France/Alsatians visit their twin city

As planned, a delegation from the town of Rixheim, twinned with our canton, led by Rachel Baetchel, mayor of this town located in the suburbs of Mulhouse, was the guest of Valence-sur-Baïse, this weekend.

The group, composed of ten people staying with the local people, came to accompany two events.

The first one took place as soon as they arrived in our bastide. It took place in the Espace-Culturel, which for a month hosted the remarkable exhibition put on by the Rixheim Historical Society. And who better than Thoma Christian, the president of this learned society, could present it to us. Composed of thirty-two richly illustrated panels, it tells the story of the evacuation of the Rixheim population on May 16, 1940, which led them to our canton and of which one of the refugees was housed in Rozès. His name was François Grumet and he made it possible, through perseverance, to create a twinning with the late Serge Delor who still finds these days the occasion to be honoured with the inauguration of a street of Rixheim, in Beaucaire-sur-Baïse.

In her speech, Rachel Baetchel was pleased to point out that eighty-nine Rixheimers were housed there from June to September 1940. She recalled with emotion that a little girl, Lucie Weber, aged 13 at the time, passed her school certificate in Valence-sur-Baïse where she had been driven by cart by Mr Rosiers. She was lucky enough to obtain it without having to pass the manual work test, which she was exempt from because of her great fatigue following the long train journey!

This testimony as well as many others can be found in the different panels exposed in the Cultural Space. Our guests left after a full stay. Visits to villages in the canton and to Flaran Abbey, punctuated by very convivial moments, filled a very full schedule.

For some, it was their first visit to the Gers. As usual, the atmosphere was warm. The reunion between our two presidents of the twinning societies, Jean Renno, the Alsatian, and Jean-Louis Ducournau, the Gascon, attests to the solidity of the links forged between two populations in adversity. We are extremely delighted for the two designers and have a moving thought for François Grumet, physically absent from a new meeting, but certainly present by the thought for an umpteenth stay strengthening a living twinning.

And to have hosted Barbara Herbaut, 3rd deputy in charge of twinning, we know that we have in this charming and qualified person a very good representative.

Source: lejournaldugers.fr