I won't be publishing my autobiography in France then. My memories are as valid as anyone else's.
Fb probably because I mention SS and Panzer divisions all in one breath.
Brian at an attempted answer to your question, towards the end of the article the court is saying basically that the forced inscription of the Alsacian people is a historical truth, backed in justice. So itās that way, like it or lump it.
The symbolic fine expresses to me that they think Mr Hebras is generally a good egg.
The other point I was trying to make is that whatever the circumstance, France takes what we say about one another very seriously, and this set against the backdrop of two very emotive subjects for France.
FB is a law unto itself at the moment :(
I don't either Nick; but I just tried again to make certain... and again it has been blocked! ????
I donāt know why fb wonāt let you read it. I donāt think there is anything offensive in it.
I was born after World War Two and cannot claim any first hand experience of it. I do accept that there are two sides to every story and one of them is likely to be truer than the other. Whether either is the absolute truth is entirely another matter.
Historians, however, if they are learned academics, tend to depend on hard evidence. Unless, that is, they are open to undue/subjective influence. Enough historians have written how in 1940 many French citizens favoured a closer alliance with Germany after their country was defeated. As is said sometimes, reflecting French patriotism, in 1943 the Resistance was very small but in 1944 it was big.
Then we have de Gaulle's reconstructions and embellishments. At the victory parade in Paris he asked the French people to honour their army who had driven the Germans from their country. He merely forgot UK, USA, Australian, New Zealand, South African, Caribbean and other troops who had been there to 'support' his few hundred thousand countrymen.
There is also propagandism which works in dictatorships, whereby a constructed history is the only one offically acceptable. Can we claim France is dictatoral? No, off course not. However, does Mr Habras' symbolic 'punishment' support that view?
I tried to read this article via fb at first... but a fb pop up said it was deemed offensive and had been removed... why???
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Hi Anne Adams has just emailed me to say Barry has died. Do you know anyone who should be contacted?
Anne
Hi Anne
Itās me. Well, itās not me, but itās me from the phone call. That photo was taken about 14 years ago in Malta. Heās a lot bigger now! This is from last year.
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Well I cannot believe it you are her double and same name, how do we make that out!
I am friend 56 years her husband of 18 years thought it was Val.
could you send me a bigger one-off fourteen years ago please. Kind regards Anne
Itās quite unbelievable - there was me thinking Iām unique and fabulous but thereās another Val Skinner out there and perhaps living close by! Iām still 56 (just) so weād have known each other since I was a baby!! Iām looking to see if I can find the original of that photo stored somewhere ā¦ 
Canāt find the original but this is a slightly bigger version of the profile pic, plus another from Malta when he was 4 or 5 but we looked more or less the same. 
Oh, and a photo of some elephants purely because my son took it and I love it
I emailed another friend of Vals and she cannot take it in, she said I think she is hiding from something I keep telling her the Val in Oradour is not our Val!
Kind regards Anne
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I probably do have several skeletons in my closet that I should hide 
but having been married to Barry (or anyone at all!) aināt one of them. I do hope you find the āotherā Skinner though. As I said on the phone, you sound a lovely lady and I wouldāve been proud to have been your friend for 50+ years. x
Thank you