Celine's antisemitic pamphlets  

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Louis-Ferdinand Céline's vocal support for fascism during the Second World War and his authorship of anti-semitic and pro-fascist pamphlets have made him a controversial figure, which has complicated his legacy as cultural icon.

Overview

Louis-Ferdinand Céline wrote three antisemitic pamphlets called Bagatelles pour un massacre (1937), L'École des cadavres (1938) and Les Beaux draps (1941), he escaped judgment by fleeing to Germany (1944) and later to Denmark (1945). He defended these writings by claiming that he had wanted to warn the French people against another war, after the horrors of WWI. Branded a collaborator, he was condemned by default (1950) in France to one year of imprisonment and declared a national disgrace. Granted amnesty, he returned to France in 1951.

Details

In 1937 Céline began a series of pamphlets containing anti-semitic themes: Bagatelles pour un massacre (Trifles for a Massacre) (1937), L'École des cadavres (The School of Corpses) (1938) and Les Beaux draps (The Fine Mess) (1941). The latter was last published in France during the German zone of occupation. These works were characterized by anti-semitism, and also Celine's attachment to many of the same ideas that French fascists had been propagating since 1924. His Trifles for a Massacre is critical of French Jews and their influence on French society, later praised in newspapers like Action Francaise, Je suis partout and Révolution Nationale. Both The School of Corpses and The Fine Mess contain anti-semitic themes.

Before the war, Céline campaigned for an alliance between France and Nazi Germany. In L'École des cadavres he contrasted Hitler with the French Communist party leader Maurice Thorez, writing:

Who is the true friend of the people? Fascism is. Who has done the most for the working man? The USSR or Hitler? Hitler has... Who has done the most for the small businessman? Not Thorez but Hitler!

Céline denounced communism as one of the worst evils of modern times and of Jewish origins. Marxists and "hedonistic Liberals" were for him major villains.

In 1941 Céline expressed satisfaction at the demise of the Third Republic describing its parliamentarians as having been concerned not with the welfare of society but only with keeping their seats in the Chamber of Deputies. He was proud, he said, that he had never participated in the electoral 'farce'.

During the Occupation of France, he wrote letters to several collaborationist journals, denouncing the Jews. Even some Nazis thought Céline's anti-semitic pronouncements were so extreme as to be counter-productive. Bernhard Payr (de), the German superintendent of propaganda in France, considered that Céline "started from correct racial notions" but his "savage, filthy slang" and "brutal obscenities" spoiled his "good intentions" with "hysterical wailing".

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, he expressed his support for Jacques Doriot's recently founded collaborationist force Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (LVF):

We do not think enough about the protection of the white Aryan race. Now is the time to act, because tomorrow will be too late. ... Doriot behaved as he always has. This is a man ... one must work and campaign with. ... This Legion, so maligned, so criticised, is proof of life. ... I tell you, the Legion it's very good, it is all that is good.

Werth said that Céline supplied the LVF with "hysterical.....emotional catastrophism".

Despite this, Céline could also be critical of Hitler, and of what he called "Aryan baloney".

Bibliography

• Mea culpa, 1936
• Bagatelles pour un massacre, 1937
• L'École des cadavres, 1938
• Les Beaux Draps, 1941

See also

• Pamphlets
• Antisemitic
• Celine