Inauguration of the Place Moussa et Odette Abadi
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Introductory speech by Andrée Poch-Karsenti
(President of the association “Les Enfants et Amis Abadi”)
Madam Mayor, Deputy Mayor for Remembrance, Ladies and Gentlemen.
“Commemoration” does not necessarily mean sadness: it means making memory possible – remembering again, chronicling the past, places, events or people – and thereby passing on and telling the story. The pride of this moment, though tinged with nostalgia as we think of Odette and Moussa, is immense.
For ten years now, little by little, their acts of Resistance have been emerging from the shadows and testimonies have been recorded. A plaque has been placed on the walls of the Bishop’s Palace in Nice, recalling the help given to the Marcel network by Monseigneur Rémond. Teachers at the Collège and Lycée Morvan in the 9th arrondissement remember Odette as the school doctor, but they did not know what 527 children owed her: now a plaque at the school entrance tells the pupils, day after day.
A film, exhibitions, the Resistance competition and talks in schools support the task our association has set itself: that the memory of their courage should endure.
They settled in the rue de Reuilly after the war and lived there until their deaths, passing others by, anonymous. Thanks to you, Madam Mayor, they will be anonymous no longer. When a square bearing their names was first mentioned here two years ago, our enthusiasm was great – and now a garden square! In a garden square flowers and trees grow (Odette’s passion), but above all children play. They will echo those who today have been able to become grandparents thanks to the determination and courage of two young people.
What a fine tribute you initiated, Madame Blumenthal, as much wished for by you as by us: please accept our infinite thanks.
I now give the floor to one of the Abadi children.