French Disconnect

The philosopher George Santayana once wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” One wonders if Guy de Kerimel, archbishop of Toulouse, remembers the past, for he seems committed to repeating it.

Toulouse is a city in southern France, a nation that’s grappling with the fallout from a report released this summer that reveals dark, deadly, and even demonic aspects of its past. The report is the result of a five-month inquiry into the prevalence of violence against students in the nation’s education system. Commissioned by the French Parliament, it examines over 270 schools, but it has a heavy focus on Catholic institutions under state contract, especially those with boarding programs. Commission president Fatiha Keloua Hachi described the investigation as a “deep dive into the unthinkable.”

The commission was established following revelations of abuse at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The abuse is alleged to have spanned several decades, from the 1950s to the 2010s, during which priests, teachers, and staff subjected the underage students in their charge to serious physical and sexual abuse. The victims described acts of “unprecedented severity” and “absolute sadism,” and French lawmakers called the school a “textbook example” of the state’s structural dysfunction.

Alain Esquerre, 53, a former student, wrote a book about his experiences at the school titled The Silence of Bétharram, released this spring. Poor grades got him four slaps in the face and a kick in the stomach while lying on the office floor of the “prefect of discipline.” He recounts having suffered beatings, near starvation, stinging nettles rubbed on bare legs (to punish tardiness), and injections from water-filled syringes under the skin that caused excruciating blisters. Another student contracted hypothermia after being forced to stand outside half-naked. Two others were slapped so hard their eardrums shattered. Others recalled incidents of voyeurism, molestation, and rape. According to one former student, “Bétharram was an ideal haven for pedophiles” — a particularly sadistic brand of pedophile.