The threat to France’s Jews

Rough-hewn and reminiscent of one of Giacometti’s lonely figures, the weathered bronze soldier in the middle of a tiny, shady square in the heart of Paris stands stiffly to attention, with the jagged blade of his broken sword pointing like a dagger up to the sky. The statue’s disproportionately tiny head, topped with its disarmingly jaunty military hat, looks almost comical.