It all begins in the ’30s with the Cagoule and ends in the early ’60s with the OAS. Between these two dates, you can find all of France’s discomforts, upheavals, and misfortunes.
Amid politicians responsible for the defeat in 1940, military leaders torn between feelings not always very republican, a Vichy regime trying to give betrayal an acceptable image, France and the Third Republic succumb, and only a distant call restores its rank and honor.
Then come the colonial wars and Algeria, with an OAS closer to Vichy ideals than those of France. The author describes these lost soldiers, strays of history. Secret history?
This book reminds us of a film: Lacombe Lucien; history is cruel, it never forgives and woe to those who were mistaken. Laval at his sentencing said nothing different.
It is not our intention to defend this politician, traitor to his country, we simply wish to pose the question, as this book compels us, where does betrayal begin?
The author in 1962 shows real courage by publishing this book in the midst of the Algerian war and less than twenty years after the liberation of France. The reader of this early 21st century will find useful elements to better understand future stakes; even if these have radically changed, they always respond to the same alternatives: liberty or dictatorship, hatred and war.
An essential book for our time.
Thierry Jan
