Student protests street named for Vichy villain
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Evan Gottesman said the town should not have a street named for someone who “worked with Adolph Hitler.”
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January 19, 2010
A 15-year-old East Brunswick High School freshman has launched a campaign to convince Milltown to change the name of a street bearing the name of the man known as “the traitor of Vichy” for his collaboration with the Nazis during World War II.
Petain Street is named for Marshal Henri Petain and is included in a section of roadways named for World War I heroes.
Long before the Third Reich came to power, Petain defended France from the German advance on Verdun in 1916 and became a national hero, rising to become supreme commander of all French armies.
However, he was sentenced to death for treason in 1945 for his leadership of the Nazi’s Vichy puppet regime. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by President Charles de Gaulle. He died in 1951.
Evan Gottesman said he could “think of no good reason” why the municipality should continue to have a street named for someone who “worked with Adolph Hitler and assisted and supplied Germany.”
He started his Facebook page, “Change Petain Street,” on the evening of Jan. 10, gaining 40 supporters in the first 24 hours. Evan said he planned to present a petition to the mayor and council.
“It’s clear based on [Milltown’s] website that it is aware that he became affiliated with the Nazis,” Evan told NJJN. “So why, the questions remains, should Petain be immortalized in such an honorable fashion…?”
Evan noted that Petain was responsible for deporting French Jews to Germany and their ultimate deaths. He said, “Milltown does not take this as seriously as it should,” and said he would probably bring the matter to the attention of the USY chapter at his synagogue, Congregation B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick.
He was alerted to the street name by a family friend, Eli Mintz of East Brunswick.
“I was shocked” by the sign, said Mintz. “He was responsible for sending thousands of Jews to the gas chambers.”
Mintz, an Israeli native who lost family in the Holocaust, said he wrote a letter to Milltown Mayor Gloria Bradford but never heard back.
While Mintz said he had no doubt the borough had no intention of glorifying Petain’s World War II actions — he believes it simply never bothered to change the street’s name. He suggested the street be renamed to honor an American Congressional Medal of Honor winner from World War I.
However, when contacted by NJJN, Bradford said Milltown already had streets named for hometown heroes. “Any of our young men killed in any war have a street named for them in town,” she said.
The mayor said the street name was left unchanged because of the complicated process involved, but said the governing body would be “open” to considering a switch.
“We do have a very open-minded and caring council,” added Bradford.
“Change Petain Street” can be found at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=250628626879.
Comments
John Drake
February 22, 2010
The article was interesting, but historically, there is another side to this debate.
Petain was indeed a collaborator, but historically, there were many who thought he did so only to protect France, and that he secretly funded the French underground.
The best—and most ironic—evidence of this comes from the diaries of Joseph Goebbels.
In his diaries, Goebbels repeatedly states how much he hates Petain, and how he is positive that Petain is secretly fighting the Nazis. He wanted to put Petain to death because he was sure of this, but without proof, was unable to convince Hitler to give him permission to have Petain executed.
Petain was certainly no saint….but he WAS trying to fight the Nazis.
Richard Golden
March 18, 2010
How many Palestinians died yesterday?
Big Joe
March 27, 2010
Whine, whine, whine. The frigg’in war has been over for 65yrs now. Move on folks. NYC has street adjacent to Grand Central Station named after a racist and murderous Israeli prime minister: David Ben-Gurion. Double standards?