Southern French City to Unveil Statues of Lenin, Mao, and Perhaps Stalin

The latest idea to germinate in the egomaniacal brain of the leftist leader of the just-as-leftist Southern French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, writes Anne Devailly in Le Monde (for years, Georges Frêche has been attempting to have the region renamed Septimanie), is to bedeck the city of Montpellier with statues of the greats of the 20th century, ranging from De Gaulle, Churchill, and FDR to Lenin, Mao, and perhaps Stalin.

ontpellier avait déjà sa place Zeus, ses statues de Robespierre, Danton et Périclès. Ce panthéon va bientôt être complété, selon la volonté de Georges Frêche, par les statues en bronze de 3 mètres de haut de dix grands hommes du XXe siècle : Lénine, de Gaulle, Jaurès, Churchill et Roosevelt, bientôt rejoints par Golda Meir, Nasser, Mao Tsé-Toung, Gandhi et Mandela.

…celui qu'on appelle parfois le « Roi de Septimanie » avoue dans la foulée qu'une statue de Staline pourrait, pourquoi pas, trôner à Montpellier un jour ou l'autre : « L'homme n'est pas un chef d'Etat, c'est un bourreau », mais « il y a, entre deux massacres, un moment capital pour Staline : c'est Stalingrad. N'oublions pas que ce sont les Russes qui ont changé le cours de la seconde guerre mondiale. » Pour cette raison, Georges Frêche verrait bien Staline rejoindre les dix déjà élus. « Un jour, oui. Mais il faut attendre, attendre que ça mûrisse. Les gens ont du mal à comprendre que lorsqu'on glorifie un homme, on glorifie les moments les plus importants. »

Montpellier already has its Zeus Square and its statues of Robespierre, Danton, and Pericles, writes Anne Devailly in Le Monde.

This pantheon will soon be joined, according to the wishes of Georges Frêche, by 3-meter-high bronze statues of ten important men of the twentieth century: Lenin, de Gaulle, Jaurès, Churchill, and Roosevelt, soon joined by Golda Meir, Nasser, Mao Zedong, Gandhi, and Mandela.

…The man sometimes called the "King of Septimania" admits that one day, a statue of Stalin might — why not — be unveiled in Montpellier: "The man was not a head of state, he was an executioner." However [the "but" moment comes here], "between two massacres, there is a defining moment for Stalin: Stalingrad. Let's not forget that it was the Russians who changed the course of the Second World War." For this reason, Georges Frêche wouldn't mind seeing Stalin join the ten already chosen. "One day, yes. But we must wait, wait for it [for the idea] to mature. People have difficulty understanding that when a man is glorified, he is glorified for the most important moments" [of his life and his career].