Caen - Normandy
Venice and Normandy were the two focal points of this year's European summer vacation. Everything else came about by dart, roots or proximity. Suzanne had never been to either Venice or Normandy, was eager to go, and I wanted a shared experience of those two places with her. Bucket both.
Normandy is simply stunning. Small, dare I say quaint, villages lie in rolling hills, draped with clear rivers, dotted with pastures, farms and old cathedrals. If you are an agriculture person, you've gone to your dreamland, complete with clear cool Atlantic air and fabulous beaches.
Caen is the hometown of William the Conqueror who in 1066 led the last successful military invasion of England. He is buried there in Caen in a castle he built. During the Battle of Normandy in 1944, heavy fighting took place in and around Caen. British and Canadian troops had intended to liberate the town on D-Day; however they were held up until 9 July, when an intense bombing campaign destroyed 70% of the city and killed over 2,000 French civilians. During the battle, many of the town's inhabitants sought refuge in the Abbaye aux Hommes ("Men's Abbey"), built by William the Conqueror some 800 years before. The city preserved the battle's memory by erecting a memorial and a museum dedicated to peace, the Memorial de Caen which we visited. We also took a tour via bus of Omaha beach, Pointe du Hoc, the American cemetery, and Arromanches, where the Allies built an incredible temporary harbor to support the D-Day landings.
However what I wanted most with Suzanne Normandy-wise was a shared consciousness of June 6, 1944. It is my belief that every American should visit the Normandy Beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword), listen to the stories, and see what those Americans, British and Canadian soldiers accomplished on those beaches. If anyone can visit Normandy in this context and come away without a lump in their chest and a tear in their eye, I don't want to know them. In Normandy there are twenty-seven war cemeteries which hold the remains of over 110,000 dead soldiers from both sides: 77,866 German, 9,386 American, (most American dead were shipped back to the US) 17,769 British, 5,002 Canadian and 650 Poles. Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were killed, mainly as a result of Allied bombing. The United States alone suffered 125,847 casualties (dead and wounded) in the Battle of Normandy. The German high command knew that unless the Allies were thrown back into the sea that eventually the war would be lost. Think kitchen sink.
Anyone who knows me knows I am anti-war but Hitler had to be stopped. His murder machine had already killed millions of innocent people and would go on killing with ruthless efficiency until physically stopped. This is the place where it started to end, so it's important.
I know Hitler was neither the first nor the last to kill lots of innocent people. Pol Pot killed an estimated ten million in Cambodia in the 1970s, just for one example. The difference is, Hitler is ours. The German people did not create Hitler alone, we aided and abetted them. He was the product of Western economic and military policies. We need to own him and learn how to dance with that devil. We don't have to marry him or have him over for cocktails but we do need to understand our role in helping create him or we will repeat ourselves.
A belief system that makes it okay to have a feast while allowing our neighbors starve or that the only good yacht is the one that is larger than our friend's, will breed another Hitler. The only difference will be is that his or her killing machine will be even more deadly. It is not about the Hillary or the Donald - they are simply packaged products created by and for the system to be sold to us. Distractions. It's about the system. We will not change anything by attacking its products.
Imagine, People.
Next up: Austin, Texas
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