France: D-Day Tribute or Theme Park? Battle Rages Over Normandy Plan [View all]

Last edited Mon Aug 29, 2022, 03:16 AM - Edit history (1)

- FRANCE. 'D-day tribute or theme park? Battle rages over Normandy plan.' The Guardian, Aug. 29, 2022.

- Critics say €90m project would reduce allied landing to a money-spinning tourist attraction. A row has erupted in France over plans for a new D-day attraction near the landing beaches, which critics have likened to a Disney-style theme park. -

The multimillion-euro project to retell the story of le débarquement of 6 June 1944 and the subsequent Battle of Normandy in a hi-tech 45-minute “immersive show” has sparked a furious war of words, with opponents describing it as disrespectful to those who died and their families. On one side are promoters of the €90m Hommage aux Héros (Tribute to the Heroes) project, who insist it will be a historically accurate and appropriate tribute. On the other, angry locals and veterans’ families have nicknamed the project “D-day Land”, accusing the businesspeople behind it of reducing one of the bloodiest events in European history to a money-spinning tourist attraction.

“They talk creating the ‘wow factor’ of a ‘sensational show’ that will take place near the beaches & cemeteries of Normandy, which seems fundamentally immoral & indecent,” Bertrand Legendre, a former Sorbonne professor & novelist who is leading resistance to the plans, told the Guardian. “The ethical principle of this commercialisation of history is extremely shocking.” Régis Lefebvre, one of the people behind the project, disagrees. “We want transmit the story of what happened with great historical rigour using today’s technology to make it interesting to the largest number of people. It’s a simple as that,” he said.

"It’s not a theme park and we never called it D-day Land. That’s the name our opponents used. As for making money, who seriously sets up a business to lose money? In England you understand that.”

A public planning consultation is running until 7 October. If the attraction is approved, it will be built on a 75-acre site at Carentan-les-Marais, inland from the American landing beaches Utah and Omaha (the British offensive centred on Sword and Gold beaches, and the Canadians came ashore at Juno beach). Its backers hope it will open in 2025 and attract 600,000 visitors a year, paying up to €28 for tickets.
Legendre has a petition with 700 names of people opposed to the plan, including historians and relatives of Normandy veterans.

We the children, grandchildren and loved ones of the American, British and Canadian soldiers who faced the enemy fire wish to register our firm opposition to the envisaged Hommage aux Héros theme park,” it reads. “We are appalled that their memory should be treated as a tourist attraction … the eagerness of the promoters for a ‘wow factor’ is absolutely objectionable. “Make no mistake. The passing on of memories is see here as no more than a business opportunity … to give this project the go-ahead would demean and devalue pain and sacrifice....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/29/d-day-tribute-or-theme-park-battle-rages-over-normandy-plan
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