It is as President of the Fondation Jean et Jean-Pierre Giraudoux, sheltered by the Fondation de France, responsible for the work of Jean Giraudoux since the death of his son Jean-Pierre in 2000, that I see myself today. today forced to write to you.
I cannot remain without reacting to the insulting article by M. Forestier (“this book of sinkholes and gurgling”) published in Bibliobs of December 16 which is on the verge of defamation. The caption of the photograph Jean Giraudoux put in the lead was already under the sign of bad faith since it led to believe that Giraudoux had been Information Commissioner throughout the war, whereas he was simply only at the beginning of the ” funny war “, named by Daladier. Giraudoux did not exercise any official function under the French State contrary to what your journalist falsely writes (“as the servant of the French State”).
“Full powers”, the anti-Semitic, racist, dangerously patriotic bunch of Jean Giraudoux
Let us also pass over the approximately informed analyzes of the works: M. Forestier seems to have read of the novel entitled “Siegfried and the Limousin” only its title since he is absolutely unaware that the name of Siegfried actually designates a Frenchman found amnesiac on the battlefield and held a time for German while he is a Frenchman from Limousin. His real name is moreover… Forestier… Let’s go over the gratuitous assessments of the urban planning thought of Giraudoux who was a friend of Le Corbusier and prefaced the “Athens Charter”: we would like Mr. Forestier to be a “living room” of the same stamp as the one he insults.
I will simply answer on the question of anti-Semitism. This is a subject close to my heart, because I myself come from the Sephardic community of Algiers. I have studied this question in depth in the context of the biography that we, Guy Teissier and myself, published in 2010 by Grasset editions: “The multiple lives of Jean Giraudoux”. Knowing the importance of going back to basics in order to do real work as a historian, as we are taught at the Ecole des Chartes, of which I am a former student, I looked for new ones through Jewish archives. hitherto unexploited. For several years, I worked at the Israelite Alliance, at the Central Consistory, at the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation. I carefully re-read the complete collection of “Israelite Universe”.
My research has been fruitful. Without going into long developments which are found in our work – I will simply point out that the “Circus street protection and coordination assistance group” – (Consistoire of France and Consistory of Paris at the head) – made available to Giraudoux in 1939 all of its services, its documentation and especially its vigilance committee (which denounced anti-Semitism in all its forms since 1936: books, periodicals, meetings). Would he have done so if Giraudoux had been an anti-Semite or even suspected of being one? Of course not! As evidence of this close collaboration remain many notes inspired by Maurice Vanikoff, secretary of this committee, articles relating to the patriotism of immigrant Jews (yes) or signed by the Chief Rabbi Kaplan. But the most beautiful example of this collaboration is the message of “Back to school”: Giraudoux condemns on October 8, 1939 the Nazi principles according to which young Germans are now trained. Inspired by an article on the schools of the Third Reich – published in 1938 by Maurice Vanikoff – this message received favorably by “L’Univers israélite” of October 13 will be repeated at the beginning of the brochure “Primary Education and racism in Germany” published in the collection “Races and Racism”, co-produced by the Commissariat. This pamphlet will unleash the fury of the Gestapo.
I would also say that the historian Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac, a privileged witness whose father and uncle (Benjamin Crémieux) were close to Jean Giraudoux, told me without any hesitation when I went to question him that the accusation of anti-Semitism was not justified. Especially since his uncle himself wrote such virulent texts against immigrants from the East.
Finally, Mr. Forestier should be strongly and quickly advised to go to Bellac to visit the Digitale, a digital museum set up by the Collectif Or Normes in the house where he was born, and advise him to listen carefully to the communications table: Under the title “Giraudoux in the face of History”, based on authentic documents, it will contradict some of his remarks which are only a collection of quotes always solicited in a way that harms Giraudoux (cf. the quote on Racine) and repeats of unverified false truths.
