Today is the 80th year since the liberation of Auschwitz. Somewhat sombrely, I wandered about town, thinking of the past...
This is by the bus stop, opposite the train station - a leaving place for those who died for being Jewish or for being in the resistance. Elie Sermet was in the resistance as well as being a force in the unions - he died in the concentration camp in Dora-Mittelbau- still remembered in the street name here.
it's illegal in France to flaunt religious identifiers but this looks very like a star of David to me...
...No idea if it's significant - it's at the side of the town hall -
When I arrived here the old people I got to know told me not to mention the war. We were all collaborators, I was told. It was the only way to survive the occupation.
One of my friends saw her father interred at the end of the war for collaboration with the Nazis; another had to watch as her father, (the mayor) together with the butcher were obliged to accompany the German Commandant as he lead his men to Carcassonne. There's only one road, alongside the river; an obvious spot for ambushes. Flanked by the mayor and the butcher, both loved locally, the Commandant was indeed safe. There was an ambush though and many died - including the young American whose grave and memorial is just by the Alet les Bains exit.
Such sad times.
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Yesterdays market: cold, but so beautiful! My photos don't bring it out. The trees had drops of rain hanging on them which looked like diamonds when the sun hit - as I came to the market by way of the new bridge, it took my breath away.
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