"You want to go where?" my aunt asked me. "La Grande Tombe de Villeroy, it's just next to Meaux, we can pass it on our way to the airport."

You need to know my mother's family is from Meaux, a town East of Paris. And indeed when coming from the East (Epernay) and heading to the world's worst airport (Charles de Gaulles), you pass within a few kilometers of the site.

My aunt asked again what precisely I wanted to see there. "A Nécropole, must a big thing" I said. Now my French is okay, but not perfect, so my aunt was trying to make sure she didn't misunderstand me. Eventually, she accepted that I meant the tomb. But she corrected me: "It's not a big thing, it's a small sign along the road." I couldn't quite fathom this information (Nécropole, Grande Tombe?), so I quickly googled the site and indeed: La Grande Tombe is pretty tiny. Most people in nearby Meaux wouldn't even know about it. But thanks to an inquisitive friend my aunt had been before and was able to counsel against a visit. Instead we stopped in Dormans on our way to the airport.

Dormans was my second site of the serial nomination. I had been to the cemetery in Arras just next to the Vauban fortification a year prior. In Arras you will find a simple toned down cemetery. Dormans is different, already signified by the address: Avenue des Victoires (Victory Avenue). The site itself lists all the corps, armies, generals, ... having fought in and having won the two battles of the Marne. And commemorates all the fallen French who gave their lives. The architecture is also more prideful: a big tower on a hill.

OUV

Initially I thought this would be a shoo-in for inscription in 2018. Instead the decision was adjourned by two years. As I understand it the rationale for adjourning was that the sites were still too glorifying of war.

Of the two sites, I feel the cemetery in Arras would be a fine addition. The Memorial in Dormans meanwhile would not be: It's really not a neutral monument to the victims of war, but a nationalistic monument for the victory in key battles of the war. Similar, I fear that Verdun, Compiegne, and the Somme are too related to key victories of the war to really separate the nationalistic component of the memorials from the commemorative one.

Personally, I would favor a streamlined inscription focusing on the less nationalistic parts, especially those where soldiers of both sides are buried. In any case, next time I am in the area, I will visit more.

Getting There

Travelling in Northern France you will be hard pressed not to run into one of the sites. Lens has several components in the proximity. If you are travelling from Paris, Compiegne seems a good choice. It will also offer you a glimpse into a royal palace and the train wagon where the armistice was signed.