In 1832, after a short, pathetic life of exile among the conquerors of his nation, the son of Napoleon Bonaparte by Marie Louise of Austria died of tuberculosis in Vienna. Edmond Rostand wrote a moving play about L'Aiglon, as he was called, and great actresses played the part, but nobody ever thought the bones of the young Duke of Reichstadt important enough to be moved to Paris until Adolf Hitler conceived of the gesture as a "symbol of good will and hope for eternal peace."
Last week Nazi workmen removed the remains of...
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