In a place that is at peace after suffering so much for centuries, it’s important to remember that in other places things are not so peaceful.  Throughout Bayeux right now there is a photo exhibition of large billboard sized photographic panels of photographs from the conflict to liberate Mosul, Iraq.  It’s a reminder to all of us what war continues to do.  We also visited the Memorial to the Reporters that is in a beautiful garden setting, that lists the names of all reporters who have lost their lives from 1944 to the present.  The plaque at the entrance says: This place is dedicated to reporters and to freedom of the press.  It is unique in Europe, firing a walkway among white stones engraved with the name of journalists killed all over the world since 1944.  This project by the town of Bayeux and the organization Reporters Without Borders was inaugurated in 2007 by Rama Yade, Junior Minster for Human Rights and Patrick Gomont, mayor of Bayeux.

It goes on to say on another plaque: Bayeux, which witnessed a freedom dearly won, has included the Memorial to Reporters to encourage the younger generations to think about what freedom really means.  “We must uphold freedom of speech, it is the basis for all other freedoms, it is how we enlighten each other.” Voltaire.