Paris gets memorial for gay victims of persecution / Photo: Kiran RIDLEY, Kiran RIDLEY - AFP
RBGPF
-13.5000
The Japan Times - Paris gets memorial for gay victims of persecution
EUR
-
AED 4.229988
AFN 73.146945
ALL 96.133079
AMD 434.212947
ANG 2.061819
AOA 1056.200947
ARS 1595.729488
AUD 1.676138
AWG 2.073241
AZN 1.95884
BAM 1.9575
BBD 2.319785
BDT 141.322745
BGN 1.968783
BHD 0.434815
BIF 3421.327021
BMD 1.1518
BND 1.483169
BOB 7.988181
BRL 6.046028
BSD 1.151795
BTN 109.176408
BWP 15.880861
BYN 3.428493
BYR 22575.287657
BZD 2.316392
CAD 1.600253
CDF 2628.988678
CHF 0.919315
CLF 0.02693
CLP 1063.36549
CNY 7.961072
CNH 7.958342
COP 4233.211976
CRC 534.857582
CUC 1.1518
CUP 30.52271
CVE 110.369005
CZK 24.518422
DJF 205.093682
DKK 7.472328
DOP 68.558058
DZD 153.334083
EGP 61.736268
ERN 17.277006
ETB 178.048178
FJD 2.580321
FKP 0.866974
GBP 0.867284
GEL 3.086771
GGP 0.866974
GHS 12.620455
GIP 0.866974
GMD 84.656271
GNF 10098.639609
GTQ 8.815384
GYD 241.106739
HKD 9.021621
HNL 30.579896
HRK 7.535884
HTG 150.976542
HUF 389.090264
IDR 19570.240438
ILS 3.616135
IMP 0.866974
INR 108.896278
IQD 1508.830137
IRR 1512601.862779
ISK 143.606561
JEP 0.866974
JMD 181.293527
JOD 0.816578
JPY 183.86078
KES 149.734428
KGS 100.724635
KHR 4612.886352
KMF 492.970864
KPW 1036.623761
KRW 1744.390407
KWD 0.354775
KYD 0.959846
KZT 556.830884
LAK 25050.648874
LBP 103140.830206
LKR 362.813545
LRD 211.358254
LSL 19.777978
LTL 3.400967
LVL 0.696713
LYD 7.352226
MAD 10.765177
MDL 20.230571
MGA 4800.106597
MKD 61.676346
MMK 2417.436221
MNT 4113.24352
MOP 9.293293
MRU 45.987343
MUR 54.017007
MVR 17.795778
MWK 1997.10857
MXN 20.796407
MYR 4.629663
MZN 73.657744
NAD 19.778236
NGN 1591.99517
NIO 42.386262
NOK 11.212362
NPR 174.665914
NZD 2.005595
OMR 0.442792
PAB 1.151815
PEN 4.012185
PGK 4.977258
PHP 69.977059
PKR 321.451413
PLN 4.279935
PYG 7530.377025
QAR 4.199475
RON 5.097752
RSD 117.405319
RUB 93.874992
RWF 1681.924321
SAR 4.322129
SBD 9.262822
SCR 17.163771
SDG 692.232263
SEK 10.889179
SGD 1.482949
SHP 0.864149
SLE 28.276608
SLL 24152.69076
SOS 658.257439
SRD 43.308822
STD 23839.942611
STN 24.520978
SVC 10.077884
SYP 127.305795
SZL 19.775833
THB 37.764652
TJS 11.005823
TMT 4.031301
TND 3.395971
TOP 2.773258
TRY 51.215473
TTD 7.825763
TWD 36.869937
TZS 2977.40446
UAH 50.484891
UGX 4290.85719
USD 1.1518
UYU 46.623733
UZS 14046.382845
VES 538.960062
VND 30332.663288
VUV 137.508177
WST 3.196803
XAF 656.512961
XAG 0.016275
XAU 0.000254
XCD 3.112798
XCG 2.07583
XDR 0.816616
XOF 656.512961
XPF 119.331742
YER 274.819021
ZAR 19.662788
ZMK 10367.582559
ZMW 21.681643
ZWL 370.879256
- Undav rescues Germany late in Ghana friendly
- Messi to start for Argentina in World Cup send-off: Scaloni
- Oil rises on Trump's Iran threats, stocks mixed
- After pope's remark, White House defends praying for US troops
- Powell probe leaves US Fed leadership change in limbo
- Celine Dion announces comeback following health struggle
- 'Is it Kafka?' US judge baffled by new Pentagon press policy
- Cubans ready for Russian oil but some say not enough
- Teen Suryavanshi shines as Rajasthan hammer Chennai in IPL
- Stock market winners and losers one month into US-Israel war on Iran
Paris gets memorial for gay victims of persecution
The city of Paris on Saturday inaugurated a memorial dedicated to people persecuted for being homosexual during the Second World War but also "throughout history", mayor Anne Hidalgo said.
The three-ton installation was erected near the Bastille in central Paris to mark International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
"Recognition means to say 'this happened' and to say 'we don't want this to happen again'," Hidalgo said.
"We must fight against denial and trivialisation," she said, adding: "Today there are powerful and extremely dangerous headwinds that would like to deny this kind of diversity."
The monument, by artist Jean-Luc Verna, consists of an large star-shaped structure made of steel.
Unlike cities like Sydney, Barcelona or Amsterdam, Paris rejected incorporating the yellow star that Nazis made Jews wear in the installation.
This, officials said, was to allow current victims of persecution to be included in the tribute.
"It is important that this memorial be not just a simple symbolic tribute, but a transmission tool, a public act of recognition and a space for questions about past discriminations but also those that continue today," said Jean-Baptiste Trieu, president of the "Les Oublie.es de la mémoire" association that fights against discrimination of LGBTQ+ people.
"Rights are never won forever," he said.
Artist Verna said that downward facing black side of the star represents "the burned bodies, the mourning but also the shadow, warning us that these things can happen again".
The upward side, mirroring the sky, "represents the present, with the colours of passing time and the sky over Paris that changes as quickly as public opinion can turn", he said.
According to historians' estimates, between 5,000 and 15,000 people in Europe were sent to concentration camps during World War II by the Nazi government for being homosexual.
Figures for France alone range from around 60 to around 200.
After decades of near-silence surrounding such persecutions in wartime France, former prime minister Lionel Jospin publicly addressed the issue in 2001, launching a process of recognition that was continued by former president Jacques Chirac.
T.Ikeda--JT
