Great War ace still holds court in Paris

By Robert Philip
Last Updated: 3:24am BST 29/05/2007

It is a question 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' poses every year at this time as I prepare to depart for Paris: "So who is this Roland Garros again. . . ?" For those of you still seeking similar enlightenment, Roland Garros was a First World War fighter pilot who, after shooting down five German planes within a 10-day period in 1915, was hailed as an 'Ace' by the New York Times, the first airman to be so described.

Garros is also credited with having invented a forward-firing machine gun which spat bullets through the rotating propeller of his plane, transforming the way aerial duels would henceforth be fought. Alas, no man is infallible and Garros' run of triumphs came to an abrupt end in April 1915 when he was shot down behind enemy lines and captured before he could set fire to his plane, thereby allowing Anton Fokker to study and refine his revolutionary weapon.

After being held captive for three years, Garros eventually escaped through Holland to rejoin his squadron, only to be killed in action at the age of 30 over Vouziers in October 1918. He was a hockey player of international repute and a keen tennis player, and when the French government approached Stade Francais with a view to converting their club into a new national stadium on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in 1928, the members agreed on condition that the new complex be named in honour of their popular war hero.

Roland Garros would have been less proud of his government's actions in 1939, when the stadium was converted into a concentration camp for political dissidents and assorted 'undesirables'. According to legend, following the German occupation, French Jews were rounded up and also housed within the grounds before being transported east. French tennis officials insist that this version of events is a myth which has gained credence despite evidence suggesting the stadium in question was the Valedrome, from where 13,000 French Jews were held before being transported to the death camps. On the personal orders of Charles de Gaulle, the stadium was demolished in the aftermath of war to be replaced by the Square of Martyrs, which stands as a memorial to victims of the holocaust.

In his autobiographical novel Darkness At Noon, however, German-Jewish writer Arthur Koestler described conditions inside Roland Garros, where he was interned under the Nazis, thus: "We called ourselves the Roland Garros 'cave-dwellers' because there were about 600 of us living beneath the stairways of the stadium. We had to sleep on straw, wet straw. We were so crammed in we felt like sardines.

"Few of us knew anything about tennis but when we were allowed to take our walks outside, we could see the names Borotra and Brugnon on the scoreboard.

"Compared to our experiences in the past and in the future, Roland Garros was almost an amusement park."

Six decades on, what is not in doubt is that Roland Garros has been transformed into the most stylish of the four Grand Slam venues. With its splashing fountains, courtyards, marble statues, open-air cafes and daily parade of beautiful people, it is Cannes with tennis nets (and umbrellas on a depressingly damp opening Sunday).

Any tennis tournament which regularly attracts Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Vanessa Paradis is certain to attract discerning males of the species and, sure enough, Ilie Nastase pops up every May, creating a buzz where'er he strolls, although it is now 34 years since he was crowned champion.

"They always love me here in Paris. Is my favourite city so is nice Nastase is one of their favourites. I win the championship here in '73, but they are not loving every champion. Everything here is style, you know? Nastase had style, Roland Garros has style, it was a happy marriage."

Thanks for that interesting article. I did know about who Garros was, however I always thought that Anton Fokker (a name of much amusement at school:lol:) invented the synchronised firing method. This is saying he stole it from Garros . Never heard that before. :o

I have heard about the concentration camp issue though. Sounds dubious that people deny it happened at RG. That does rather sour the feel somewhat if it is true. It coudl well have been the Valledrome, but Koestler seems convinced it was RG doesn't he, and he should know. I often feel that any buildings that have been used as concentration camps should be destroyed as they have such a feel of evil. And using them for entertainment purposes in disrespectful to victims and survivors of the holocaust. Then again, when we look around us it is amazing what has taken place in many of the buildings we use on a daily basis, and we take this forgranted. And the suffering and wring doing that has occured in some of these places is simply mind blowing. My mum works in a hospital that was a Victorian workhouse for eg. And numerous hospitals other public buildings have been used as places where people were held against their will and suffered considerably, such as asylums and prisons.

Yes we all go and visit the coliseum in Rome with intrigue and curiosity. However the things that happened there were much worse than what actually happened at the Velodrome or RG.

Time is a healer. Atrocities are unfortunately everywhere and the world would be very flat if we had to demolish all buildings that have been related to crime one way or another. DeGaule did a good thing to destroy it as a symbolic act but we can't go on and destroy everything.