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The 8th September 2021 marked the beginning of the lengthy trial on the attacks which took place on November 13th 2015. This series of incidents left more than 130 dead and 400 wounded, Here is a short description in French of the event and trial. La plus grande audience criminel jamais organisée en France s’est ouverte mercredi 8 septembre au Palais de Justice à Paris: le procès s'appelle ‘V13’ pour vendredi 13. Le 13 novembre 2015 un commando de terroristes ouvre le feu dans plusieurs endroits de Paris, et aussi au Bataclan en plein milieu d’un concert: bilan 131 morts et 413 blessés. C’est l’attentat au bilan le plus lourd commis sur le sol français. Six ans plus tard il y a donc un procès en France avec 1800 parties civiles, plus de 300 avocats, et même François Hollande l’ancien président de la France qui sera entendu. Pour l’occasion une salle d’audience spéciale a été construite dans l’ancien Palais de Justice et c’est la plus grande jamais construite en France. Sur le banc des accusés il y aura Salah Abdesalam le seul survivant des terroristes. Il est incarcéré depuis 2016. Il reste à savoir si Abdesalam recevra 20 ans de prison ou la prison à perpétuité. Le verdict du procès est attendu pour fin mai 2022. Translation into English The biggest court hearing ever organised in France opened on Thursday 8th September at the Palais de Justice in Paris: the trial is called V13 for vendredi/Friday 13th. On the 13 November a group of terrorists opened fire in several places in Paris, including at the Bataclan in the middle of a concert. These were the deadliest terror attacks on French soil in modern times leaving 131 deaths and 413 inured. Six years later the trial has 1800 civil parties, more than 300 lawyers and even François Hollande the former French president will be there. For the occasion a special court room has been built inside the former Palais de Justice, the biggest ever built in France. The only survivor of the terrorists Salah Abdesalam who will be there. He has been in prison since 2016, and is likely to be sentenced to either 20 years in prison or life in prison. The verdict of the trial is expected at the end of May 2022. The Cluny museum and its astronomical past - Le musée de Cluny et son histoire astronomique10/31/2020 The pictures show the Cluny museum past and present, Joseph Delisle, Charles Messier (left to right)
The Cluny museum and its astronomical past 'Confinements', (lock downs) leading to empty streets, shuttered cafes and deserted train stations...I was going to write all about covid related vocabulary in French, but decided it was far too dreary. Maybe that’s for another day when this is all over. So instead let’s have a throw back to one of my favourite buildings in Paris: le musée de Cluny. This is an eye-catching building in Paris’s 5th arrondissement and has a rich history as you will read below. The musée de Cluny has an attractive and very photogenic gothic style architecture as well as a history which is closely associated with astronomy. Today it houses the Musée national du moyen-âge (museum of the middle ages). Situated in the heart of the Latin quarter of Paris between the Sorbonne and the boulevard Saint-Michel, this 15th century building used to be the town house where the abbots of Cluny from Burgundy stayed when they visited Paris. This area of Paris is normally busy with local people, students and lots of tourists, but as you enter the gardens near the building it's still possible to capture the essence of what this place might have been like in the 18th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries this building was used and shared by several different owners and tenants including astronomers and their students. The first famous astronomer was Joseph Delisle (1688-1768) who had returned to Paris after making his fortune running the new observatory at St Petersburg. Once back in Paris in 1747 he built a new wooden observatory in the tower of the hôtel Cluny where he could continue his observations in peace and teach his students. One famous student of Delisle's was Charles Messier 1730-1817) who was born on 26 June 1730 in Badonviller, Lorraine. Messier loved astronomy and found a job working for Delisle where one of his first tasks was to copy a large map of China. Messier used the Cluny observatory throughout his professional life until shortly before he died in 1817. In 1757 he began to research Halley’s comet using charts Delisle had prepared (though not quite correctly); and searching with a small reflecting telescope on 21 November 1759 he located the comet although it had been seen on 25 December 1758 by a German amateur astronomer. Afterwards Messier became dedicated to searching for comets and was said to have discovered 21 of them by 1798. He went on to observe the comet-like objects (the Messier objects) that became the most famous catalogue of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters in astronomy. _______________________________ Le musée de Cluny et son histoire astronomique Cet édifice de style gothique possède une histoire étroitement liée à l’astronomie. Aujourd’hui le bâtiment abrite le Musée national du moyen-âge et expose près de 2300 oeuvres; il se trouve au coeur du Quartier latin de Paris entre la Sorbonne et le boulevard Saint-Michel. Autrefois ce bâtiment était utilisé comme l’hôtel particulier des abbés de Cluny en Bourgogne quand ils visitaient Paris. Au 17e et 18e siècles l’hôtel Cluny est partagé entre plusieurs propriétaires et locataires dont quelques astronomes et leurs étudiants. D’abord l’astronome Joseph Delisle (1688-1768), qui venait de rentrer de la Russie a construit un observatoire en bois dans la tour de l’hôtel Cluny pour continuer ses recherches et pour pouvoir enseigner ses élèves. Charles Messier (l'un des etudiants de Delisle) est né le 26 juin 1730 à Badonviller, Lorraine(1730-1817) et lui aussi était un étudiant de Delisle à Cluny. Il adorait l’astronomie et a trouvé un emploi où il est chargé d’abord de copier une carte de la Grande muraille de la Chine. Puis en 1757 Messier a commencé a travailler à Cluny avec Delisle et a recherché la comète de Halley en utilisant les chartes calculé par Delisle. Mais les calculs n’étant pas exact il ne découvre la comète que le 21 janvier 1759. Un astronome allemand l’avait déjà vu le 25 décembre 1758. Bientôt après, Messier se plonge dans l’observation des comètes, ce qui lui vaut le surnom par Louis XV de « Furet des Comètes ». En 1798 il en avait découvert 21 et il a produit la catalogue Messier la catalogue la plus célèbre de galaxies, de nebulae et d’amas globaires. A bit of history and a bit of France.
This is about an event that took place on 10th June 1944 in a small town in Limousin. It could be of interest to anyone, but also relevant to the Edexcel A level topic - Occupation and Resistance. The massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane Oradour-sur-Glane is a village situated 22km north west of Limoges. It is a place famous for the massacre of 642 men, women and children, the biggest civilian massacre carried out by the German army on French soil. But why did this massacre happen in a peaceful place nestled in the Limousin countryside? On the 10th June 1944 a nazi commander heard that resistance fighters in Oradour-sur-Vayres (a village 30km south west of Oradour-sur-Glane) were holding hostage a German officer. So a German battalion (which had confused the two Oradours) encircled Oradour-sur-Glane, and on the pretext of an identity check they ordered all the inhabitants: men, women and children, to gather on the main town square. The residents were separated into two groups (one of women and children, the other of men.) These 642 people were massacred: the men shot down, the women and children burned to death in the village church. Six residents managed to escape. Classed as a historic monument in 1946 the ruins of the 'martyred village' attract thousands of visitors every year. Today Robert Hébras, aged 94, is the last living survivor of the massacre. He survived by pretending to be dead under the bodies of his friends and neighbours, then at the very last moment he ran away although he was injured by the fire. His mother and two of his sisters died, but his father who happened to be at a farm in a nearby village, and his elder sister who no longer lived in Oradour, also survived. Later on Robert actively participated in the Resistance until the Nazis were driven out of France, then he went on to campaign for reconciliation between France, Germany and Austria. Today he continues to preserve the memory of Oradour and gives guided tours of the village to school children and tourists. If you visit the memorial museum at Oradour-sur-Glane you will be see the words, ‘Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it’, Georges Santayana (1863-1952). Thanks to the work of Robert Hébras the residents of the 'martyred village' will never be forgotten. Le massacre d’Oradour-sur-Glane Oradour-sur-Glane est un village situé à 22km au nord-ouest de Limoges. C’est un endroit connu pour le massacre de 642 hommes, femmes et enfants: le plus grand massacre de civils perpetré par l’armée allemande sur le sol français. Mais pourquoi y a-t-il eu un massacre dans ce petit village paisible? Le 10 juin 1944 un commandant nazi a entendu que des résistants à Oradour-sur-Vayres (un village situé à 30km au sud-ouest d’Oradour-sur-Glane) retenait un officier allemand en otage. Donc un bataillon allemand (qui avait confondu les deux Oradours) a bouclé Oradour-sur-Glane. Prétextant un contrôle d'identité, ils ordonnent à toute la population, aussi bien les femmes, les hommes que les enfants, de se réunir sur la place principale du bourg. Tous obéissent sans un mot. Les militaires les séparent alors en deux groupes: d'une part les femmes et les enfants, de l'autre les hommes. Ces 642 sont massacrés (les hommes mitraillés, les femmes et les enfants brûlés dans l’église) Six résidents ont réussi à se sauver. Classées monument historique en 1946, les ruines du village martyr sont visitées chaque année par des milliers de personnes. Aujourd’hui Robert Hébras, âgé de 94 ans, est le dernier des six survivants du massacre. Il a survécu en faisant la mort sous les corps de ses amis, et à la dernière minute il s’est sauvé. Par la suite il a participé activement à la Résistance. Aujourd’hui il continue à preserver le souvenir d’Oradour et donne des visites guidées du village aux lycéens et aux touristes. Si vous visitez le musée memorial d’Oradour vous verrez les mots, ‘Ceux qui oublient le passé se condamnent à le revivre’: Georges Santayana (1863-1952). |