A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #362 - On the Art of Pantheonization (Marc Bloch) (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The current resident of the Élysée Palace is, after Napoleon I, the head 
of state who has had the greatest number of men and women interred in 
the Pantheon. This exercise in remembrance allows him to sidestep his 
unpopularity, and perhaps he hopes for a reciprocal gesture. --- After 
Simone and Antoine Veil, Maurice Genevoix, Josephine Baker, Mélinée and 
Missak Manouchian, and Robert Badinter, on June 23rd it was the turn of 
the historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch. Certainly the least 
known to the general public. What did he do to merit Macron's attention?

I think what interests Macron is Bloch's stance as a republican and 
patriot. Already, during the First World War, on June 1, 1915, he wrote 
a testamentary letter expressing his satisfaction at dying for his 
country: "When you read this letter, I will have ceased to live. I will 
have died 'fighting the enemy.' (...) I died certain of victory, and 
happy-yes, truly happy, I say it with all the sincerity of my soul-to 
shed my blood in this way." He would not die there, but this perfectly 
aligns with the mindset our warmongering President desires for the youth.

Moreover, Marc Bloch's patriotic spirit seems capable of broad unity. It 
stems from the French Revolution and can bring together people from the 
Socialist Party to certain segments of the far right. Bloch himself was 
not a political activist; he only briefly joined the SFIO (French 
Section of the Workers' International). His main political concern was 
to have French Jews considered good citizens like everyone else, which 
is commendable, especially at the time, but hardly revolutionary (after 
all, it dates back to 1791).

Furthermore, Macron has a fondness for members of the Resistance, 
especially when they have other talents: artist (Baker), poet 
(Manouchian), historian (Bloch). This is convenient when you want to 
honor someone who isn't too politically divisive. The division, as with 
the Manouchian family's interment in the Panthéon, stems from the 
presence of representatives from the National Rally (RN), contrary to 
the families' wishes. The descendants of the collaborators who applauded 
the execution of Bloch and his comrades on June 16, 1944, will have the 
right to attend the ceremony "since they are elected representatives of 
the Republic, that's the rule!"

The reasons why, despite this Macronist appropriation of his image, Marc 
Bloch remains an interesting figure to me are threefold:

As a medieval historian, he sought to reintegrate the common people and 
their living conditions into history. He founded, with Lucien Fèvre, the 
Annales d'histoire économique et sociale (Annals of Economic and Social 
History), readily crossing the boundaries of his field and engaging with 
intellectuals from other disciplines.

As a descendant of practicing Jews, but himself completely detached from 
religion, he was deeply suspicious of Jewish institutions, particularly 
the Consistoire. In a letter to the mathematician Jean Ulmo in April 
1941, he emphasized: "French Jews are French like everyone else and, for 
the most part, good French citizens. Therefore, there should be no 
general study on the 'Jewish problem,' on the characteristics of Judaism 
itself, etc." (...) Let's avoid giving weapons to those who would 
confine us to any kind of ghetto."

As a member of the Resistance, he didn't hesitate to commit himself 
personally, even unto death.

Finally, he was a modest, reserved person, yet he could discuss matters 
on equal footing with the farmers of the Creuse region as well as with 
Parisian intellectuals. Quite the opposite of the man who honored him in 
the Pantheon!

Alain, Limoges, June 23

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4762
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