French-language Memorial Plaque for Émile Béthouart at Béthouart Bridge Innsbruck

General Marie Émile Antoine Béthouart liberated Vorarlberg as commander of the First French Army Corps in May 1945. On 10 July, he was appointed commander in the French zone of Austria, and he was also French High Commissioner until 1950. The Innsbruck Business Academy, with its three-language focus "HAK International," maintains a school partnership with the Lycée Jean Dupuy in Tarbes. As a partnership gift, Professor Christophe Zeni from Dupuy Gymnasium developed a metal plaque with the French translation of the information plaque for Émile Béthouart, on the initiative of HAK's French teacher and Erasmus coordinator Barbara Ditterich. The plaque was unveiled on 18 March 2024 on the north side of the Béthouart Bridge in the presence of both directors, Cyrille Courade and Jochen Hois. Speeches were given by Madame Valéry Béthouart Dolique, Béthouart's granddaughter, the two school principals, the former governor of Tyrol Herwig van Staa, Innsbruck's mayor Georg Willi, as well as the French honorary consul Franz Pegger and his predecessor Ivo Greiter.