Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944: Collaboration, Resistance, and Daily Life in Occupied Paris

337 Pages·2014·3.09 MB·English

by  Jean Guéhenno

Diary of the Dark Years,
1940–1944

Diary of the Dark Years,
1940–1944
Collaboration, Resistance, and
Daily Life in Occupied Paris
Jean Guéhenno
TranslaTeD anD annoTaTeD
bY Davi D b all
1
1
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Published in the United States of America by
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Originally published as Journal des années noires, 1940–1944
© Editions GALLIMARD, Paris, 1947 and 2002
English translation © Oxford University Press 2014
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Guéhenno, Jean, 1890–1978.
[Journal des années noires, 1940–1944. English]
Diary of the dark years, 1940–1944 : collaboration, resistance, and daily life
in occupied Paris / Jean Guéhenno ; translated and annotated by David Ball.
pages cm
Originally published as Journal des années noires, 1940–1944
by Gallimard (Paris) in 1947, 1973, and 2002.
ISBN 978-0-19-997086-5 (hardback)
1. Guéhenno, Jean, 1890–1978—Diaries. 2. Authors, French—20th century—Diaries.
3. World War, 1939–1945—Personal narratives, French. 4. Paris (France)—History—
1940–1944. 5. France—History—German occupation, 1940–1945.
I. Ball, David, 1937–translator. II. Title.
PQ2613.U187Z46 2014
848'.91209—dc23 2013050415
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
ConTenT s
Acknowledgments vii
Note on the Text ix
Translator’s Introduction xi
Preface xxviii
1940
1
1941
51
1942
139
1943
188
1944
233
Biographical Dictionary 273
Appendix: Charles de Gaulle: “The Call of June 18” 285
Index 287
v

aCknowleDGmenT s
I wish to thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for supporting my research in
the Bibliothèque Nationale de France with an Emeritus Fellowship and Smith
College, particularly Denise Rodino, for helping me apply. My office in Neilson
Library, near many books and a knowledgeable staff, supported my work as well.
For the translation, I owe a great debt of gratitude, as ever, to my frequent
co-translator who this time was my best critic: Nicole Ball. Her sharp eye and
fine ear for both French and English improved this translation immeasurably.
I wish to thank my colleague Professor Thalia Pandiri for help with quotations
from the Latin and Greek. Thalia, Tom Raworth, and my colleague Betsey Harries
were all kind enough to lend me their excellent ears to test out different versions
of some tricky passages. And thanks to Professor Gertraud Gutzmann, who
helped with the German.
Special thanks to Tom for invaluable help with the photos. Without him there
would have been no illustrations.
I am grateful for the assistance of Patrick Bachelier and Jean-Kely Paulhan for
corrections to the text of the original and for their willingness to share their vast
knowledge of Jean Guéhenno and his times. They are the source of a number of
annotations in this edition. Among the corrections Patrick Bachelier supplied to
the published French text are a few dates revised to conform to Guéhenno’s
original manuscript. The most important is the entry for May 15, 1941, the day
of the first round-up of Jews in Paris, incorrectly added to the May 9, 1941,
entry in the Gallimard edition.
Finally, thanks to my wonderful editor at Oxford University Press, Nancy
Toff. I am grateful for her support and persistence in getting the project through,
and also for her rapid, smart, and sometimes funny answers to my questions;
they made her a pleasure to work with.
vii

noTe on T he TexT
This translation is based on Journal des années noires, 1940–1944, Gallimard/
Folio, 2002, but with corrections to the French text—particularly the dates of a
few entries—graciously supplied by Patrick Bachelier, who, with Jean-Kely
Paulhan, is preparing a new, scholarly edition of the Journal from Guéhenno’s
original manuscript. Both provided precious information and insights about
Guéhenno that contributed to my annotations and Translator’s Introduction to
the present edition.
ix