Has France forgotten the role of Russia in the defeat of the Nazis?

When world leaders gather for D-Day commemorations, the absence of Vladimir Putin will testify to the loss of the enormous sacrifices made by Russia during the Second World War in most French minds.

This is a striking reversal from 75 years ago, when the Soviet contribution, which cost 27 million deaths and civilians, was hailed by the French as the most determining factor in the defeat of the country. 39; Germany.

Just after the end of the fighting in Europe in May 1945, a poll by French group Ifop revealed that 57% of French people thought that Moscow had contributed the most to the war effort, compared to only 20% of the United States.

But on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings by Allied forces in 2004, when Putin first represented Russia, the numbers were reversed, with only 20% putting the Soviet Union in the forefront.

Instead, 58% praised the United States even though its total losses of 400,000 people in the theaters of Europe and the Pacific accounted for only a small fraction of the dead in the Soviet Union.

"From a purely historical point of view, it is absurd to overlook the absolutely crucial role of the Soviet Union," said Denis Peschanski, research fellow at the French CNRS Institute, which has long been studied the evolution of the French collective memory of war.

Hollywood effect
While the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact initially established neutrality between Moscow and Berlin, Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 led to brutal fighting and the siege of Russian cities until Stalin arrived. can lead a counterattack.

The ferocious Russian offensives have undermined Germany's military might while immobilizing millions of Nazi soldiers who could have strengthened the Atlantic coast.

"In 1945, the great ally was Stalin and the USSR Their role was absolutely clear to the French," said Stéphane Grimaldi, director of the commemorative museum of Caen for the Second World War in Normandy.

"But 50 years later, it was the United States that won, for the simple reason that we had in the meantime had the Cold War," he said.

Hollywood also helped change perceptions with a series of blockbuster movies beginning in the 1960s showing brave Americans fighting away from home.

"If you look at how this has been described in popular culture, it's about the battle in France and the Battle of England, but the Second World War was mbadively murderous between Germans and Russians. "said Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council of Foreign Policy Reports.

Hearts and minds
For decades, the French presidents have not officially commemorated the D-Day landings, when 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed the Atlantic coast of France, by sea and by air.

Heroes of the French Resistance and President Charles de Gaulle refused to honor the Allied operation in which he was relegated to a secondary role.

When he entered Paris in 1944, he acclaimed a city "liberated by itself, liberated by its people" – despite the lines of British and American tanks behind him.

"De Gaulle wanted above all to restore the sovereignty of France, which meant getting the Americans out," said Grimaldi.

His anti-American tendencies were echoed by the French Communist Party, which exerted considerable influence after the war thanks to its role in the Resistance.

Communists regularly reminded post-war voters of the contribution of the Red Army.

But Soviet repression behind the Iron Curtain gradually eroded their support – just as the United States shaped their own story of how the war was won on the big screen.

"A film that had an absolutely essential role in the 60's was" The Longest Day, "said Peschanski," It highlights the Americans and the French Resistance, and it was a phenomenal success. "

A little more than 30 years later, another D-Day film offered the American heroic tale to new generations on both sides of the Atlantic: Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" from 1998.

"The cold war has isolated the Russians and the history of Russia," said Grimaldi.

"The hero is now the nice American, it's John Wayne, and he's the one who's going to save Europe, not the Russians."

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& # 39; Should be in the forefront & # 39;
The role of the United States in the liberation of Europe took a new impetus when President François Mitterrand became the first French head of state to organize D-Day ceremonies on the beaches of Normandy in 1984 .

US President Ronald Reagan attended the commemoration, which was to become a major world event just as the Soviet Union collapsed.

Despite the end of the war, gratitude to Russia had not totally overshadowed France's admiration for the United States, with the GIs receiving an enthusiastic welcome as they made their way across the country.

In a survey conducted in 1944 on a country they would visit if they could, 43% of Parisians chose the United States, while 13% chose the Soviet Union.

This is a striking reversal from 75 years ago, when the Soviet contribution, which cost 27 million deaths and civilians, was hailed by the French as the most determining factor in the defeat of the country. 39; Germany.

Just after the end of the fighting in Europe in May 1945, a poll by French group Ifop revealed that 57% of French people thought that Moscow had contributed the most to the war effort, compared to only 20% of the United States.

But on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings by Allied forces in 2004, when Putin first represented Russia, the numbers were reversed, with only 20% putting the Soviet Union in the forefront.

Instead, 58% praised the United States even though its total losses of 400,000 people in the theaters of Europe and the Pacific accounted for only a small fraction of the dead in the Soviet Union.

"From a purely historical point of view, it is absurd to overlook the absolutely crucial role of the Soviet Union," said Denis Peschanski, research fellow at the French CNRS Institute, which has long been studied the evolution of the French collective memory of war.

The image of Russia was further tarnished under Putin, whose relations with the West failed after he ordered troops in neighboring Ukraine in 2014 to annex the Crimea.

"Putin is not invited, it has nothing to do with the Second World War, it is today," Peschanski said.

"If the goal was to talk about the past, the Soviet Union and its heirs, namely Putin, should be at the forefront alongside the Americans and the British."

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