dedications – Languages across Borders

The police killing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk on 27 June in Nanterre (in the suburbs of Paris) and civil unrest that occurred subsequently in France show how challenging it is to uphold the values of equality and fraternity, both socially and institutionally. For Bastille Day this 14th of July, we focus on the famous poem ‘Liberté’, initially entitled ‘Une seule pensée’, composed by Charles Eluard under the German occupation of France in 1941. This love poem to Nusch was turned into a celebration of and aspiration to Freedom. It is marked by the leitmotiv “J’écris ton nom”, reminding us of the power of both speech and writing. While the collaborationist Vichy régime had replaced the French revolutionary motto from “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” to the conservative “Travail, Famille, Patrie”, the poem “Liberté” became emblematic of French resilience throughout the Second World War and beyond. This blogpost gives an overview of the early publications of the poem: many of which are available at Cambridge University Library, including special editions with the Eluard’s signature and dedications, within the Chadwyck-Healey Liberation collection.

Continue reading ““Liberté… J’écris ton nom”: Eluard’s poem and the Cambridge UL Liberation collection” →

We have just added a copy of Julien Unger’s Le sang et l’or : souvenirs de camps allemands (Liberation.c.383) to the Liberation collection. Written almost immediately after the author’s release from imprisonment, the text is notable for its detailed description of existence in a concentration camp. Julien Unger describes his experience as a Jew deported from France and how he managed to survive in Auschwitz-Birkenau and other Nazi camps. The author’s heartfelt printed dedication is 40 lines long, beginning “Je dédie ce témoignage à la mémoire d’une mère et à toutes les mères du monde …” It is, of course, just one of many such prisoners’ accounts in the collection, which can usually be identified via the subject heading string World War, 1939-1945 — Prisoners and prisons, German.

This memoir was republished in 2007 by the Fondation pour la mémoire de La Shoah. The Fondation’s website comments –

À la valeur de ce témoignage s’ajoute la pertinence de l’analyse des méthodes de terreur déployées par les nazis pour asservir, traquer, spolier et mener à la mort les Juifs d’Europe. Véritable document pour l’historien, cet ouvrage dégage une force indéniable.

Interestingly no British library acquired this 2007 reprint, and the only other UK library which owns a copy of the original is the London Library. In describing the items in the Liberation collection we attempt to give as much bibliographical detail as possible, in order to suggest different ways in which the material can be exploited. Rather unusually for 20th century material, we describe in full both publisher and printer, including precise details of addresses where available, and exact dates of publication and printing. In an earlier blog post we discussed the resistance leader Pierre Brossolette. It is interesting to note in passing that the address of the printing house of this work, the Imprimerie moderne in Montrouge (Seine), had already been changed to the Avenue Pierre Brossolette by February 15th 1946.

Continue reading “A little bit of detective work” →