France: Vendôme mayor refuses to honor those who saved Jewish children from Holocaust for fear of offending Muslims

Laurent Brillard knows who France’s new overlords are, and is behaving accordingly.

“When honoring the Righteous becomes complicated in France,” translated from “Quand honorer les Justes devient compliqué en France,” by François-Guillaume Lorrain, Le Point, April 12, 2025 (thanks to Medforth):

“I’m disappointed, unhappy, and beside myself. I wasn’t born in Paris in 1933, I was born in Vendôme in 1942, when the Philippeaus hid me in their home, at 71 rue de la Mare, with my sister…” On April 7, Arlette Testyler-Reimann, president of the Union of Auschwitz Deportees, learned that the Righteous Among the Nations medal ceremony in tribute to Jean and Jeanne Philippeau, cobblers in Vendôme, would not take place in that city.

With due formality—”it is with deep regret”—the city’s chief of staff, Jean-Philippe Boutaric, announced to Paul Sebaoun, the regional delegate of the French Committee for Yad Vashem (CFYV), the organization that co-organizes the ceremonies for the Righteous, “the decision taken jointly by the city’s elected officials not to host the ceremony for the awarding of the Righteous Medal.” A first in France.

First step: the postponement
On March 18, Paul Sebaoun was received at Vendôme town hall by the UDI mayor, Laurent Brillard, and his chief of staff, Jean-Philippe Boutaric: “There was a good reception,” Paul Sebaoun recalls. “We agreed on a date to be confirmed, May 28; the mayor had no objection to that date.” We had discussed two possible municipal halls, one with a capacity of around 100 people, the other 300.”

The mayor then promised to get back to him because he had to refer the matter to his majority. On March 23, the CFYV delegate received an email from Jean-Philippe Boutaric informing him that the mayor had therefore consulted with elected officials from his party, an LR-UDI-DVD alliance, and that they had expressed the wish to postpone the ceremony until after the municipal elections, i.e., after March 2026. Two reasons were then given: “The proximity of the local elections, which risks limiting the full mobilization of the municipality and the local population around this major event… The current geopolitical context, marked by the conflict between the State of Israel and Hamas, which is arousing particular sensitivities within our various communities.”

Second step: discussion
After consulting Patrick Klugman, president of the French Committee for Yad Vashem, and its vice-president, François Guggenheim, Paul Sebaoun sent a response on March 30th to urge the Vendôme town hall to reconsider its decision. His first argument: “For Arlette Testyler-Reimann, aged 92, time is running out and her testimony, which is very rewarding for Vendôme, is precious…” “It should have been an honor for Vendôme,” she confirmed. “I wanted to organize a big celebration and also thank this town.”

Paul Sebaoun’s second obvious argument: “We are a long way from the local elections, which will be held in a year. Moreover, a ceremony that honors the Vendôme population in all its diversity can only be unifying.” » Faced with the city hall’s reasoning, which emphasizes the existence of different communities, undoubtedly alluding to the city’s Turkish community or to the “F**k Israel” slogans spray-painted in a neighborhood, the CFYV, on the contrary, speaks of an opportunity to bring together Jews and non-Jews, as happens every year in France during these medal ceremonies….