Mrs. Wilson and I arrived in Paris, France late last night via our very last train ride (which we were quite happy to say). In our first official day in this beautiful and lively city, we toured the Concierge or the "bed of justice" during the French Revolution which was famous for its executions. One particular prisoner executed here was Marie Antoinette. We saw the cell were she wrote her final thoughts, received communion, and awaited her punishment. We walked through the cells and we read of the horrible treatments of the prisoners, and it all just seemed ridiculous to me. Throughout our trip, we have seen horrific pictures and read haunting accounts of Polish prisoners of war, European Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals who were all tortured by the Nazi regime, but this bizarre French prison just seemed crazy to me. The justice system pretended to a power it did not have and it all just left me angry. The French seemed chaotic in their regard to justice, but the Nazis were so calculated. I guess it all serves to remind us that power can be a truly dangerous thing in the hands of the wrong people. A favorite quote of mine by Abraham Lincoln sums this up nicely: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”
After the visit to this prison, Mrs. Wilson and I spent a good portion of our day in church! Much of our trip has been about balance. We have seen places of destruction and despair, but we have also seen amazingly beautiful sites that remind us why we are here and why we carry on, even with the sadness in our hearts. Many of these uplifting sites have been churches and today was no different. First we visited Saint Chapelle and saw some beautiful stain glass windows depicting the books of the Bible. Then we headed to the Notre Dame Cathederal of Paris. It is a massively beautiful church with so many arches, stain glass windows,paintings, statues, and side alters where we lit candles and said some final prayers of thanks for this wonderful trip.
Our final stop of the day was the Memorial de la Shoah. This is a Holocaust memorial dedicated to the the French Jews who were deported and killed by the Nazis. This was a very different museum/memorial for us as it was created by the Jewish community of France and not the government of a city we were visiting. The museum had a more emotional feel to it because of that, whereas other museums seemed more fact based. It was interesting for us to see this side of presenting the information. During our trip through Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and now France. we have come at this topic from every possible angle and learned so much from each lens we tried on. I am soaking up the information from all our stops and hoping that I can use it all to deliver a better understanding of the people, places, and the times we read about in our novels of World War II and the Holocaust.
No comments:
Post a Comment