On the role of the president of the state in the process of the reconciliation with past: French experience

pages: 56-77

Abstract

The article analyzes the role of the presidents of French Fifth Republic in the process of the French reconciliation with its Vichy past, i.e. with collaboration and participation in the Final solution of Jewish question in Europe during Second World War. It is analyzed De Gaulle’s creation of “resistancialist myth”; Mitterrand’s Pre-War as well as War past, his friendship with R. Bousquet and his refusal to speak at the Commemoration in 1992; Chirac’s speech in which he admitted collective responsibility of France and Frenchmen. In the final chapter, on the basis of the French experience, some conclusions have been drawn which could be relevant for Serbia today. These are the most important ones: the building of the myth immediately following a traumatic period is an unavoidable phase; neither the political left nor right are a priori a positive factor in the process of the reconciliation with the past; the president of the state must have a “vision of the statesman”; the explicit verbal recognition of the responsibility is necessary. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179049] Keywords: De Gaulle, Mitterrand, Chirac, Vichy, Srebrenica, former Yugoslavia wars, resistancialist myth, collective responsibility