What an interesting historical twist this potentially is: France is considering nixing a public holiday on May 8, which is the same day that President Trump recently announced we will be celebrating as a working national holiday.
Partly to alleviate its suffocating debt, France’s prime minister proposes removing two of its public holidays, including “Victory in Europe Day“ on May 8. Conversely, President Trump recently announced two new national holidays to celebrate our great victories in the world wars, one of which is on May 8 to commemorate our WWII victory. They will be working holidays because he feels we have too many non-working public holidays; nevertheless, they will be deserved days to recognize our decisive role in winning the wars.
Contrast that to France’s indecisive role. Considering their relative “contributions” to WWII’s ultimate outcome, it is entirely proper that the French pare their parades and celebrations, while president Trump ups the ante on this side of the pond. Vichy France, constituting the southern part of the country, collaborated with the evil Germans, including those who were “just taking orders.” It’s as the Anglo-Irish philosopher Edmund Burke stated: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Amid the heart-wrenching dilemmas wartime leaders must confront, Sir Winston Churchill decided to blow some of the French fleet out of the water, lest it fall into the hands of the Germans. Combine that with the German blitzkrieg that devastated the once vaunted French army, and there’s not much they contributed to the victory — relative to the other allies, at least. If the prime minister’s proposal to scrap V.E. Day goes through, and the French return to work on May 8 to increase productivity, their V.E. Day celebrations may finally become proportional to their WWII military performance.
Yes, there were brave resistance fighters (often aided and organized from abroad), but it was overwhelming U.S. might and fight that were decisive. Therefore, even if the overt reasons for removing the V.E. holiday in France are budgetary, it’s also appropriate based on harsh historical realities. As the saying goes, “they’d be speaking German were it not for...”
France still gets its chance to shine. Indeed, the French do an admirable job of hosting D-Day remembrances (Ronald Reagan gave a poignant speech on the cliffs on Normandy in 1984), including paying homage to the allies who liberated their country — particularly Americans. They should indeed be gracious and contrite on June 6 rather than celebratory on May 8.
If the French prime minister’s plan to remove the May 8 holiday is consummated, there will be some poetic historical justice. They were vanquished in about six weeks (May–June 1940), then relied upon allies — from bases in Southern England — to Overlord the Germans and cleanse their country of Nazi stains. France still has the opportunity to show gratitude on D-Day (June 6) while restraining their fête de la victoire on May 8.
Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.