Prince Albert II of Monaco atoned for the behaviour of the Principality during World War II. In a speech at the cemetery he acknowledged the complicity of Monaco in the persecution and deportations of Jews from Monaco. “To say this today is to recognise a fact. To say it today, on this day, before you, is to ask forgiveness”, Prince Albert said Thursday.
It was the first time that the Principality of Monaco so openly acknowleded its part in the persecution of Jews. At the cemetery Prince Albert unveiled a memorial to the deported Jews, some 90 persons in all. Both Monegasques and residents of the principality and partly also Jewish refugees who, like Albert recognized, had taken refuge in the belief to find a safe haven in the neutral mini-state.
“We committed the irreparable in handing over ... women, men and a child who had taken refuge with us to escape the persecutions they had suffered in France,” Albert said. “We did not protect them. It was our responsibility,” he said. “In distress, they came specifically to take shelter with us, thinking they would find neutrality.”
Monaco admittedly was neutral during the war, but of course could not withstand pressure from near by fascist Italy and the collaborationist Vichy government of France, which later during the war was also occupied by nazi-Germany.
© RB; Source: Palais Princier; Photos by © MPE Patrick van Katwijk
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