in French senate building

STAFF in the French senate have been using desks bearing the eagle emblem of the Third Reich, which, following an investigation, have been removed.

To the shock of French senators, an inventory also uncovered a bust of Hitler and a Nazi flag. According to Le Monde a handful of insiders at the senate knew about the artefacts.

The French newspaper launched an investigation after hearing rumours that the bust and other traces of the Nazi occupation in the Second World War still remained in senate store rooms, 75 years after the liberation of Paris.

During the war, Hermann Göring used the 17th-century Luxembourg Palace, the home of the upper house of the French parliament, as the Paris headquarters of the Luftwaffe, the air force.

The discovery of the 14-inch-high bust of Hitler and a Nazi flag measuring 10ft by 7ft in an underground store- room shocked French politicians. But perhaps more disturbing was the revelation that until recently some senate staff had worked at desks bearing the eagle emblem beloved of the Nazis.

Jean-marc Pastor, 69, a senator representing the southern department of Tarn, told Le Monde: “I’m surprised that no one had the presence of mind to get rid of it. I don’t think this is the sort of thing one can be proud of.”

Officials suggested that the bust and other items such as a German gas mask had been placed underground in the confusion surrounding the recapture of the senate building. The flag was kept in the archive section.

As for chairs and desks stamped with the Nazi eagle, a senate official said: “From time to time, the existence of a [Nazi] stamp may have come to light, but this is furniture that is no longer in use.”