Pétain plaque to be removed from New York street
A plaque honouring France’s notorious wartime collaborator Maréchal Philippe Pétain is set to be removed from a street in New York.
Amid controversy in America over the removal of Confederate monuments due to associations with slavery, Pétain's entry among names in a ‘Canyon of Heroes’ is the latest historic memento to come under fire.
First flagged up by a Jerusalem Post writer a few months ago, the inscription of Pétain’s name in a granite strip across a pavement in Manhattan’s financial district – along with others such as Churchill and de Gaulle, dates back to a visit that he made in 1931, when he was widely admired. (The strips commemorate figures who were honoured in New York with tickertape parades, a tradition dating from the 19th century).
In that year the marshall was welcomed by confetti-strewing crowds as he paraded with John Pershing, commander of the American expeditionary forces in Europe in 1917, before being entertained lavishly at the town hall.
He was hailed as the ‘victor of Verdun’ for his role in the First World War.
However his name became infamous after he presided over the collaborationist ‘Vichy’ regime, which enforced racist laws and took part in the deportation of Jews.
At the end of the war Pétain was tried for treason and sentenced to death, commuted to life in prison where he died in 1951.
Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio said on Twitter: “After the violent events of Charlottesville the city of New York is going to undertake a three-month review of all symbols of hate in its territory. The commorative plaque for the Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain in the Canyon of Heroes will be one of the first to be removed.”
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind told The Jerusalem Post in May: “The idea that he would be in the Canyon of Heroes on any level is just unacceptable. He was involved in the final solution, plain and simple. He wasn’t forced to do things, he did them willingly and that is very, very clear.”
