Meeting at the Lycée d’Arsonval

December 2, 2024

How do you end a calendar year well when you want traces not to fade? Talking about the past seems a good solution, before the eraser of time does its work.

Invited by two history teachers at the Lycée d’Arsonval in Saint-Maur, on Monday, December 2, 2024 I met 75 final-year pupils taking the HGGSP specialism (History-Geography, Geopolitics and Political Science), as part of the topic “History and memories”, and specifically “The Jewish and Gypsy genocide”. The pupils had already watched the documentary “Le Réseau Marcel, Histoire d’un Réseau juif clandestin” and, the previous week, had seen the film “The Zone of Interest”.

Attentive, respectful, questioning, interested young people… teachers enthusiastic in their desire to pass on.

We continue the work for which our association was created: “Preserving the memory of Odette and Moussa Abadi and keeping alive the memory of the Shoah”.

A few comments from pupils.

MARJANE: The talk was very interesting and enriching, giving us real testimony from someone who survived and escaped the horror of the Nazi crimes. Being able to interact with Mrs Poch helped us better understand the lives of the children and of the people who saved them from deportation. It was a unique and rich moment, because it was unprepared testimony and so a real exchange between two generations, which helped keep the memory of the war alive.

ANGELINA: The talk was extremely enriching and taught me more about the Marcel network, whose existence I knew nothing about. I really liked looking more deeply at how Jewish children were protected during the Occupation. Mrs Poch’s unique testimony is very moving, and I really appreciate the chance I had to hear it. I very much hope others will have the chance to hear this powerful testimony.

THOMAS: Although I have often studied the Jewish genocide and the Second World War in class or on my own, this is the first time I have had the chance to speak to and ask questions of someone who lived through it personally. That is why I think it was a particularly interesting experience. Mrs Poch taught us much more about the Marcel network, and I sincerely thank her for taking the time to come and give us this talk.

GABRIELLE: It’s an experience many people never get the chance to have; nothing beats the testimony of a victim compared with what you can read in the media. A very touching moment that I will often tell my family about, because it made me even more aware than I already was.