Saint-Raphaël creates controversy by inaugurating a stele in homage to the “victims of communism”

On Saturday, August 23, the mayor of Saint-Raphaël (Var), Frédéric Masquelier (Les Républicains), inaugurated the first French monument to pay tribute to the "victims of communism," despite strong opposition from several left-wing representatives, who stated that "Nazism and communism (...) are two sides of the same sinister coin." The monument, representing a man pushing back two huge blocks, was placed in next to another stele, dedicated to the martyrs of the Resistance – including many communists.

On Saturday evening, the event organized by the municipal team of the Var commune, which was intended to be unifying—as the electoral reserve period prior to the 2026 municipal elections, during which the communication of elected officials is regulated, will begin on September ^1st —took on the air of a meeting. On chairs arranged facing the setting sun, hundreds of members wearing caps bearing the town hall's logo were surrounded by dozens of small municipal hands in polo shirts busy preparing the cocktail planned for the occasion, attracting a few onlookers in swimsuits who tried to understand what was going on behind the security barriers.

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