I would love to see the "Eiffel Tower"! My dream?

Question

Was soon diminished when I learned "They" sent back over 400 children, ages 2 - 14 to die! No real reason or logic!

W.T.F.?

Can you explain?

Answer 1

So, using this logic you have no intention of visiting Germany, France, Italy, Poland, The Netherlands, the US, etc. ?

The treatment of the Jews in Europe during WWII wasn't known for its logic or reason, you avoiding the Eiffel Tower won't change history

If you do want to do something..... http://savedarfur.org/content?splash=yes

Answer 2

Who is "they," and what are you talking about? Why would it prevent you from being able to see the Eiffel Tower?

Answer 3

Can you explain your question /

Answer 4

Whoever taught you that should get a history degree first...

Italy assassinated 8,000 Jews during the war, and by the way, whose side was Italy on during WWII ?

First, France was under German occupation and control at the time and Jews were deported by the n***s, not by the French.  It is true that the Vichy regime (which was not elected) established in the free zone collaborated actively with the n***s by providing files on Jews but you are forgetting the thousands of French families who risked their lives to save Jewish children: 2,740 French 'Righteous among the nations' are honored in Jerusalem (against only 417 Italians).

So tell your teacher to stop his/her French bashing and not to give only biased and partial information. As for you, go and fulfill your dream and go and see the tower, this will give you the opportunity to visit the Parisian Jewish district (France has the largest Jewish population in the world after the US and Israel) where you will learn a lot more about the Holocaust than at your school obviously.

EDIT: Good point from Rillifane: if you started boycotting any country that had dark times in their history, you wouldn't have anywhere to go in the world. Would you refuse to go to England because they deliberately starved the Irish population to death or put entire Dutch families in concentration camps during the Boer war in South Africa? Why do you single out France when almost all countries had at one time or another similarly cruel policies?

@ Rillifane: I know that, what I meant is it was a break in the French democratic history in the sense that the regime was not elected by direct universal suffrage as is normally the case in the French Republic. The Vichy regime was called l'Etat français and was not part of the République française. Don't worry we learn all the things you mentioned (and more) in French schools and we received visits from camp survivors every year in our history classes. I was just trying to make a short answer to a very one-sided question on a vast subject but I'm not denying any of the things you just said.

Answer 5

Sorry, I live in Paris half the year, but I don't understand your question at all.  What do you mean?  What are you asking?  Who are these children that were 'sent back'?

Answer 6

It is a sad reality that a substantial number of Frenchmen actively collaborated with the n***s during World War II conniving in the deaths of thousands of Jews.

Moreover it is also true that the vast majority of the French simply resigned themselves to the n**i Occupation and did not lift a finger to oppose it. Only a relative handful were in the resistance or fought with the Free French forces under DeGaulle.

On the other hand it is also true that a substantial number of Americans had not the slightest concern that Hitler was killing the Jews of Europe. Indeed, anti-Semitism was commonplace in America at the time. The American government (and most other governments) refused to accept German Jews and sent them back to die in the death camps.

Nor can any American be particularly proud of the fact that at the same time as this was all happening the laws and practices in the United States, both North and South, effectively made African-Americans second class citizens. Lynchings, castrations, and floggings of Blacks happened on a regular basis, often with the assistance of local government  without any Federal government move to stop them.

Indeed, Franklin Roosevelt's Democrat majority routinely voted down proposed laws that would have protected Blacks from the most murderous of the activities of White supremacists.

There is an old teaching that applies here: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

EDIT@Millie: It is not precisely correct to say the the Vichy government was not elected. It was created by the legal vote of  the duly elected National Assembly on July 10, 1940.

Most of the members of the Vichy government were themselves duly elected deputies and almost all had held positions in previous govenments.

The civil jurisdiction of the Vichy government extended over the whole of metropolitan France including that part occupied by the Germans.

The 25-35 thousand members of the French Milice actively worked with the Germans to round up Jews and participated in torture and murder. This was more than merely handing over dossiers (although that was, by itself, a despicable act).

Thousands more Frenchmen joined the SS and fought on the side of the n***s. The 33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr. 1) was composed of French volunteers. Some of the last troops defending Hitler in his bunker in Berlin were members of the Charlamagne Divison.

So the fact is that they were not entirely blameless.

But the principle observation still holds. There is no country that does not have a legacy of dark deeds.

We should forgive but never forget.