Tank in the rain
After over four decades of German occupation, Spicheren returned to France in 1919. However even before the start of Word War II, the Germans were back, building military fortifications on French soil as part of the Siegfried Line. During the war it remained in German hands until liberated by the Americans in 1945. In 1995, an American infantry regiment gave the village this tank.
The village and its military relics are now used by the French and German authorities as a means to remember the past while celebrating the current lack of frontiers. Around 30% of the inhabitants of Spicheren are German citizens and since 2005, teaching in the primary school has been bilingual.
Well, I'm not very keen on army, but maybe it's the proper way to remember the past - as long as it works, why not.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice weekend:)
Joo: With this blog, I mean to capture a bit of life in the area in which I live. As a border city that often switched between French and German administration and which is close to major battlefields and fortifications, Saarbrücken has many traces of Franco-German military rivalry, which I occasionally like to record.
ReplyDeleteBesides, if you do not have a feeling for the history, you do not understand how momentous it now is that the borders have disappeared completely and German is allowed as a language of instruction in French schools.
very interesting indeed
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