In France, Trump-like TV pundit rocks presidential campaign

PARIS – A subsister of the unspeakable travel to Auschwitz remembered however the youngest wailed. There were 99 children squeezed among 751 adults gasping for air, crazed by thirst and hunger, aboard convoy No. 63 that departed Paris astatine 10 minutes past midday connected Dec. 17, 1943.

The 828 murdered astatine the decease campy from that trainload unsocial included 3-year-old Francine Baur, her sister Myriam, 9, their brothers Antoine and Pierre, 6 and 10, and their parents Odette and André.

All calved successful France, their French citizenship proved worthless nether France's wartime Vichy authorities that teamed up with the country's Nazi occupiers and their extermination of Jews.

So erstwhile André Baur's great-nephew, a Paris mayor, was catching up connected his Twitter provender precocious and saw a assertion reported successful French media that Adolf Hitler's Vichy collaborators safeguarded France's Jews from the Holocaust, helium was revolted. Worst inactive successful the eyes of Ariel Weil, politician of the French capital's metropolis center, was that the debunked assertion came from a pretender for the French presidency who is himself Jewish.

Ad

That idiosyncratic is Eric Zemmour, a rabble-rousing tv pundit and writer with repeated convictions for hatred code who is uncovering fervent audiences for his anti-Islam, anti-immigration invective successful the aboriginal stages of France's statesmanlike race. He is packing auditoriums with paying crowds and filling supporters' heads with visions of a Trump-like leap from tiny surface to the statesmanlike Elysee Palace erstwhile France votes successful April.

Although not yet officially declared arsenic a candidate, Zemmour has truthful acold dictated the people and tenor of the campaign. With climbing canvass numbers, present consistently successful treble digits, and a Trump-like knack for generating buzz — caller video of him pointing a sniper firearm astatine journalists is racking up millions of views — Zemmour is sucking airtime from declared contenders.

He has besides destabilized them by hammering connected astir migration and the mortal information helium says it poses to France, making it harder for mainstream rivals to steer run speech backmost to themes — combating clime change, post-pandemic rebuilding and suchlike — they privation to absorption on.

Ad

Zemmour is acting arsenic a statesmanlike contender successful each but name. Supporters are soliciting funds and the backing from elected officials that candidates request to run. Shown the firearm astatine a information amusement by an exhibitor who said, “When you are president, Mr. Zemmour,” helium interjected, “Yes.”

That is simply a horrifying script for French Jews who are appalled by Zemmour's sugarcoating of the Vichy authorities that was led by World War I leader Marshal Philippe Petain. He was tried and sentenced to decease astatine World War II's end, subsequently commuted to beingness imprisonment.

That Zemmour is himself a descendant of Berber Jews from Algeria, a household past helium talks astir proudly, deepened the wounded for Jews who mislaid relatives to the Holocaust.

“Just due to the fact that helium is Jewish, helium is doing thing that cipher other tin do, and that is conscionable disgusting,” Weil told The Associated Press successful an interview. “History is analyzable but this is precise simple: Petain did not support the French Jews.”

Ad

The frightened men, women and children herded aboard convoy No. 63 swelled what, by World War II’s end, became a shameful number of 74,182 Jews deported from France. Most were sent to their deaths successful Auschwitz, successful Nazi Germany-occupied Poland, wherever more than 1.1 cardinal radical perished.

A Paris tribunal successful February acquitted Zemmour connected a complaint of contesting crimes against humanity — amerciable successful France — for arguing successful a 2019 tv statement that Petain saved France's Jews from the Holocaust.

In its verdict, the tribunal said the deportation of overseas and French Jews “was implemented with the progressive information of the Vichy government, its officials, and its police.” Zemmour's comments negated Petain's relation successful the extermination, the tribunal added.

But successful acquitting Zemmour, it said he'd spoken successful the vigor of the moment. It besides noted that during the trial, Zemmour made a favoritism betwixt saying that “some French Jews" were saved (using the connection “des” successful French), which helium maintained was true, and saying “the French Jews” were saved (using the French connection “les”), a generality which helium said helium disavowed.

Ad

Yet past month, Zemmour employed “les" erstwhile expounding again connected Vichy successful different broadcast interview, saying: "I accidental that Vichy protected the French Jews and that it handed implicit the overseas Jews.”

“It's abominable, due to the fact that these mediocre radical died," helium added.

Lawyers who contention his tribunal acquittal program to mention that interrogation arsenic grounds erstwhile their entreaty is heard successful January.

Politically, astir threatened by Zemmour is French far-right person Marine Le Pen. Since losing the 2017 statesmanlike runoff to victor Emmanuel Macron, she has watered down immoderate of her argumentation proposals successful hopes of broadening her appeal. But Zemmour is chipping distant astatine her base, seemingly poaching Le Pen voters who fishy she's gone soft. Some polls suggest they are cervix and neck. But some consistently way Macron, who is expected to basal again.

While some represent migration arsenic a menace to French identity, Zemmour uses connection that Le Pen balks astatine and which his critics accidental positions him astatine the extremes of the acold right. In a state that officially regards itself arsenic colorblind and wherever nationalist treatment of contention is sometimes frowned upon, Zemmour is uncommon among governmental figures successful openly distinguishing betwixt tegument colors. At a caller rally successful Versailles, helium described woke civilization arsenic a crippled to marque “white, heterosexual, Catholic” men consciousness “so afloat of guilt” that they willingly wantonness their "culture and civilization."

Ad

On Vichy, Zemmour has sought of precocious to gully a enactment nether that topic. “I americium nary longer discussing humanities points that are discussed by historians," helium said successful Versailles.

But for French Jews, the harm is already done. Some fearfulness helium has muddied decades of enactment by Holocaust researchers to indelibly papers the horrors.

“He is denying thing that was evident, that cannot beryllium denied," said Eugenie Cayet, 84, whose begetter was deported from Paris to Auschwitz and killed.

“What's his goal? To rally each of Le Pen's votes down him.”

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.