the bust of Cardinal Saliège defaced by anarchist inscriptions

“To profane the image of this man is to deny his courageous commitment, it is to profane the memory of the Jews of yesterday and today. Mgr Guy de Kerimel, Archbishop of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), reacted strongly in a statement published Monday, March 20 in the morning, to the degradation of the bust of Cardinal Jules-Géraud Saliège.

Press release from Mgr Guy de Kerimel, Archbishop of Toulouse – March 20, 2023 pic.twitter.com/3GCx4MaOg0

— Diocese of Toulouse (@toulousecatho) March 20, 2023

This last dared to break the silence during the German occupation and protested against the deportations of the Jews towards the extermination camps in a letter on August 23, 1942 which met a broad echo.

Repair

His statue was tagged on the night of March 19 to 20 with the inscription “Neither God nor master”, accompanied by the symbol of the anarchist movement. This bust is in the square of the Saint-Étienne cathedral in Toulouse. According to the municipality, the Toulouse restoration workshop has started the restoration.

The diocese of Toulouse expresses “a very strong feeling of consternation” and denounces “something really serious”, against the symbol of an “important figure both nationally and internationally”.

The town hall of the city, like the diocese wonders about the date of this act of vandalism. Indeed, it was committed eleven years to the day after the attacks of Mohamed Merah, targeting in particular the Jewish school Ozar Hatorah, killing four people including three children.

A “period of social unrest”

In his press release, Bishop de Kerimel evokes “this period of social unrest” which is shaking Toulouse in the context of the demonstrations against the pension reform. But, the archbishop also wonders when “that this happened on the day of the commemoration of the attacks of 2012”. “Is this intentional? he wonders.

The president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) Midi-Pyrénées, Franck Touboul, also denounced this act of vandalism. “The Crif Toulouse stands alongside our Christian brothers and all Toulouse residents who are shocked by this act which attacks the memory of the one who was Righteous among the Nations and an example of courage during the Second World War. “.

On August 23, 1942, in a letter of protest read during masses in his diocese, he wrote: “The Jews are men, the Jewesses are women. All is not allowed against these men, against these women, against these fathers and mothers of families. In 1986, to honor the memory of Cardinal Saliège, the town hall of Toulouse had his bust installed on the cathedral square.

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