Report suggests "remembrance overload" in France

On Tuesday, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will lead a service to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that marked the formal end of World War One.

But on the eve of that remembrance service, and the many others that will be held in villages, towns and cities around the country, a report released by a parliamentary commission is creating quite a stir.

It suggests there has been almost a "remembrance overload" in the number of national days in France commemorating too great a range of separate historical events, and that it would be in the best interests of everyone concerned to regroup them under just a handful of days throughout the year.

November 11 is Armistice day here in France and indeed it's one of the few European countries that marks the day with an official holiday.

As always there will be remembrance services up and down the country, and the main event this year will be held in Douaumont in the east of France.

It was a village destroyed during WWI, and today is home to an ossuary, or a memorial, containing the remains of some of the more than 250,000 men who died in the 10-month battle of Verdun in 1916.

The ceremony, which will be led by Sarkozy and attended by international dignitaries such as Britain's Prince Charles and the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso will be broadcast live on national television.

But there will be no French WWI veterans - or "poilus" as they're called here - present, as the last surviving one, Lazare Ponticelli, died in March this year at the age of 110.

In the build-up to tomorrow's commemoration services there has been controversy surrounding the findings of a parliamentary commission headed by the French historian, André Kaspi.

It was asked by the junior minister of defence and veterans, Jean-Marie Bockel, to look into the number of national commemorations there are in France

Included in its findings is the suggestion that in recent years there has been an almost "remembrance overload" in the number of days on which events of national and historical significance are commemorated, with a doubling from six to 12 days in the space of just a decade.

The reports also puts forward proposals to reduce them to just a handful.

There are three official public holidays in France, to mark important events in this country's history. July 14 is the oldest, commemorating the storming of the Bastille in 1789. It was first celebrated in 1880.

During the course of the last century, two others were added to the calendar, November 11 of course to mark the end of WWI, when the Armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany in the town of Compiegne, 60 kilometers north of the French capital.

And May 8, to observe Victory in Europe day and the official unconditional surrender of Germany at the end of World War Two.

To those were added three other commemorative dates on which ceremonies are held - although none of them are public holidays - one to remember Jeanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc) the 15th century Catholic saint and a national heroine, one to mark the deportation of Jews during WW II, and a third to honour Jean Moulin, a WWII French resistance fighter.

So in total, six days on which tributes were paid to a person or people on a national level.

But in the course of a decade, that number doubled during the two terms of office of Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, although just the same three remain public holidays.

Since 2006, May 10 has been a day to commemorate the abolition of slavery - France became the first European country to mark that day officially.

There is also a day (June 8) to pay homage to those (French) who died during this country's participation in the Indochina wars, and another (July 16) to pay tribute to those who those who helped the Jews during the WWII.

September 25 is to remember the contribution of the Harkis - Algerians who served with the French army during the north African country's battle for independence from 1954-62, and December 10 is a separate day to remember all those who died during the Algerian War.

And it's that doubling that has led to the report to conclude that there are, in its words, too many commemorative services.

"It's not reasonable that within 50 years the number of remembrance days should have doubled," says the report.

"It's not acceptable that the country should yield to the interests of different communities by increasing the number of 'repentance days' to such an extent, because it weakens the collective national conscience," the report continues.

Bockel insisted on national television that the report's findings weren't proposals to put an end to commemoration services, but he thought they would perhaps be better served by allowing regions to observe them as they thought appropriate.

"I'm not suggesting the suppression of one single commemorative service," he said. "On the contrary I think we should be trying to increase their profile on a national level - perhaps by including them as part of one of the three main dates (May 8, July 14 or November 11)."

But for some, the recommendations included in the report are an attempt to undo some of the progress that has been made in France over accepting and recognizing the contributions and sacrifices of many throughout the years, and the proposals would represent a step back in time.

"The report seems to be saying that we shouldn't remember slavery or pay homage to the Harkis on a national level for example," said Patrick Lozès, the president of Conseil représentatif des associations noires de France, CRAN - an association representing around 60 organizations to fight against discrimination and for equality of blacks in France.

"I'm opposed to the idea that there's some sort of "competition of remembrance" and I think this report is opening a Pandoras box."