Amid the beauty, horror hiding in plain sight

Sometimes history, important, terrible history, is right there for us to see. It’s hiding in plain view. It’s not that we don’t want to know about it, or are purposefully avoiding it. No, more often it’s that we simply don’t see it —either because we’re too busy or too distracted. 

That can happen in Paris, a complex city of juxtaposing beauty and tragedy. There is the Paris of charming cafes, quaint neighborhoods, wide open boulevards and iconic marble monuments and museums. Enmeshed within that Paris is the Paris of the Shoah, also marked by marble and stone monuments. Left Bank, Right Bank monuments honor the memory of Jews and others murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Found on streets where they were killed, on squares where they were herded before being deported to concentration camps.

 What can be missed in the press of time is that the beauty and the horror often exist physically side by side in one place.

 Time. That’s often the kicker on vacations. We have a finite amount of time and a potentially infinite list of “must/want to see”. We pick our priorities, often rushing our visits as we try cramming in as much as possible.

So what does that have to do with Shoah in Paris?

Everything, as I learned during a stay on the beautiful small Île Saint-Louis. I’d read about the island before arriving. Perhaps my search hadn’t been sufficiently deep as none of the articles talked about Jews having lived there. So it hadn’t occurred to me that I should be looking for Shoah memorials.

During my first week, I wandered immersing myself in this picturesque village. I stopped in the shops with their “postcard perfect” displays of fruits, vegetables, cheeses and more. Learned about the island’s history by lingering in front of buildings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Reading the worn stone plaques on mansions where notables such as Baudelaire, Chopin, Marie Curie, Rene Cassin and George Pompidou had lived.

It wasn’t until the very end of my first week that I realized there was Shoah history hiding in plain sight on this picturesque place.

I headed out one morning from where I was staying. I knew, but hadn’t paid much attention, to the school next door at #21 rue Saint-Louis d’en L’Île. But on this particular day, I paused on the sidewalk for parents walking children to the school’s wrought iron gates.

As I was waiting, a bouquet of dried flowers halfway up the outside wall caught my eye for the first time. Bound with a ribbon, attached at an angle across part of a dark colored stone plaque. Moving closer, I craned my head back as the plaque was well above my eye level.

One word jumped out — and I was immediately chilled despite the warm sun:  Nazie

The exact inscription, in caps and as spaced below, reads:

A LA MÉMOIRE
DES ELEVES DE CETTE ÉCOLE
DEPORTÉS DE 1942 À 1944
PARCE QU’ILS ÉTAIENT NÉS JUIFS.
 VICTIMES INNOCENTS
DE LA BARBARIE NAZIE
DU GOUVERNEMENT DE VICHY.
ILS FURENT EXTERMINÉS
DANS LES CAMPS DE LA MORT.

 ________                                            NE LES OUBLIONS JAMAIS                                 

(A bouquet covers the date)

TO THE MEMORY
OF THE STUDENTS OF THIS SCHOOL
DEPORTED BETWEEN 1942 TO 1944
BECAUSE THEY WERE BORN JEWS.
INNOCENT VICTIMS
OF NAZI BARBARISM
WITH THE ACTIVE COMPLICITY
OF THE VICHY GOVERNMENT.
THEY WERE EXTERMINATED
IN THE DEATH CAMPS.

________                                               NEVER FORGET THEM

Finding this plaque happened because I’d paused before starting my walk that day. Would I have found it another day? Maybe. All I know is that I did that morning. Sometimes more than time and interest are needed to make discoveries. It takes looking up beyond the obvious at eye-level and working without the help of a guidebook.

 Armed with this knowledge, I repeated my prior walks, now purposefully looking up at mid-level and higher points on walls.

On Rue Poulletier, another operational school with this plaque:

A LA MÉMOIRE DES PETITS ENFANTS
DE CETTE ÉCOLE MATERNELLE
 DEPORTÉS DE 1942 À 1944
 PARCE QU’ILS ÉTAIENT NÉS JUIFS.
VICTIMES INNOCENTES
DE LA BARBARIE NAZIE
 AVEC LA COMPLICITÉ ACTIVE
DU GOUVERNEMENT VICHY.
 ILS FURENT EXTERMINÉS
DANS LES CAMPS DE LA MORT.

 2 OCTOBRE 2004                               NE LES OUBLIONS JAMAIS

—————————

 TO THE MEMORY OF THE SMALL CHILDREN
  OF THIS NURSERY SCHOOL
 DEPORTED BETWEEN 1942 TO 1944
 BECAUSE THEY WERE BORN JEWS.
 INNOCENT VICTIMS
OF NAZI BARBARISM
 WITH THE ACTIVE COMPLICITY
OF THE VICHY GOVERNMENT.
 THEY WERE EXTERMINATED
IN THE DEATH CAMPS.

2 OCTOBER 2004                                    NEVER FORGET THEM

Then, on a building now housing a Carrefour Express. Turning left onto Rue des Deux-Ponts, a white stone plaque mid-way up the wall:

 A LA MÉMOIRE
 DES 112 HABITANTS
DE CETTE MAISON
DONT 40 PETITS ENFANTS
DEPORTÉS ET MORTS
DANS LES CAMP ALLEMANDS
EN 1942

         ——————       

TO THE MEMORY
 OF THE 112 INHABITANTS
 OF THIS HOUSE
 INCLUDING 40 SMALL CHILDREN
DEPORTED AND DIED
 IN THE GERMAN CAMPS
 IN 1942

Finally, a plaque honoring Charles Lederman at #4 rue Saint-Louis d’en L’Île:

ICI VECUIT
 CHARLES LEDERMAN
 1913-1998
 AVOCAT
DIRIGEANT
 DU PARTI COMMUNISTE FRANCAIS
 CONSEILLER DE PARIS
  SÉNATEUR DU VAL DE MARNE
 PRÉSIDENT DE L’UNION DES JUIFS
POUR LA RESISTANCE
ET L’ENTRAIDE
ORGANISATEUR DE RÉSEAUX
 DE SAUVETAGE D’ENFANT JUIFS
  COMBATTANT ANTIFASCISTs

——————————

 HERE LIVED
 CHARLES LEDERMAN
 1913-1998
  LAWYER
  LEADER
 OF THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY
COUNSELOR OF PARIS
SENATOR OF VAL DE MARNE
  PRESIDENT OF THE UNION OF JEWS
  FOR THE RESISTANCE
 AND MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
 ORGANIZER OF NETWORKS
FOR THE RESCUE OF JEWISH CHILDREN
  ANTI-FASCIST FIGHTER

It wasn’t that I hadn’t wanted to find this history. No, it was much more straightforward: everything on the island was captivating and attention grabbing. Whether it was sitting at one of the cafes with the view of Notre Dame Cathedral on the adjacent island; or leisurely doing food shopping at small markets; or going out early for coffee at a corner cafe.

There’s another, very human reason people might not see these plaques. Again, I speak from personal experience.

During a short prior visit to Paris, I dashed over the bridge connecting Île de la Cité to Île Saint-Louis after looking at Notre Dame Cathedral. My only goal was buying a cup of the famous Berthillon ice cream at its original Île Saint-Louis location.

 With ice cream cup firmly in hand, I quickly walked back to my hotel. Walking right by the plaque to the 112 inhabitants of the home that now houses the Carrefour Express and is right around the corner from the original Berthillon store.

So I understand completely that people who are happily enjoying their Berthillon ice cream wouldn’t glance up at the wall as they round the corner onto Rue des Deux-Ponts or see the other plaques as they roam the island.

Yes, the Shoah of Paris is there, hiding in plain sight where one least expects to discover it. If you go to the Île Saint-Louis, consider taking the time to wander, to find these plaques, to pause and learn and honor the memory of the Jewish community that once thrived there and is no more.