Musée de L’Armée
The cliché that history is written by the victors of war appeared throughout our discussions before our departure to Europe. Now that we are here, I have found it important to filter all information for the biases each country has based on the experience of the country or current social and political reasons. As we navigated the different museums in France, The French had strategically worded their displays based on how they have recorded their history.
In particular, the museums enhanced the prevalence of the resistance movement in German-occupied France during the war. The Caen Memorial Museum claimed that France would have eventually freed itself from German rule without the help of the Allies. One passage said that although France fell so early in the war, their commitment to the resistance made them the equal victors as the United States and Britain. The literature we read prior to our departure never included that information nor gave enough evidence to support the alleged strength of the resistance movement. That is not to say that the information I was presented with did not include its own skewing of facts or biases. In addition, while at the Musée de L’Armée in Paris exaggerates the French involvement in Allied victories, while failing to mention any collaboration with the German deportation of French Jews to concentration camps.
While strolling through the Caen Memorial Museum, only a small plaque mentioned the Enigma code and gave credit to the Polish and some French code breakers, with no mention to the English code breakers at Bletchley Park. This information is not only biased but historically inaccurate. The French made little to no effort towards Enigma intelligence during the war. Considering the English were the most advanced code breakers, it is unfathomable that no information on their involvement would be mentioned. Of course, the French are not alone in misrepresenting Enigma, while at Bletchley Park in England the tour guide woefully understated the importance of Polish code breakers efforts towards breaking Enigma, instead giving mostly credit to English code breakers.
The French museums differed than other museums we had encountered in England however in how they addressed their own victimhood under the Germans. Much of the language alluded to Germany taking what they wanted from the French and holding the French captive in their own country. However, as was best demonstrated at Arromanches on the occupation and Allied liberation, the French were also the victims of their allies, Britain and the United States. The preparatory bombings prior to the invasion of France were necessary to ensure the break down of the German war machine. This left France in ruin and the French civilians in devastation. Mostly civilian lives, adults and children alike were lost in the bombings, leaving some tension between the Allies and the French who may have questioned the worth of the bombings.
The French museums in their recorded history skewed the facts to benefit national interests, such as separation from the horrors of the Third Reich. Yet, they also use their museums to bring about a different perspective than other Allied museums. The museums provide greater sympathy to all the lives devastated by the Allied bombing campaign to end the German war machine in France. The French museums are able to provide a different perspective than those from the other nations involved in the war who didn’t see the same level of destruction on their homeland. If I took any lesson away from France, it is that as historians it is important to filter everything we see for the potential biases they may hold for better or worse. In the future, I will be a more cognizant student of our own country’s reporting of history.