Ten days after the Glières plateau, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, continues this Tuesday, April 16, the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the landing in Drôme, in the south-east of France. . In Vassieux-en-Vercors he will pay tribute to the resistance fighters.
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This is the second stage of this memorial marathon where The head of state will preside over a commemorative ceremony in one of these Companions of the Liberation cities. HAS Vassieux-en-Vercors, the two-stage ceremony will take place from 3 p.m., first at the Resistance necropolis, then in front of the martyrology, a bas-relief listing the names of the victims on the main square, where the president will deliver a speech. It is doubly unique.
Emmanuel Macron will be the first president to pay tribute to this maquis which embodied “ a France inseparable from the Republic », Indicates the Élysée. Charles de Gaulle had only made one ” quick stop » in 1963, recalls the Élysée, while Nicolas Sarkozy visited the neighboring village of La Chapelle-en-Vercors in 2009.
The wait in the region is particularly high, points out Charlotte Urien-Tomaka of the political service. The Head of State did not wait for the traditional date of the tribute, set for July 21, but retained that of April 16, the date of the assault of the German Militia on the Vercors maquis. For someone close to the President, the choice of the date is assumed, because it is “ take the story as a whole to make a memory by showing all the gray areas. »
A step in the commemorations of the liberation
Two months before the European elections, with the National Rally very high in the polls. It is hard to imagine the Head of State not making a link when he spoke between the events in Vercors and the rise of populism at the moment.
For the Élysée, commemorating the Vercors is also an opportunity to discuss “ times when the French fought among themselves “. Shape “ from the invasion of the free zone » by the Nazis in November 1942, this maquis initially composed of “ refractories » in the service of compulsory labor – put in place by Vichy for the benefit of the occupier – included up to 4,000 men, including around fifty Senegalese riflemen and around thirty Polish high school students, a presidential advisor recalled to journalists.
The Head of State intends to emphasize the character “ copy » of this maquis, which shortly before the German assault had proclaimed itself “Free Republic of Vercors”, which the Élysée praises today as “ the incarnation of a France inseparable from the Republic “. This message of unity in this memorial sequence should allow the Head of State to take back control of a five-year term lacking narrative.
Liberation commemorations will experience one of their high points with the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, on June 6, which American President Joe Biden is expected to attend.