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Le Grand Naufrage: Chronique du procès Pétain
Le maréchal Pétain fut-il un traître ou non ? Les Français qui crurent en la parole du vainqueur de Verdun et le firent roi en 1940 ont-ils été trompés par lui ?
Comme je n'ai jamais grenouillé dans les marais de Vichy, de Londres et d'Alger, mon propos se borne à ce qui fut dit sous les hauts plafonds dorés de la première chambre du Palais de justice. J'ai écouté les témoins, les juges, le procureur général et les avocats de la défense, sondé leurs paroles et leurs silences, et beaucoup observé le visage de l'accusé. Pourquoi n'aurais-je pas apporté aussi mon propre témoignage de soldat qui, pendant plus de deux ans, a aimé le maréchal Pétain et lui a obéi ?
Ce procès fut atroce et se déroula comme un drame. Pour ma part, je lève la main droite et je jure de dire, même quand elle est gênante, toute la vérité, rien que la vérité. S'il en existe une, elle doit se trouver dans un cri de l'âme.
J.R.
Comme je n'ai jamais grenouillé dans les marais de Vichy, de Londres et d'Alger, mon propos se borne à ce qui fut dit sous les hauts plafonds dorés de la première chambre du Palais de justice. J'ai écouté les témoins, les juges, le procureur général et les avocats de la défense, sondé leurs paroles et leurs silences, et beaucoup observé le visage de l'accusé. Pourquoi n'aurais-je pas apporté aussi mon propre témoignage de soldat qui, pendant plus de deux ans, a aimé le maréchal Pétain et lui a obéi ?
Ce procès fut atroce et se déroula comme un drame. Pour ma part, je lève la main droite et je jure de dire, même quand elle est gênante, toute la vérité, rien que la vérité. S'il en existe une, elle doit se trouver dans un cri de l'âme.
J.R.
- GenresFrance
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1968
9 people want to read
About the author
Jules Roy
137 books11 followersJules Roy was a French writer.Roy, born an Algerian pied noir (Algerian settler of French descent) and sent to a Roman Catholic seminary, used his experiences in the French colony and during his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War as inspiration for a number of his works. He began writing in 1946, while still serving in the military, and continued to publish fiction and historical works after his resignation in 1953 in protest of the First Indochina War. He was an outspoken critic of French colonialism and the Algerian War of Independence and later civil war, as well as a strongly religious man.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 26, 2016
It started a little unpromisingly. Rambling around the experiences of the author as a French pilot during the war, but once we got to the meat of the trial it became a really sharply observed account of the trial of Petain; exposing clearly the way in which (in many ways) the French state fell into the traps of victor's justice that the Nuremberg trials largely avoided. One can't help feeling a level of sympathy through the pages - tempered now by what we know of Petain's anti Jewish actions and behaviour at the Riom trials of '42. This is an invaluable part of that arc of French history running from 1917 through to the 60s in which Petain and De Gaulle played such a part.
August 10, 2023
Page 248 (my book) August /1945 – result from the jury of the trial of Marshall Pétain
“Whereas in conclusion there is no doubt that he had dealings with Germany, a power at war with France, in order to cooperate with the enemy… on these grounds the High Court of Justice sentences Pétain to the death penalty, national indignity, and the confiscation of his property. In view of the great age of the accused [he was 89 at the time of the trial], the High Court of Justice recommends that the death sentence be not carried out.”
De Gaulle followed this recommendation and nullified the death sentence, but Pétain spent the rest of his life on a small island (ile d’Yeu) off the French Atlantic coast. He died there at the age of 95 in 1951.
This is a strangely written book. It goes through each day of the trial from July 23 until August 15/1945. It was written in 1966 (my edition was translated from the original French) when over twenty years had passed since the trial. The author was not present at the trial, but it is loaded (one could say over-loaded) with passages like he was there every hour. Personal observations are made that only one who was present could have made. There are no references cited – except quotes from newspapers, so I assume the author selected these first-hand commentaries.
The author was a supporter of Pétain until November/1942 when the Allies landed in North Africa and the Germans annexed Vichy France (unoccupied France).
He wavers back-and-forth in his support of Pétain. He both condemns him and admires him. This likely expresses the feelings of many in France, so this book captures the ambivalence of French citizens that collaborated and those who resisted. This book is nowhere near the perspective of an objective journalist.
The author, on page 248, writes of Pétain (he always called him Marshal Pétain) “Dealings with the enemy. Twenty years later there is still no proof”. That’s a stretch. The picture at Montoire of Pétain in October 1940 shaking hands with the fuhrer negates that. What of Pétain’s responsibility for the round-up of thousands of Jews? The execution of thousands of French citizens, many by or with the aid of the French constabulary?
France is still coming to terms with its armistice with Germany in 1940. This book is a part of that long process. The writing in this exemplifies the bitter legacy of 4 years of occupation and collaboration.
“Whereas in conclusion there is no doubt that he had dealings with Germany, a power at war with France, in order to cooperate with the enemy… on these grounds the High Court of Justice sentences Pétain to the death penalty, national indignity, and the confiscation of his property. In view of the great age of the accused [he was 89 at the time of the trial], the High Court of Justice recommends that the death sentence be not carried out.”
De Gaulle followed this recommendation and nullified the death sentence, but Pétain spent the rest of his life on a small island (ile d’Yeu) off the French Atlantic coast. He died there at the age of 95 in 1951.
This is a strangely written book. It goes through each day of the trial from July 23 until August 15/1945. It was written in 1966 (my edition was translated from the original French) when over twenty years had passed since the trial. The author was not present at the trial, but it is loaded (one could say over-loaded) with passages like he was there every hour. Personal observations are made that only one who was present could have made. There are no references cited – except quotes from newspapers, so I assume the author selected these first-hand commentaries.
The author was a supporter of Pétain until November/1942 when the Allies landed in North Africa and the Germans annexed Vichy France (unoccupied France).
He wavers back-and-forth in his support of Pétain. He both condemns him and admires him. This likely expresses the feelings of many in France, so this book captures the ambivalence of French citizens that collaborated and those who resisted. This book is nowhere near the perspective of an objective journalist.
The author, on page 248, writes of Pétain (he always called him Marshal Pétain) “Dealings with the enemy. Twenty years later there is still no proof”. That’s a stretch. The picture at Montoire of Pétain in October 1940 shaking hands with the fuhrer negates that. What of Pétain’s responsibility for the round-up of thousands of Jews? The execution of thousands of French citizens, many by or with the aid of the French constabulary?
France is still coming to terms with its armistice with Germany in 1940. This book is a part of that long process. The writing in this exemplifies the bitter legacy of 4 years of occupation and collaboration.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews