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France to suspend demolition of ‘Marie Curie’ site in Paris

France's culture minister said on Friday that the demolition of a site linked to pioneering radioactivity researcher Marie Curie would be put on hold.

Published: 5 January 2024 16:43 CET

France to suspend demolition of 'Marie Curie' site in Paris

The "Institut Curie", the International research center against cancer, in 2008. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

The Curie Institute will “suspend demolition of the Pavillon des Sources to take the time to look at… any possible alternative,” Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Critics of the demolition say two-time Nobel winner Marie Curie worked in a laboratory in the building, while its proponents dispute this.

A cancer-fighting foundation, the Curie Institute wants to build a 2,000-square metre five-storey research centre at the site in Paris’ touristy Latin Quarter.

It would be “the first centre for cancer-related chemical biology in Europe” and “an indispensable scientific project”, Curie Institute chief Thierry Philip told AFP.

He added that he had had a “calm exchange on the complex debate” with minister Abdul Malak “on a question of memory that stokes so much emotion today”.

If no “alternative solution” can be found, “we will have to calmly make a decision between memory and living science,” Philip said.

Figures including television presenter Stephane Bern and conservative former minister Rachida Dati launched the debate around the Pavillon des Sources into the public eye.

It would be a “serious mistake” to destroy the building, Bern wrote on X this week, given its status as French “heritage”.

Philip said that the Pavillon des Sources was not a laboratory used by Curie, but rather served to store radioactive waste and today stands empty.

Her actual laboratory, the Curie pavilion, is not in danger of being demolished, he said.

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5 things to know about Charles de Gaulle's historic 'appel du 18 juin'

On June 18, 1940, then-General Charles de Gaulle spoke into a BBC microphone in London, proclaiming that “Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.”

His words were broadcast on the BBC’s Radio Londres, the network’s French language programme.

General de Gaulle called on all officers, soldiers and engineers already in British territory or capable of getting there, to join the fight against Nazi Germany

The speech is widely considered to be the “founding act of the Free French Forces” that would be led by de Gaulle.

De Gaulle had fled to UK the previous day, after Marshal Philippe Pétain, the new French prime minister, had promised to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany.

READ MORE: ‘Punished for daring’: Women journalists defied Allies to cover D-Day

Here are five facts about the famous speech;

It was actually a response to another speech – The previous day, on June 17th at 12:30pm, the new head of the French government, Marshal Philippe Pétain, made a speech announcing his plans to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany. De Gaulle fled France the same day, and met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who gave him the green light to record a speech.

There were not many listeners – In reality, de Gaulle’s appeal on June 18th is not thought to have been heard by many French people. After the British government went back and forth about whether to air the speech, it eventually was broadcast at 10pm, rather late for people to have heard it across the Channel.

On top of that, the BBC would not have been a first choice for radio stations amongst French people, historian Aurélie Luneau told France Bleu.

Instead, the notoriety of the speech instead came from the word of mouth and re-prints of its words in the international press in the days to come. It was also put into poster-form and placed on walls around London.

A reproduction, from August 1940, of the poster put on walls around London, with the words of de Gaulle’s June 18th speech (Photo by AFP)

But it did mobilise many French once they heard about it. One key example is the Isle de Sein, off the coast of Finistère in Brittany. The small fishing community mobilised, and from June 24th to 26th, 136 locals sailed to Britain, the youngest just 14 and the oldest 54.

No recording of the speech – As it was not widely listened to, the original speech made on June 18th was not recorded or filmed. However, de Gaulle repeated his message again on the radio again four days later (on June 22), and this one was recorded and more widely listened to.

The BBC then went on to give de Gaulle and the Free French five minutes a day to broadcast to France, in an effort to organise the resistance.

In 2023, French newspaper Le Monde was able to use artificial intelligence to recreate a close version to what de Gaulle’s original speech may have sounded like.

De Gaulle’s nickname – The General won the nickname ‘L’Homme du 18 juin’ (The man of the 18th of June) due to his initial speech and the many more that were broadcast during World War II.

Commemorated with a coin and stamp – Upon the 70th anniversary of the speech in 2010, France commemorated the event with a special stamp (you can see it here), as well as a €2 commemorative coin (you can see/buy it here).

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