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During our visit to the Immigration Museum yesterday, I was surprised by a sad and disturbing realization that hundreds of thousands of Jewish people living in France during the 1930s to the 1950s were either separated from their families or taken to concentration camps. I had not realized the extent of Germany’s influence in France during this period, or that the anti-Semitic ideologies prevalent in Germany had existed in French society as well. This ties back to another museum we visited in Paris, which highlighted France’s efforts to rehabilitate its reputation by welcoming a large number of immigrants in the 1930s and 1940s. This was mainly a response to the negative perception of France due to its extensive colonization of other countries. However, this large presence of immigrants backfired as France struggled to manage the large numbers which lead to increased hostility towards these new immigrants.
Today in Barcelona, I witnessed a protest in front of a government building. Although I couldn’t understand the speakers words, his gestures and clothing conveyed a strong sense of national pride. Later, at a restaurant, I experienced an awkward moment with a classmate. I accidentally said “Merci,” because of our two-week stay in France, and the waitress corrected me, saying that “Merci” is used in the Catalonia language, not Spain, and expressed her negative emotions towards catalunya by saying how weird it was to say that. This incident reminded me of the tension following Catalonia’s independence in 2017, in which it shows lingering friction between Catalans and Spaniards. In comparison, countries like Haiti, which were colonized by France, experienced different paths to independence. Although, the overall common theme is seen as there seems to always be a struggle to gain national independence from large colonizing countries like Spain and France. Something that has also been very interesting to learn about is how women were treated during this period of immigration. During the immigration museum it was specifically interesting learning about one woman named Simone Eynard, she fought for women’s rights in France and ended up going to jail because of it. This relates back to the overall theme also seen in the French revolution where women’s rights activist were fighting for a similar cause. Unfortunately, Simone was unable to see the fruits of her labor during her time, but like the stikes during may 68, it led to movements further along in history that led to a larger impact and more rights for women.
Revolutionary Cities 