Late general’s ashes spark row in France

A hero to some and an unrepentant war criminal to others, the late French General Marcel Bigeard has stirred controversy five months after his death in June. A petition to prevent Bigeard’s ashes from entering the Invalides monument in Paris has reportedly obtained more than five thousand signatures in under a week.

Bigeard enlisted in the French army in 1939 and rose through the ranks to become a four-star general when he left the army in 1974. His role in legendary battles against Nazi Germany and later against fighters in Algeria and Indochina, as well as his escape from prisoner-of-war camps, won him an almost legendary status.

Later in life he served as deputy defence minister under President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and a Member of Parliament from 1978 to 1981.

In October, the general’s family was informed by the French defence ministry that Bigeard’s remains would be deposited at Invalides. The prominent monument is a military veteran’s hospital, hospice, and a military museum, but also a final resting place for France’s war heroes.

On November 29, a petition appeared in the left-leaning daily Libération deploring an “official homage” to the deceased military man and the call on Defence Minister Gérard Longuet to accept his ashes in Invalides. The anti-Bigeard collective has appealed for signatures via the website nonabigeardauxinvalides.net.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the ministry was unable to answer questions about the future of the ashes, and deferred questions to the General Bigeard Foundation. The foundation was not immediately available for comment.

Detractors described Bigeard as “a leading actor in [France’s] colonial wars, an unscrupulous adventurer who didn’t hesitate to use heinous methods.” The statement was a reference to allegations that the general oversaw and even pioneered torture methods against captured fighters as a colonel during the Algerian war for independence.

Until his death, Bigeard denied having ever directly participated in torture, but defended forceful interrogation tactics as a “necessary evil”. Zone Militaire, a French pro-military website, defended Bigeard as a hero in an article on 30th November. “There is no such thing as a clear war,” the article said. “Moreover, General Bigeard was never convicted for the acts that petitioners accuse him of.”

Zone Militaire also complained that the petition failed to mention that Bigeard actively participated in the French resistance to Nazi occupation during World War Two.

Bigeard requested that his ashes be dispersed over the Dien Bien Phu, the site of a historic defeat of French forces in Indochina in 1954. However, Vietnamese authorities denied the request in July.