We started our visit to this city by going to the tourist information center. We parked near William the Conqueror's Chateau (castle) - except we did not realize it until after we left the town. One of many missed opportunities!
Our primary reason for going to Caen was to visit the World War II Memorial. The museum retold the story about World War II from a French perspective - it's a slightly different from the focus in an American History class. The introduction recalls the progress of signing of the armistice ending World War I to the declaration of World War II. This space is a downward spiraling ramp with the background of the wall gradually darkening to symbolize the decline of peace and the approach of war.
The story continues in the next space with the years between 1939 until 1941 - it was the dark years for France and actually all of Europe. Ideas of occupation, resistance, and repression are introduced with a spatial layout of very low ceilings with muted colors and gray tones on the walls. Throughout occupied Europe, resistance movements formed. In France, Charles de Gaulle led the Free French Forces. Now I understand why the French admire Charles de Gaulle.
The story continues in a very open, well-lit space symbolizing hope as the USSR and USA entered the war. The utilization of industry, science and technology in the war effort was emphasized. On the Allied side, the production of weapons gave an unprecedented economic and industrial boost to USA. The Germans concentrated on building of the Atlantic Wall, the devising of secret weapons war, and the Blitzkrieg attacks on England. In this space, there were many displays of military airplanes, boats, radio equipment including secret communication equipment, the German armament "pill boxes" and the development of the ultimate weapon - the nuclear bomb.
The final three spaces showed audio-visual presentations documenting the history of World War II and the D-Day invasion. These films were moving and were composed of archival footage. The first film shows 2 screens depicting the simultaneous unfolding events on both the German and Allied sides. It stresses the human dimension of the war and it is very emotional as we see men working on fortifications for the Atlantic Wall while the Allies soldiers make frantic preparations for the Normandy landing. As June 6th approaches, the tension mounts and the rhythm is intensified with the sound and fury of the approaching battles. The final images of the film are sudden cuts to a view of the landing beaches as they are today and a military cemetery on the coast.
The second audio-visual presentation is titled, "The Battle of Normandy". This presents the days immediately following the invasion from June 8th to September 16th including the liberation of Paris. The pictures are shown in chronological sequence at a steady rate of 7 seconds, so the viewer becomes aware of the scale of the actual duration of the fighting. In addition, a succession of animated maps complement each other, showing the advance of the Allied troops to secure beachheads and liberate the French cities. As we traveled along the roads in Normandy, we realized why the Allied Forces moved so slowly through the small farming fields. The fences for the farming fields are long and thick hedgerows of bushes. Both the landscape and the weather made the progress difficult. Now I have a deeper appreciation for World War II veterans.
The third and final audio-visual presentation is titled "Hope" and shows the events from the end of World War II to the present day. It makes a case for encouraging people to stop war, showing events of hope followed by despair and then followed by hope again. It depicts the creation of the United Nations but also the war in Vietnam; the fall of the Berlin Wall but then the rise of nationalist conflicts; industrial progress but poverty. Present day heroes follow each other: Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Menachem Begin, and Mikhail Gorbachev. This film also included the famous speech by John F. Kennedy where he says, "Ich bin ein Berliner." Is he really a donut? After studying German, I can't believe that this speech was included but I guess it was an important speech for the United States in supporting free Europe through the Cold War years.
Throughout our visit of the Normandy area we met some French people who expressed a deep appreciation of the American, British, and Canadian war veterans. Chris's father landed on Utah Beach on June 6th, so we also have a much deeper appreciation of his experience.
