This monument represents a man breaking his sword on his knee; behind him, a woman is weeping. At the top, a globe is surrounded by an olive branch. The monument was installed in 1928 at the intersection of two national roads. When the crossroad became too congested, the monument was moved, in the 1980s, to a spot in the castle park. The sculptor was Alfred Salvignol. The mayor, a retired school teacher, was a founder of the Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (League of Human Rights.) The poem at the base reads:
PAX… VOX POPULI
Passant incline-toi devant ce monument !…
Vois cette femme en deuil montrant les hécatombes
Ses yeux taris de pleurs, scrutent au loin les tombes
Où dorment tant de preux, victimes du moment !…
Ils firent ces héros le solennel serment
De fermer à jamais les noires catacombes
Arrière, disent-ils, les obus et les bombes
Et sois bénie, ô paix, sœur du désarmement !…
Passant, incline-toi ! Regarde cette mère !…
Elle clame à son fils : « la gloire est bien amère
La gloire, ô mon enfant, est là, chez nos grands morts
Mais, sache désormais, que la guerre est un crime
Qu’elle laisse après elle, à de cuisants remords,
Ceux qui firent sombrer les peuples dans l’abîme.
Victorin Maurel, maire de Château-Arnoux (1868-1935), instituteur.
PEACE … VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
In passing, bow to this monument! …
See this woman in mourning showing the sacrifice
Her eyes, dry from tears, scan the graves far away
Where sleep so many brave victims of the moment! …
They made to these heroes the solemn oath
To close the black catacombs forever
Retreat, they say, shells and bombs
And be blessed, O peace, sister of disarmament!
Go on, bow down! Look at this mother!
She says to her son, “The glory is bitter
The glory, O my child, is here, among our dead
But know now that war is a crime
What she leaves after her, to bitter remorse,
Those who sank the peoples into the abyss.
Victorin Maurel, mayor of Château-Arnoux (1868-1935), teacher.
