Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Trench Chat: Remembrance in France with Mathilde Bernardet
In this latest Trench Chat, we are joined by military historian Mathilde Bernardet who works at the Memorial 14-18 Museum near Lens in Northern France. Mathilde discusses how France remembers the Great War, the history of France’s largest military cemetery at Notre Dame de Lorette, and the new memorial, the Ring of Remembrance.
You can follow Mathilde Bernardet on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TathildeB
The following books are related to Notre Dame de Lorette and France in the Great War. Click on an image to be taken to the Amazon page for each book. Buying them this way helps support The Old Front Line. Thanks!
Memorial 1418 Museum
The Memorial 1418 has it’s own website: www.memorial1418.com
Notre Dame de Lorette & Ring of Remembrance
Old Front Line 
Excellent as usual…..
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Thanks, Niall.
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Very interesting and enjoyable podcast listening to Mathilde. Good reading list too. Pity that Yves Buffetaut’s book only appears to be in French. And yes I am desperate to get back ASAP, hopefully including a visit to the new museum in Lens.
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Thanks, Stephen.
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I’ve wondered what the French attitude was to battlefield tourism from their own national perspective so this answered many questions. It’s difficult for me to understand what it’s like living in a country where war has had such a profound impact on the landscape and people, other than the impact of air raids. It was also interesting to learn that Mathilde was able to compare French and New Zealand approaches to remembrance as I became aware of the fierce pride New Zealanders take in their veterans and war dead a couple of years ago while researching a London burial. You may remember that you gave me a useful link to information about it. It was also interesting to learn just how much costs affected the decisions made about the treatment of unidentified soldiers. I think the British find it difficult to contemplate treatment of the dead in that way although ossuaries are not that unusual across Europe. Really interesting discussion of what can be a disturbing subject.
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