-
Letters: I get more cold calls since signing up to Bloctel system
A reader discusses her frustrations with Bloctel not fielding cold calls adequately
-
Letters: There are only poor replacements for BBC Sounds in France
Corporation has closed down foreign access to the service
-
Comment: It is about time France put social media in its place
Columnist Nick Inman eyes President Macron's bold promise to ban the platforms' use by children if not done by EU
Camp trip was truly shocking
I read with interest the article on France’s only concentration camp ( Connexion, February issue ) as it awakened memories of an excursion to the Vosges mountains in 1956.
I was 15 when I had the unhappy misfortune to visit the camp by pure accident.
I was staying in the little spa town of Bains-les-Bains and one day was taken on a coach trip around that beautiful area, where people spoke a strange mixture of French and German.
We had had a wonderful day but had time to spare so the Alsatian driver drove us up into the mountains to see the camp.
I was stunned and shocked by what I saw.
The sight of the ovens and the huts where the prisoners were squeezed in while awaiting their fate was something I preferred to forget, while recognising only too well that this happened.
It was all a long way from Croydon, where my father had served as a police officer and at Christmas invited two Italian “trusties” and later two German “trusties” from the local prisoner-of-war camp for lunch. This was designed to show us that not all Italians or Germans were bad.
With hindsight, I realise that in those grey post-war years, the memories of the French must have been raw and I have come to understand why one of them spat on the grave of a German soldier.
All these memories and experiences have made me feel European to the core. I feel sad that the UK has left the union.
Deirdre Cooper, Bazoches-sur-Hoëne
Send your letters and comments by email to: news@connexionfrance.com
Stay informed:
Sign up to our free weekly e-newsletter
Subscribe to access all our online articles and receive our printed monthly newspaper The Connexion at your home. News analysis, features and practical help for English-speakers in France