ユダヤ人共同体の「記憶の守り手」　墓地巡回ボランティア　仏

【ユングホルツＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス東部のユングホルツのユダヤ人墓地を、リオネル・ゴドメさんは枯れ葉を踏みながら歩いていく。胸に着けたバッジにはフランス語で「記憶の守り手」と書かれている。（写真はフランス東部ユングホルツのユダヤ人墓地を巡回する「記憶の守り手」のリオネル・ゴドメさん）
　この墓地は何世紀にもわたり歴史に打ちのめされ、ホロコースト（ユダヤ人大量虐殺）で破滅同然に追いやられたユダヤ人たちがフランスにいたという「記憶」の証しとなっている。
　ゴドメさんはユダヤ人ではない。だが、ユダヤ人墓地荒らしが相次いで発生していることを受け、アルザス地方では墓地を巡回するボランティアを申し出る人が増えている。ゴドメさんはその一人だ。
　宗教の教師であるゴドメさんは、地元自治体が１０月に立ち上げた記憶の守り手ネットワークに所属する２０人の一人だ。メンバーは、墓地とその周辺で発生するあらゆる問題を当局に報告することになっている。
　記憶の守り手らは、自分たちで墓地を巡回する頻度を決めることができる。また、破壊行為に遭遇しても、介入しないようにとの助言を受けている。
　ゴドメさんはこのボランティアの仕事を「市民の義務だ」と話す。「ユダヤ人墓地は私たちの遺産であり、歴史だ」
　■相次ぐユダヤ人墓地荒らし
　アルザス地方では最近、各地でユダヤ人墓地荒らしが発生しており、記憶の守り手のような活動が急務となっている。
　ウェストフェンの墓地では今月初め、１０７基の墓にナチス・ドイツのかぎ十字や反ユダヤ主義的な落書きがされているのが見つかった。
　エマニュエル・マクロン大統領はこれを受けツイッターに、「ユダヤ人はフランスそのもので、フランスの一部だ」「たとえ墓であろうと、ユダヤ人を攻撃する者は、われわれが考えるフランスには値しない」と投稿した。その後政府は、ヘイトクライム対策部の設置を発表した。
　また今年２月には、同じくアルザス地方のクアツェンハイムのユダヤ人墓地で、９６基の墓が荒らされているのが発見されている。
　警察に報告された反ユダヤ主義的な犯罪件数は、２０１８年には前年比７４％増加している。欧州で最大のユダヤ人社会とイスラム社会を有するフランスは、この状況に危機感を覚えている。
　アルザス地方には６７か所のユダヤ人墓地がある。昔は同地域全体にユダヤ人共同体が存在していたことを考えれば、この数の多さは不思議ではない。今ではこれらの共同体はほとんどが姿を消しており、墓地の保護をますます困難にしている。
　１８世紀のフランスでは、ユダヤ人の半数以上がアルザス地方に住んでいた。だが、１４世紀にこれらの都市での居住権が剥奪され、１７９１年までその状態が続いた。
　記憶の守り手プロジェクトを主導したのは、アルザスで宗教的対話を推進する委員会の委員長を務めるフィリペ・イシュテール氏だ。同氏は「今日、アルザス地方の全人口２００万人のうち、ユダヤ人は２万人を下回る。ホロコースト以降、もはや田舎にはユダヤ人はいない」と指摘する。
　フランシス・ロシェルさんと妻のソランジュさんも、ユングホルツの墓地で巡回ボランティアをしている。
　退職した元技術者のロシェルさんは「われわれ２人とも骨の髄までアルザス人だ。どうしたらこんなひどいことができるのだろう。死者は安らかに眠らせておくべきだ」と訴えた。
　ユングホルツ墓地は１６５５年に造られたが、１９４０年から１９４４年にかけ、ナチスの下でひどく破壊され、約４００基の墓石が壊された。だがそれ以降は墓荒らしの被害は受けていない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/26-08:46）

Autumn leaves rustle as Lionel Godmet walks past rows of graves at the Jewish cemetery in Jungholtz in eastern France, their bases fringed with moss but the Hebrew inscriptions clearly visible.
Pinned to his lapel is a badge reading veilleur de la memoire, or guardian of memory.
The cemetery's existence is a tribute to a community battered by centuries of history, and all but destroyed by the Holocaust.
But Godmet himself is not Jewish. He is one of a growing number of individuals in France's Alsace region who have taken it upon themselves to patrol Jewish cemeteries after a spate of attacks on such sites that have horrified the country.
Godmet describes his volunteer work as a civic commitment and likens it to that of watchmen who stand guard over the region's celebrated hilltop castles.
It is our heritage and our history, he said.
- 'Jews are France' -
Such work has become all the more urgent after the latest attacks on cemeteries in the Alsace region.
Early this month, 107 graves were defaced with swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti at the cemetery in Westhoffen.
President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter afterward that Jews are and make France and that those who attack them, even their graves, are not worthy of the idea we have of France. His government then announced the creation of an anti-hate crime bureau.
That attack came after 96 tombs were desecrated at a cemetery in Quatzenheim, also in Alsace, in February.
The rising number of anti-Jewish offences reported to police -- up 74 percent in 2018 from the previous year -- has caused alarm in the country that is home to both the biggest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe.
Godmet, a religion teacher, is now one of 20 guardians of memory, a network set up by the regional council in October, informing the authorities of any problems at the cemeteries or their surroundings.
Alsace has 67 Jewish cemeteries, a high number explained by the presence in the past of many rural Jewish communities spread across the region. Now, most of these communities have ceased to exist, making protecting the cemeteries all the more difficult.
The Jews of Alsace represented more than half of France's Jews in the 18th century but had to wait until 1791 to regain the right to reside in towns, which had been stripped in the 14th century.
Today, there are fewer than 20,000 Jews in Alsace of a total of two million people. And since the Holocaust there are no longer any Jews in the countryside, said Philippe Ichter, who heads a commission promoting religious dialogue in the region, and who initiated the project to guard the cemeteries.
- 'Pay more attention' -
The guardians judge for themselves how often to patrol in the cemeteries, ensuring a minimal presence and alerting the authorities to any problems.
They are advised not to intervene if they come across vandals in the act.
You can't put a policeman in every cemetery, said Francis Laucher, who also volunteers as a watchman at the Jungholtz cemetery along with his wife Solange.
We are both Alsatians to our core. And how can such things come to pass? Leave the dead in peace! said Laucher, a retired engineer, as he wandered among the tombs.
The vast Jungholtz cemetery was created in 1655. Old tombstones covered in moss and sometimes askew mix with newer ones, some of which show signs of recent visits by relatives.
It was badly vandalised under the Nazis from 1940 to 1944, when some 400 tombstones were smashed. But it has not suffered any damage since.
We pay more attention than we did before, said Robert Tornare. He and his wife began keeping watch over the cemetery in Wintzenheim, which their house overlooks, some 40 years ago.
We are Catholics, but after 40 years they have become our friends, he said, saying his wife had Jewish playmates when she was a schoolgirl and that years later they suggested she keep a key to the cemetery.
- 'Lots of ignorance' -
I hope that the sad things we have seen repeat themselves every six months serve as an electric shock for other citizens, said Laurent Schilli, secretary general of the Haut-Rhin region's Jewish council, which oversees the volunteers.
You need to convince people who are not convinced that there is a problem, he said.
Here we have people who do this in their free time, as volunteers, for a community that is not even theirs. That is saying something, Schilli added.
Back in Jungholtz, Godmet admits it is tough to mobilise young people for such work. However, last February after the Quatzenheim attack, his students took part in an exercise at the local cemetery, observing the Jewish custom of placing stones on graves as a visitor's homage.
The students don't know so much about Judaism even though many live close to the cemetery, he said. There's lots of ignorance, but it's the same for Islam.