LES MILLES IS
at the other end of the long chain which led to the gas chambers
… at psycho-social level, but also at societal level the feeding ground which may lead to three steps spiral from racism to genocide. The visitor can also discover the human capacity to resist and understand that the earliest is the resistance, the less risky and the most efficient it is. Indeed, this section ends with a « Wall of Righteous Acts » which shows the variety of possible resistance and rescue acts and the great diversity of men and women who have been able to react effectively in their own way. Among them, eighteen acted for the internees of the Les Milles Camp and were granted the title of "Righteous among the Nations" by the State of Israel.
Les Milles camp is not Auschwitz-Birkenau. No mass crime there. But it is at the other bottom of the long chain which led to gas chambers. And understanding what happens at the beginning of such criminal processes, in ordinary places, with ordinary people, is of great interest. At least because we still absolutely need to know how to recognize such beginnings. In addition, discussions are probably easier than in a death camp, and probably more “grounded” than in outside a historical place. Therefore, Les Milles’ very specific approach is a multidisciplinary one and is developed on the ground of the history of the Camp and of the Shoah.
It is aimed at showing the universal implications of the Shoah as a paradigm able to explain the individual, collective and institutional mechanisms which had led and may lead to the worst and also the human abilities to resist these processes. In order to assess the value of this paradigm, scientific researches has developed a “convergence of memories” which focusses on the common processes in the mass crimes against Armenians, Jews, Gypsies and Tutsis, not on the historical differences. In this way, a unique UNESCO Chair on “Citizen education, Social sciences and Convergence of memories” was attributed to Prof. Alain Chouraqui, Chairman of the Camp des Milles Foundation, bringing together universities and memorial institutions from 14 countries addressing one basic question for today : what sciences and education may say, on the basis of human history of genocides, about the actual rise of identity based extremisms, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia which are threatening democracy.
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