September 1938, another whim of Hitler, and the French and British leaders are invited to Munich to swallow another bitter pill. Mussolini plays the middleman, verging on being a pimp. Daladier and Chamberlain are taken for a ride. The highly skilled Germans exploit the divisions between these two statesmen. Goering becomes a champion of peace, Ribbentrop has little difficulty playing his role, one of haughty disdain, and Hitler amuses himself by toying with the nerves of his interlocutors. Daladier and Chamberlain will yield before the Führer, abandoning Czechoslovakia, the only country capable of resisting Germany.
The Munich Agreement is recounted to us in detail. Daladier was manipulated by his defeatist entourage; it was necessary to yield to Hitler. The strangest aspect of this conference is that the main party concerned, Czechoslovakia, was not invited to its own dismemberment.
Georges Marc Benamou makes us relive this shameful day for France through an interview between a young journalist and a reclusive Daladier, in a secluded house, far from the world and politics. The old man has his memories, his files, which he will open, after much hesitation, to the curiosity of the journalist.
Little by little, the bull of Vaucluse, who is above all a solitary old bear, reveals himself, uncovers his story, and perhaps regrets having yielded that day in September 1938. France was alone, as it would be in June 1940.
This novel sheds light on this well-orchestrated and arranged day of deceit by Germany and Italy. The Ghost of Munich, Daladier the last survivor of the four major actors of this conference. Did he call them fools? Perhaps then he understood, albeit a bit too late like the fox in the fable, that he had been deceived.
Thierry Jan
