Evening star., 1943-01-27
MurseiIIe RevoIts

lace III lne Old HarDOr' district OF
MarSeille is one of the most tragic
ally thrilling episodes Of the war.
The revolt apparently Is a spon-
taneouS outburst of population
historically noted for its turbulence
and clanniShneSS. Those Marseillais
are peculiar folk whose roots 20
back to the dawn Of history. The
colony of stone houses and twisting,
narrow alleys, rising steeply from
the old harbor, is built on the site of
ancient Massilia, founded by Greeks
from Asia Minor about 800 BIC, and
there is some evidence that those
Venturesome pioneers may have dis
placed an even earlier settlement of
PhoenicianS. At that time, what Is
now France was inhabited by bar
barous tribes; SO Marseille is the first
and oldest center of civilization on
French soil.
Through all the vicissitudes of
more than $500 years, Marseille has
remained a seat OF foreign trade,
chiefly with the Eastern Mediter-
ranean. This has given 1t a con-
tinuous flavor both Oriental and
cosmopolitan. The seafaring popu-
lation which inhabits the old quarter
has that strange 'Jevantine" quality
which is found in all the ports around
the Middle Sea, from Gibraltar to
alexandra. In one sense, this
Levantine breed is un-French, yet
in another sense it's emotional nature
has always thrilled to the currents
of national life. Was it not the spec
tacle Of roughneck volunteer bat
talions from the old city Fastening
to aid the great revolution which had
broken out in Paris that inspired
the immortal anthem, La Marseil-
laise"?
The old harbor district has always
had the reputation of being a tough
quarter. Like a proverbial China
town, its impenetrable and mys-
terious receSSes have furnished a
haven for conSpirators, criminals
and formidable gangs Of thugs. All
this made it an ideal center for
underground resistance to the Ger
man invaders. The Vichy police and
the Gestapo have alike found them
selves baffled. Now that the Medi-
terranean coast of France is threat
ened by the possibility Of an Allied
invasion, so dangerous a nest Of pa
triotic plotting could no longer be
tolerated. Accordingly, with typical
ruthlessness, Berlin decreed the
systematic razing Of the old harbor
quarter and the Punishment OF It's
inhabitants, between 10000 and
$4,000 in number, to concentration
camps far away.
Clinging tenaciously like limpets
to their ancient rock, this death SEN
tence on their ancestral home seems
to have reused the old harbor dwell
ers to elemental fury. Reckoning
nothing of the hopeless odds, they
Jug up uluuel arms, DdIIlCdueQ IlleiT
narrow streets and started guerrilla
warfare against their hated enemies.
Of course, to this unequal struggle
there can be but one end. Since the
Germans plan to destroy it anyway,
there is no incentive to spare the dis
trict from humiliation. SO the
chances are that the old harbor
quarter of Marseille will soon be
pulverized by artillery, tanks and
demolition bombs dropped from air
planes as effectively as were Rotter-
dam, Warsaw and other targets of
Nazi frightfulness. Those hot-blood-
ed MarSeillais are doomed, and they
must know it. Presumably, they
prefer death to degra ding exile. Yet
their last superb gesture OF defiance
may serve as patriotic beacon light
to other Frenchmen eager to take up
the fight against their Axis con-
querors. In that case, the tragedy
| Of Marseille will not have been in
vain.