The Sorrow and the Pity Page #7

what had happened.

He showed me Pierre Mends-France,

who was sitting at a table

with a lovely woman, who was his wife.

My cousin turned to me and said,

"Our State Secretary there

is responsible for our defeat."

There he sat, our little lieutenant,

drinking champagne.

That champagne completely infuriated me.

I walked up to him,

and told him this was no attitude to have,

after being defeated,

drinking champagne in public

as if he was delighted

about what had happened.

Then what?

I told him

if I saw him again, I would kick him out.

and I gave him my card.

-It caused quite a stir.

-You were picking a fight.

No, I simply gave him my card

to let him know who I was.

Not to hide my identity.

How did he react?

He got up, stood to attention,

and said nothing.

I was a captain, he was a lieutenant.

I see.

There was surrender and treason.

But anti-Semitism had also begun

to rear its ugly head.

Many who used to hide their feelings

openly declared their anti-Semitism

to the point that France began adopting

certain German values,

and sought to get closer to Hitler,

in the hope of creating a Europe where

France and Germany would collaborate

and obviously anti-Semitism

became a common element

between many Germans and Frenchmen.

and, of course, Jean Zay and I

had the misfortune of being Jewish.

Actually, I was Jewish.

Jean Zay was only partly Jewish.

He had converted, as had his father,

but he was of Jewish origin.

This didn't detract from

the atrocious campaign against him,

which, as you know,

ended in his being killed.

Jean Zay was arrested.

His pregnant wife was in Casablanca.

She had a very tough time

to find a hospital bed,

or even someone

willing to help her give birth.

There was such hatred.

When clinics or hospitals heard

that she was Jean Zay's wife,

they didn't have the courage to admit her.

You can't imagine how rampant

sectarianism had become.

In any case, Mrs. Zay's pregnancy

was certainly a very trying time.

She lived with my wife

and they spent many long hours together

during which they were

abused and insulted.

My wife also had a very rough time of it.

Anyhow,

Madeleine Zay eventually gave birth

to this baby,

whom I had the opportunity to meet,

as I was arrested

shortly after the baby's birth.

and when I was transferred

to Clermont-Ferrand,

where I met up with Jean Zay,

I'd seen his daughter and he hadn't.

JEN ZY:

To appear in Court Tomorrow

The committing magistrate was

Colonel Leprtre.

I don't want to name names,

but this man's reputation lives on today.

The man was very intelligent,

very bright, clever and cunning,

but he had a very perverse side to him,

in that he harbored great hate

for the accused,

especially if the accused was left-wing.

He got a certain morbid pleasure

from seeing an important man accused.

Even outside of cross-examination,

he would sometimes visit the prison,

just to sit and chat with the prisoners.

He would go in their cells,

and sit on their beds,

pretending to speak with them simply.

He clearly got a great deal of pleasure

out of holding the fates

of such formerly important men

in his hands.

There was something very sick,

very odd about it.

strange man.

So he would confess to certain things

in moments of relaxation?

One day, he said to me,

"I know what you think of me."

The man was bright enough to understand.

Very intelligent.

He said to me,

"I know what you think of me,

"but in an organized society,

there are certain tasks,

"tasks which must be done,

and which require people to do them."

"Every society needs garbage men."

He chose that word.

Were you able to emphasize

the racial and political background

and motives to the trial?

No, our main concern was

to obtain satisfying results,

and we knew that these judges

wouldn't appreciate such arguments.

Even if we had said that his being Jewish

should have nothing to do with the trial,

we knew perfectly well

that it would be a major issue.

The hearing was extremely tense.

It began at 9.00 a.m. with an introduction

by Pierre Mends-France,

which the Colonel received

with obvious contempt.

He had been given a table

and a jug of water.

He began with the following

introductory statement:

"Colonel and gentlemen,

I am Jewish, I am a Freemason,

"but I am not a deserter.

May the trial begin."

The court was presided over

by a rather frenzied man,

called Colonel Perret,

a colonel in charge of tanks,

who harbored a particular hatred

for General de Gaulle,

because they had served in Saint Cyr

together and were both competitive.

He hated anything to do with de Gaulle,

Gaullism or Gaullists.

Furthermore,

he was a very frenzied character,

who ran the hearings

in an atrocious manner.

My sentence was nothing compared to

the death sentences he gave out.

He was responsible for executions,

which is considerably worse

than the sentence he gave me.

I must say that those present

at the hearing were extremely hostile.

The audience had been rigged,

no two ways about it.

Women whose faces were filled with hate.

I won't name any names,

but they were hateful people,

people who were hoping

for the cruelest of sentences,

who were hoping I'd be killed immediately,

who didn't think I should even

be allowed to defend myself.

Some 300 or 400 entry cards

had been delivered,

but only six were for the defense.

The cards were quite a story.

s only a limited number existed,

and they were in high demand,

a new black market developed.

There were bistros in Clermont

that hawked the cards.

Flatteringly enough,

they were very expensive,

twenty francs for the show.

It cost more than the movies.

There's no denying

that public opinion was strongly influenced

by the papers at that time,

which felt that the politicians

who were accused

should automatically be declared guilty.

My colonel, my lieutenant-colonel

and my general

all took the stand

and said, "He didn't desert."

When the commissioner,

whose name I won't give either,

stood up and announced in a choked voice

that he was sentenced

to six years for desertion,

Mends told him,

"Sir, I'm sure you'll be rewarded.

"You've served the master well."

Former State Secretary / Sentenced

to six Years in Jail for Desertion

I don't know if Rochat told you

that a man came to see him the next day.

and this man told him,

"I'm a Ptain supporter,

"and I am appalled by what happened

yesterday. It's scandalous.

"The Marshal must not be aware

that such things are happening.

"The Marshal must be informed

of such goings-on.

"I saw you stenograph the hearing."

Which indeed he had.

"Could you get a copy for me

to bring to the Marshal himself?"

Rochat gave him a copy

which he took to the Marshal.

Naturally, nothing ever came of it.

and the man who took the copy

was a certain Mr. Giscard d'Estaing.

It is these children,

the pupils of French schools,

in whom the Marshal sees hope

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