Takes the biscuit really.Why, if all you had to do was lift the drop latch to close the shutters, would you hack at the latch assembly & surrounding wood with a butter knife instead? We have no idea, but at least two vandals (guests) have done this at Argeles. The original Vandals, of course, were an East-Germanic tribe marauding across Europe some centuries ago.
Guys, I am perilously close to web-camming the apartment. If it were not for the fact that most of our guests there are lovely, tidy, clean people with a brain, I would do just that.
Argeles has a sad backstory too, as far as the 20th century is concerned. You can read the Wikipedia version Wiki
Or you can check out this brief, but painful and powerfully moving overview here
European observation on memories
I have always been drawn to sad backstories and tales of injustice, inequality and prejudice; it’s magnetic. No wonder I carry so much around in this head of mine.
Blog-sur-Aude 
Interesting connection between the stories, along the lines of “some people never learn.” At first I misread the Wiki page. I thought it said people were often encouraged to return to Syria. Freudian slip, I suppose.
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Very interesting piece of history, Gill. At the end of the Wiki entry, I noticed a reference to Robert Capa having taken some photos of the camp at Argeles. Will have to look for those (their link did not work for me). Capa, as you probably know, was one of the greatest war photographers of the 20th century, and the one whose haunting images of D-Day soldiers on the beach will never fade.
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Yes I couldn’t make the link work, but there is a lot of his photos out there on the web.
It must be acknowledged that the people of Argeles have worked closely with the Catalan/Spanish people to acknowledge and atone for those dark times in recent years.
The region south of us, around Argeles and down past the border is a real eclectic melting pot of cultures- Occitan, Catalan, Spanish, French…it’s one of the big draws here for me.
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Capa’s photos here:http://pro.magnumphotos.com/Catalogue/Robert-Capa/1939/FRANCE-Spanish-Republicans-NN140312.html
Heartbreaking, as are all refugee camp photos. Plus ça change, eh?
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Like is only hit as an acknowledgement that I have read this. It certainly does not reflect my feelings. To cover both points. What IS it about people that they think it’s OK to do something to a house that they are paying to stay in (either short or long term) that they would be apoplectic if someone did it to their own home. I will never understand people. And I will never understand the concept of incarcerating refugees. The biggest tragedy is the fact that those same desolate faces are reflected right now in various corners. Thank you for this post, Gill. The aching sadness of that article prompts me to want to learn more.
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As you often do, you said exactly what I was thinking.
Maybe the guests had never seen shutters before?
Despite the concentration camp, many Spaniards settled in southern France after escaping from the civil war, and became French citizens. Lots and lots of Spanish surnames around.
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Yes, I know. We have neighbours whose families came over back then. A Spanish family owned our house some time ago
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I had no idea of the town’s awful history. Thank you for enlightening me. I think.
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There are uncomfortable truths in the history of almost every town, in France or elsewhere. The sin, I respectfully suggest to all, is in not acknowledging these complex events or affording any weight to them.
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Indeed. If we don’t acknowledge them, we can’t learn from them.
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