Gallic retort
From Dr Francois Portier Sir: Anthony Torrance's piece on 'France's shameful past' (`Vichy business', 24 June) is not unjustified, even though one's initial gut response might be: `Aw, come off it! The rea- son the French army ran so fast was that they were trying to catch up with the BEF!' What sticks in the Gallic craw is the end of the arti- cle calling on Chirac to 'take his head out of the sand and ask forgiveness'. What else has he been doing since he got elected? The French have been wallowing in an orgy of self-abasement for at least a decade, with the guilt industry working in overdrive.
Seventy-four thousand French Jews mur- dered? Yes, it is shameful. But it might also be worth recalling the even greater number who were never arrested, who were shel- tered by French families or helped to escape. It appears that the proportion of those survivors is the highest in Nazi-occu- pied Europe. Why?
What might have been a more suitable conclusion to the article was the fact that France is definitely not in a position to teach moral lessons to countries like Austria.
Francois Portier
Versailles, France
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