Word: colombey
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Charles de Gaulle foresaw that following his death the small village of Colombey-les-Deux Eglises-to which he retired after leaving the presidency in 1969 and where he now lies buried -would become a national shrine. "After me, this will be Lourdes," he reportedly remarked, adding wryly that "grandeur will be sold in the form of small medals, small flags and crosses of Lorraine in nougatine [candy]." Last week, as France marked the first anniversary of De Gaulle's death, with President Georges Pompidou attending a Mass at Notre Dame and De Gaulle's widow and family...
...France de Charles de Gaulle is now being filmed, and an organization has collected his uniforms, watch, pen, cane, képis, infantry saber, manuscripts, speeches and photographs for exhibit. A National Memorial Committee is building a $ 1,000,000, 134-foot-high marble cross of Lorraine at Colombey that will be visible for 20 miles...
Simple Ritual. It is at Colombey, which has a population of 377 and is 150 miles southeast of Paris, that the cult is most evident. After the funeral last year, the village priest, Father Claude Saugey, said to the mayor: "Well, Monsieur le Maire, we can now go back to our dull, humdrum lives again." Hardly. By some estimates, possibly exaggerated, more than 1,000,000 pilgrims have journeyed to the general's off-white marble grave, where he lies beside his daughter Anne. The people come with flowers and handmade crosses of Lorraine, plaques and crude placards reading...
...that gray November day just a year ago when thousands of people lined the streets of the tiny village of Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises to pay homage to the French President, soldiers prevented all but the official funeral procession from following the body to the cemetery. As Galante recounts it, an old peasant woman began to cry out: "He said everyone could be here! He said everyone!" Malraux stopped and took her by the arm. "Let her through," he said to one of the soldiers lining the road. "She speaks for France." The soldier stepped aside...
...conversation at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises more often resembled two monologues than a dialogue. Some of De Gaulle's more telling ruminations and barbs, as reported by Malraux:-"People want history to resemble them or at least to resemble their dreams. Happily, they sometimes have great dreams...