7 ms·

Do you have sources for such accusations?

mschuster91 6y ago
Apparently his biographer: https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/18/jonhenley1 https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/18/jonhenley1
postsantum 6y ago
I was surprised too. The anti-semite part seems to be dubious at best - the only link I found is someone's very liberal interpretation of some words
- shakna 6y ago
  It doesn't take much to find it. Here's a quote from the man himself: > Ici, nous n'avons toujours pas de logement. Nous sommes actuellement campés dans un petit pavillon d'une pension de famille sur la Corniche. Ce n'est pas gai pour Simone, mais il n'y aura d'appartement convenable que quand on aura fichu à la porte tous les ignobles youtres qui nous encombrent. [0] A rough translation of the last sentence might be: > It's not cheerful for Simone, but there won't be a suitable apartment until we have kicked out all the vile youtres [slur for Jew] that plague us. But, to be more charitable to the man, it was a time where anti-semitism was wide spread, and doesn't seem to be more than the norm of the time. But it isn't really ambiguous. [0] https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plongee-antisemite-du-commandant-jacques-yves-cousteau_3551090_1819218.html https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plonge...
  - rsynnott 6y ago
    This is actually arguably _worse_ than it seems, when you put it in context. He wrote this is May 1941, in Vichy France. In 1942, Vichy France started 'kicking out' its Jewish population to occupied France, and thence to the concentration camps. Maybe Cousteau got his apartment after all...
- bambax 6y ago
  In many letters written during WWII Cousteau wishes to get rid of "youtres" which is a derogatory word for Jews much worse than the N word in English. The defense of Commandant Cousteau's anti-Semite private writings usually goes along the lines of "okay, but everybody did the same at the time". But this is not true. Most people did not actively call for the physical extermination of Jews in occupied France. They did nothing to prevent it -- but rejoicing and calling for more is on another level. His brother was a frequent contributor to "Je suis partout" during WWII and was sentenced to death for his writings at the end of the war (later commuted to life in prison). And yes, Cousteau is not his brother. Yet -- not a good family.
  - YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
    So far you and others here have only shown one example of a letter where he is calling for jewish (and muslim) people to be kicked out. I have seen nothing about extermination etc. Even more so- what the hell is this "not a good family" business all about? Seriously? The whole family? Because of one member? This is just mud-slinging.
    - rsynnott 6y ago
      Cousteau probably didn't realise _exactly_ what was likely to happen to Jewish people who were 'kicked out' to make room for important filmmakers; this was the year before the Wannsee Conference. But one would have had to be extremely naive to think that anything good was happening to the Jewish populations the Nazis were then deporting across their empire.
    - bambax 6y ago
      By "family" I meant Cousteau's family during the war, not all his descendants of course. Sorry if that was unclear. But he was a Nazi sympathizer and was protected by the Germans during the war. Then he falsely claimed to have been a member of the Resistance. This is all documented in his biography.
      - YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
- usrusr 6y ago
  Also surprised. I was taking the dark sides of the Steven Zissou character in Anderson's The Life Aquatic as an added twist, not as art imitating life.
lm28469 6y ago
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.europe1.fr%2Fculture%2Fsortie-de-lodyssee-la-part-dombre-du-commandant-cousteau-2870890 https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... Dozens of other articles
bambax 6y ago
Plenty of sources (in French). For example: Anti-Semitism: https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plongee-antisemite-du-commandant-jacques-yves-cousteau_3551090_1819218.html https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plonge... Cousteau's first wife Simone was independently wealthy and financed his boat (Calypso) and expeditions. She lived on board most of the time (yet never appears on camera). But he had another secret family (with kids) on the shore with a former flight attendant, since the late 70s. Simone only learned about it in 1990. Letters were published where she asks a friend in disbelief if this can be true. She then died within a few months. Can't find the letters right now but I did read them then. Critique of "Le Monde du silence": https://www.rtl.fr/culture/medias-people/video-pourquoi-le-monde-du-silence-de-cousteau-est-il-naivement-degueulasse-7779029379 https://www.rtl.fr/culture/medias-people/video-pourquoi-le-m... In that movie from 1956 which won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or, the team blows a whole coral reef with dynamite in order to "count fish living in it". They also catch live sharks on board and kill them with shovels "because seamen don't like sharks". You can watch the documentary and see for yourself.
- NeutronStar 6y ago
  From your very own article: > Et d'ajouter : "Cette réaction est normale, mais il est nécessaire de remettre le film dans son contexte : notre planète comptait 2,7 milliards d'habitants, la mer était une donnée inconnue, et à nos yeux, elle représentait une corne d'abondance inépuisable." > And to add: "This reaction is normal, but it is necessary to put the film in its context: our planet had 2.7 billion inhabitants, the sea was an unknown data, and in our eyes, it represented a horn. of inexhaustible abundance. " Context is everything.
- henearkr 6y ago
  This is his private life. It has nothing to do with your allegations of "bigot", "liar", etc. If this is your references, you end up having denigrated him. About your allegation of J. Cousteau having protected marine life "by blowin' it", it is his work that has raised the current awareness of the richness and fragility of marine life. Compare his positive achievements at the scale of the whole planet (or at least Western world) versus some small part of a coral reef he blew up.

Apparently his biographer: https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/18/jonhenley1 https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/18/jonhenley1

postsantum 6y ago

I was surprised too. The anti-semite part seems to be dubious at best - the only link I found is someone's very liberal interpretation of some words

shakna 6y ago
It doesn't take much to find it. Here's a quote from the man himself: > Ici, nous n'avons toujours pas de logement. Nous sommes actuellement campés dans un petit pavillon d'une pension de famille sur la Corniche. Ce n'est pas gai pour Simone, mais il n'y aura d'appartement convenable que quand on aura fichu à la porte tous les ignobles youtres qui nous encombrent. [0] A rough translation of the last sentence might be: > It's not cheerful for Simone, but there won't be a suitable apartment until we have kicked out all the vile youtres [slur for Jew] that plague us. But, to be more charitable to the man, it was a time where anti-semitism was wide spread, and doesn't seem to be more than the norm of the time. But it isn't really ambiguous. [0] https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plongee-antisemite-du-commandant-jacques-yves-cousteau_3551090_1819218.html https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plonge...
- rsynnott 6y ago
  This is actually arguably _worse_ than it seems, when you put it in context. He wrote this is May 1941, in Vichy France. In 1942, Vichy France started 'kicking out' its Jewish population to occupied France, and thence to the concentration camps. Maybe Cousteau got his apartment after all...
bambax 6y ago
In many letters written during WWII Cousteau wishes to get rid of "youtres" which is a derogatory word for Jews much worse than the N word in English. The defense of Commandant Cousteau's anti-Semite private writings usually goes along the lines of "okay, but everybody did the same at the time". But this is not true. Most people did not actively call for the physical extermination of Jews in occupied France. They did nothing to prevent it -- but rejoicing and calling for more is on another level. His brother was a frequent contributor to "Je suis partout" during WWII and was sentenced to death for his writings at the end of the war (later commuted to life in prison). And yes, Cousteau is not his brother. Yet -- not a good family.
- YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
  So far you and others here have only shown one example of a letter where he is calling for jewish (and muslim) people to be kicked out. I have seen nothing about extermination etc. Even more so- what the hell is this "not a good family" business all about? Seriously? The whole family? Because of one member? This is just mud-slinging.
  - rsynnott 6y ago
    Cousteau probably didn't realise _exactly_ what was likely to happen to Jewish people who were 'kicked out' to make room for important filmmakers; this was the year before the Wannsee Conference. But one would have had to be extremely naive to think that anything good was happening to the Jewish populations the Nazis were then deporting across their empire.
  - bambax 6y ago
    By "family" I meant Cousteau's family during the war, not all his descendants of course. Sorry if that was unclear. But he was a Nazi sympathizer and was protected by the Germans during the war. Then he falsely claimed to have been a member of the Resistance. This is all documented in his biography.
    - YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
usrusr 6y ago
Also surprised. I was taking the dark sides of the Steven Zissou character in Anderson's The Life Aquatic as an added twist, not as art imitating life.

lm28469 6y ago

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.europe1.fr%2Fculture%2Fsortie-de-lodyssee-la-part-dombre-du-commandant-cousteau-2870890 https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... Dozens of other articles

bambax 6y ago

Plenty of sources (in French). For example: Anti-Semitism: https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plongee-antisemite-du-commandant-jacques-yves-cousteau_3551090_1819218.html https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1999/06/18/la-plonge... Cousteau's first wife Simone was independently wealthy and financed his boat (Calypso) and expeditions. She lived on board most of the time (yet never appears on camera). But he had another secret family (with kids) on the shore with a former flight attendant, since the late 70s. Simone only learned about it in 1990. Letters were published where she asks a friend in disbelief if this can be true. She then died within a few months. Can't find the letters right now but I did read them then. Critique of "Le Monde du silence": https://www.rtl.fr/culture/medias-people/video-pourquoi-le-monde-du-silence-de-cousteau-est-il-naivement-degueulasse-7779029379 https://www.rtl.fr/culture/medias-people/video-pourquoi-le-m... In that movie from 1956 which won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or, the team blows a whole coral reef with dynamite in order to "count fish living in it". They also catch live sharks on board and kill them with shovels "because seamen don't like sharks". You can watch the documentary and see for yourself.

NeutronStar 6y ago
From your very own article: > Et d'ajouter : "Cette réaction est normale, mais il est nécessaire de remettre le film dans son contexte : notre planète comptait 2,7 milliards d'habitants, la mer était une donnée inconnue, et à nos yeux, elle représentait une corne d'abondance inépuisable." > And to add: "This reaction is normal, but it is necessary to put the film in its context: our planet had 2.7 billion inhabitants, the sea was an unknown data, and in our eyes, it represented a horn. of inexhaustible abundance. " Context is everything.
henearkr 6y ago
This is his private life. It has nothing to do with your allegations of "bigot", "liar", etc. If this is your references, you end up having denigrated him. About your allegation of J. Cousteau having protected marine life "by blowin' it", it is his work that has raised the current awareness of the richness and fragility of marine life. Compare his positive achievements at the scale of the whole planet (or at least Western world) versus some small part of a coral reef he blew up.