Liberation: Sixty Years Later

It’s memories like these that make one ask how we got into this position. Was it the Iraqi war and the so-called coalition that caused friction between France and the United States? Does a conflict mean we turn our backs on people from another country forever? What happened to the rift between Germany and the Allies, between Japan and Britain or the USA?. What is our present relationship with Russia? When did the words ‘cold war’ drop from use? Countries are friends then foes, then friends. That is part of the history of mankind.   So… politics, oil and the idea that we are right and they are wrong must finally be subordinated to the friendship that once was and the bloodshed of soldiers from both countries.   I am referring to the relationship between France and the USA. When I first heard of pouring French wines down the drain or refusing to eat, buy, import or even consider French cheeses, I was stunned. To me, it was an idiotic thing to go, especially for those among us who remember.   Was it not the French who helped the Americans in their war of independence? Does anyone remember Lafayette? How many Americans died on the beaches of Normandy in their drive to liberate their great ally? How could a warm relationship turn cold so quickly?   Yesterday was the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Paris. If you are old enough to remember, American and allied tanks stormed into Paris, rid the city of the last German snipers and were greeted on the streets by jubilant Frenchmen and women who had endured almost four years of rule by a Nazi occupation.   Ceremonies that took place in Paris this week drew thousands of people into the streets to relive that moment of joy in 1944. I recall the scenes of men and women hugging and soldiers giving chocolate bars to children. Grown men wept as the Americans entered the battered city. It was a moment for the world to rejoice and it didn’t end there. The Americans continued right to Berlin for the cause we called Freedom. The relationship between all the Allied nations was firm.   So what happened? I’ll let you decide, but remember; pointing a finger is not the answer. Each country has their philosophy, their agenda. I am a Canadian and proud that our boys entered Paris, too. The joy was universal.   The people of Paris were totally shamed, hungry and beaten to their knees. It was only a miracle that saved Paris from being destroyed by the retreating armies. Paris had been spared and there was joy in the streets. Everyone kissed the Americans. They cried. They laughed. They embraced and a new Paris rose from the ashes.   Even Ernest Hemingway was there. He entered Paris as a correspondent in a jeep, stopped to visit the American bookseller and friend, Sylvia Beach who had owned the famous bookstore, Shakespeare and Co. Then he departed. “We’re off,” he said, “to liberate the wine cellar of the Ritz.” Typical Hemingway…   And the city celebrated while firefighters raised the tricolour on the Eiffel Tower. There are still shell marks in some buildings. There are memorials, monuments, museums and street names that remind us of those days from the storming of the beaches of Normandy to August 25th when Paris was freed.   That was sixty years ago (Aug.25th,1944). Unity filled the air. Can we have forgotten already? Maybe it’s time to break out that bottle of vintage Bordeaux and a bit of Brie. Maybe it’s time to drink a toast to those who resisted or fell from ALL countries to save France and democracy. By doing so, the American, Canadian, British, Australian, and French boys in the war cemeteries of France will rest more peacefully.   Lest we forget. Arnie Greenberg is a retired professor and freelance writer. He taught in Montreal area schools for 37 years, 25 at Vanier College. His specialty is modern France with a special emphasis on Paris in the 1920s.