Haute-Savoie- Soon a Joséphine Baker street in Annecy?
Unusual Un Annécien proposes to name a street in honor of the Franco-American artist, a character of the resistance under the occupation and an artist committed against racism.
On November 30, the Franco-American artist, Joséphine Baker, will be inducted into the Panthéon. She will be the first black woman to rest in the necropolis. A news which gave birth in the head of Vincent Szlingier, an Annecy, the idea of renaming a street in honor of the interpreter of the song “I have two loves”. “When I heard about its upcoming pantheonization, I wondered if there was a Joséphine Baker street in Annecy, he explains. And I saw that no and that there was in reality very little of street names attributed to women. With the pantheonization, she really enters the circle of the great women of our history. carried very important values ”.
A successful online petition
The initiator of this project, also a history and geography teacher in the basin and himself Franco-American, from a family that suffered the roundups of the Occupation, affirms that it is “time to receive” the absence of a street name in honor of Josephine Baker. To achieve his goal, he posted a petition for the mayor of Annecy, François Astorg. In October, it collected 5,750 signatures and then 5,779 in mid-November. The goal is to have 7,500 signatures. In addition, it benefits from the support of several elected representatives from Annecy: Fabienne Grébert, Marion Lafarie and Cécile Boly. Precisely why the choice of the petition? “I told myself that it was already the way to make people talk about her, even if it did not succeed. And from this point of view it was successful. Many people were able to discover her heroism thanks to the petition. and that is already a victory “. In the argument of his petition on the site cash, he continues his argument in favor of this denomination: “While Annecy was liberated by the Resistance in 1944, it would be a beautiful symbol to prefer, through Josephine Baker, the fight of women against Nazi barbarism. As well as the commitment of all those who, like Joséphine Baker, chose France when they were not born and fought to defend it. its forms, alongside Martin Luther King and the LICRA (Ligue international against racism and anti-Semitism), it would also be a reminder that Annecy is a city of tolerance and openness to the world in which everyone is welcome “.
A ready-made location then… a vote of the inhabitants?
And the Haut-Savoyard already has a great location: Rue Henry Bordeaux. “We could perhaps wonder if it is still relevant to have a rue Henry Bordeaux, when this writer was a fervent support of Marshal Pétain during the war?”, He asks, in addition to his petition. “Personally, I prefer that we see every day the name of the one who chose to become French and to fight, with France, so that our values live always”. For the moment, the project leader has not communicated further, on his social networks, on the progress of this declaration while the project was sent to the municipal team in October: “The will was expressed in the press, many indicating that there were requests of this kind, and that she was looking for the right method to deal with them, perhaps by bringing in historians “. Vincent Szlingier agrees with this idea and believes that “it would be a very good idea” for historians to contribute to the debate, both on people like Joséphine Baker, who deserve to be honored, but also on characters like Henry Bordeaux, whose street I also propose to rename, because he wrote propaganda in favor of Pétain during the war. “And of course, at the end of the process, it will be important for the inhabitants to have a say,” he concludes.
MV