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| Tour Montparnasse |
The walk started
with the Montparnasse Tour, which stands out terribly amongst the short surrounding
buildings. But it has become a well
known landmark and a sight to see. It is
very interesting to me that the World Trade Center inspired the creation and
that there was supposed to be a twin but due to zoning laws it was
prohibited. France in a way copied the
U.S. in building this tower like the World Trade Center. All the rest of the skyscrapers were
built in La Defense which is similar to New York's Manhattan. I’m surprised that the French left the Montparnasse
tower because of the strict zoning laws that were soon after put in place and especially
since it sticks out so much.
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| Alfred Deyfreus |
Then the walk took
me to the Statue of Alfred Dreyfus. This
statue is of a Jewish officer from the French army who had been falsely accused
and exiled. There was a rumor of there being a spy in the General Staff passing on new artillery information to the Germans and the suspicion fell on Dreyfus who was arrested for treason. When reports of an army cover-up and Dreyfus's possible innocence were leaked to the press, a heated debate sparked about anti-Semitism, France's identity as a Catholic nation and a republic founded on equal rights for all citizens. The whole affair was controversial
and today is a reminder of the lingering anti-Semitism that exists in France. The statue has moved many locations. It was supposed to be put in the courtyard of
the military school but instead was put in an obscure corner in the Jardin des
Tuileries and later placed here far away from the main tourist attractions. The book mentions how the placement of the
statue is symbolic of Paris’s relationship with this affair. There is a need to honor Dreyfus but it is
difficult for the French to do so. The
French have a history of being prideful.
They want everyone to be French and there is this grandeur of everything
in France. And so it isn’t surprising
that they have a hard time accepting that there was a fault in the French
government and that they had made some mistakes. They want to hide this away from surface and
only allow it to be seen if searched for.
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| Jardin du Luxembourg |
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