Archives du mois de septembre 2020

Alberto Moravia : 30 ans déjà, le 26 septembre 1990 ; un homme et un auteur d’une magnifique exigence de lucidité et liberté

30sept

Un article du Corriere della Sera _ du samedi 26 septembre dernier _ intitulé Moravia alla 30 anni dalla morte : « Scrittore indispensabile »

vient me rappeler la disparition, il y a 30 ans déjà, le 26 septembre 1990, du grand Alberto Moravia

(Rome, 28 novembre 1907 – Rome 26 septembre 1990).

et vient rafraîchir mes souvenirs tout frais

_ cf mes articles des 21 août, 22 août , 23 août, 24 août, et 19 septembre derniers :

 

 ;

 ;  ;  ;

et _

de ma lecture, le mois dernier, du passionnant Piccola de Rosita Steenbeek,

que vient de traduire René de Ceccatty, aux Éditions Vendémiaire ;

et dans lequel Alberto Moravia (Alberto Pincherle) est très présent dans le récit de souvenirs de la narratrice

sous le nom d’Edoardo Pincrini.

Sans oublier, bien sûr, l’indispensable biographie d’Alberto Moravia, par René de Ceccatty,

parue aux Éditions Flammarion en 1990.

Voici cet article d’anniversaire-hommage, sous la plume d’Ida Bozzi :

Moravia a 30 anni dalla morte: «Scrittore indispensabile»

Nuovi titoli e un’eredità attuale dell’autore che visse l’Italia e la seppe interpretare _ voilà qui est magnifiquement bien vu. Antonio Debenedetti : era la cultura. Giorgio Montefoschi : giovani, leggete «La ciociara»

Moravia a 30 anni dalla morte: «Scrittore indispensabile»
Alberto Moravia (1907-1990) nella spiaggia di Sabaudia

Sono passati trent’anni, oggi _ samedi 26 septembre _, dalla morte di Alberto Moravia, testimone due volte del cambiamento dell’Italia novecentesca : una volta per averlo attraversato tutto — gli umori e le inquietudini del Paese prebellico, la fuga dopo l’8 settembre 1943 vicino a Fondi con Elsa Morante, le trasformazioni del Dopoguerra, le stagioni luminose o buie della società italiana, fino al 26 settembre 1990, quando Moravia morì — e un’altra volta per avergli dato nuovo corpo _ voilà , en son imageance singulière d’artiste extrêmement lucide ! _ in romanzi e racconti.

 Nelle immagini: i titoli di Alberto Moravia, editi da Bompiani per il trentennale: «Racconti 1927-1951» (pp. 520, euro 18)
Nelle immagini : i titoli di Alberto Moravia, editi da Bompiani per il trentennale : «Racconti 1927-1951» (pp. 520, euro 18)

In questi anni, anche per l’avvicinarsi del trentennale, sono tornate in libreria per Bompiani molte opere dello scrittore : quest’anno I racconti (1927-1954), il quinto volume delle Opere e la raccolta di scritti L’America degli estremi, che offre lo sguardo del Moravia «inviato» e poi scrittore sulla società d’Oltreoceano. Ma qual è oggi l’attualità e la forza dell’autore di Agostino, de Gli indifferenti, de Il conformista, in un Paese che non è più lo stesso del secolo scorso e in un momento storico in cui ogni equilibrio geopolitico (ma anche ogni equilibrio interiore, e Moravia fu pure un grande indagatore dell’interiorità) è mutato rispetto al Novecento ? Che cosa può incontrare, oggi, un giovane che legga le opere di Moravia (e quali) ?

«L’America degli estremi» (in libreria dal 7 ottobre, pp. 528, euro 22)
«L’America degli estremi» (in libreria dal 7 ottobre, pp. 528, euro 22)

«Se Roma è stata negli anni dopo la Seconda guerra mondiale — inizia lo scrittore Antonio Debenedetti — una capitale culturale mondiale come Londra e Parigi, si deve a Moravia e al suo modo anche fisico di esserci, di essere presente. Era presente quando si parlava di cinema, di arte, anche di musica». Debenedetti ricorda quella presenza, lo rivede nelle case romane, in cui «si entrava — racconta — e c’era Gadda vicino alla porta, Ungaretti in una stanzina più in là, e poi Moravia : ci si sentiva in mezzo agli dèi»; e rammenta l’edizione del premio Strega del 1952, «che aveva due grandi concorrenti quell’anno : Moravia e Gadda. Hanno votato Moravia, perché per tutti loro lui era, in quel momento, la cultura italiana».

 «Opere/5» (pp. 1650, euro 50). Bompiani sta preparando una serie di iniziative sull’autore in collaborazione con il Fondo Moravia
«Opere/5» (pp. 1650, euro 50). Bompiani sta preparando una serie di iniziative sull’autore in collaborazione con il Fondo Moravia

«Moravia è indispensabile — continua Debenedetti — per capire la Roma del Dopoguerra : lui è riuscito a scrivere nei suoi racconti il mutamento dei volti, delle facce delle ragazze romane, dalla Liberazione a quando, pochi anni dopo, le vedevi passare sul sedile della Vespa con i capelli al vento».
Proprio i Racconti romani (1954) restano secondo Debenedetti un testo insostituibile anche per i giovani del post-pandemia, e ne spiega il motivo : «I ragazzi di oggi, che sono impegnati ad esempio nella battaglia di questi giorni per andare a scuola, stanno comprendendo tutto quello che hanno fatto le generazioni precedenti. Si sentono impegnati contro il virus, che è come un esercito d’occupazione, che avanza con il passo dei soldati : questa generazione vuol sentirsi degna di questa battaglia, dicono : “Noi combattiamo il virus”. Questo è importantissimo : e Moravia, il Moravia dei Racconti romani, ha dato il senso di una società che muta e che deve lottare per mutare».

Sull’attualità dell’opera moraviana, lo scrittore Giorgio Montefoschi risponde, sulle prime, con una battuta : «Siamo quasi tutti non attuali, in questo momento, quindi anche Moravia…». Poi continua : «Guardandomi intorno, vedo che la letteratura di oggi è molto “commissariata”. Cioè, è attuale se nel tuo romanzo hai un commissario di pubblica sicurezza. Quindi dico : Moravia è un grande scrittore. Punto».

E per quanto riguarda il romanzo che i giovani di oggi dovrebbero leggere, Montefoschi non ha dubbi, indica in primo luogo un’intera stagione della produzione moraviana (dall’esordio nel 1929 fino al 1960) e poi si ferma con sicurezza su un titolo : «Oltre a Gli indifferenti, e a tutte le altre opere di Moravia fino a La noia, io consiglio in particolar modo la lettura de La ciociara, romanzo bellissimo cui deve molto La Storia di Elsa Morante. Perché devono leggerlo ? Perché qui i giovani possono trovare un grande racconto della guerra, la storia di questa madre e di sua figlia, trovano un’epoca che non è tanto lontana dalla nostra, e soprattutto trovano un bel romanzo. Non trovano, invece, il commissario…».

Un riche et très intéressant article,

qui marque bien l’importance, aujourd’hui, pour les Italiens et en Italie,

de l’œuvre _ tant d’essais (et d’articles) que de romans _ qu’a laissée Alberto Pincherle,

ou plutôt l’auteur qu’est devenu, par son travail inlassable d’imageance lucide, Alberto Moravia.

On aimerait bien que les médias français de 2020

offrent aux Français d’aujourd’hui, et en France,

des articles de cette lucidité-là ;

à destination, aussi, des lecteurs de journaux aujourd’hui,

et tout particulièrement ceux des jeunes générations : apprendre à vraiment mieux comprendre le présent, comme le passé _ pour mieux construire l’avenir _, est tellement capital

pour notre liberté !

Ce mercredi 30 septembre 2020, Titus Curiosus – Francis Lippa

Le très brillant versant oratorio de Haendel, par exemple l’éblouissant « Samson », en 1743, à Londres

29sept

George Frideric Handel

(Halle-sur-Saale, 23 février 1685 – Westminster, 14 avril 1759)

a connu une très féconde _ et longue _ carrière,

tout particulièrement à partir de son arrivée sur le sol britannique, en septembre 1711.

Après de très grands succès avec une série de très brillants opéras _ sur le modèle italien _,

à partir de 1738, Handel se reconvertit à l’oratorio, sur des paroles anglaises.

Sur le site de Res Musica, le critique Matthieu Roc fait l’éloge d’un « éblouissant Samson de Haendel par Alarcon« ,

un double CD qui paraît sur le label Ricercar .

Samson, un oratorio créé  à Londres le 29 octobre 1743.

Voici l’article :


Éblouissant Samson de Haendel par Alarcón

 

Ce mardi 29 septembre 2020, Titus Curiosus – Francis Lippa

Une blessure affective d’Audrey Hepburn : son père, Joseph Ruston, pro-nazi anglais

28sept

Au hasard d’une émission de télévision consacrée à Audrey Hepburn (Ixelles, 4 mai 1929 – Tolochenaz, 20 janvier 1993),

j’apprends que sa relation très malheureuse à son père, Joseph Ruston (Stredocesky, 21 novembre 1889 – Dublin, 16 octobre 1980),

constitua pour elle une terrible blessure affective, toute sa vie…

Cf cet article bien documenté de Lisa Waller Rogers, Audrey Hepburn & the Family Skeletons :

Audrey Hepburn & the Family Skeletons

In the 1950s, Audrey Hepburn's face was plastered on magazines across the globe. She was a big hit. She was fresh. Harper's Bazaar, 1956



Readers, at the beginning of this year, I had entertained the idea of writing a juvenile biography of Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) and the five years she spent in Nazi-occupied Holland as an underground resistance worker. Having read many biographies on Audrey, I was familiar with the yarns about her being a courier for the Dutch Resistance movement against the German occupation and participating in clandestine dance performances to raise money for the cause.

I must say that, after scouring tons of resources -bios, interview transcripts, old Hollywood magazine articles – I am not sure that Audrey actually participated in any underground activities to fight back against the Germans. To begin with, she was only eleven years old when the war started and sixteen when it ended. Her name does not appear – nor does her mother’s – on any government list of resistance activists _ voilà.

Audrey’s Real World War II Experience

The fact that Audrey did not work in the Dutch Resistance in WWII should not detract from the knowledge that the war took a great toll on Audrey’s physical, mental, and emotional health. She suffered from the horrors of war like any other citizen in a war zone. Germans were everywhere with guns with bayonets and barking attack dogs. Everyone’s liberties were restricted. There was no way to get real news as the newspapers were controlled by the Nazis and filled with propaganda. The BBC in England broadcast reliable news but the Nazis confiscated radios. Audrey saw people executed in the streets and Jewish families loaded into cattle cars bound for death camps.

German Nazis round up Dutch Jews for deportation to Poland's death camps. WWII. Photo undated.

One of her brothers went into hiding to avoid being deported to a German labor camp. The other brother was deported to Germany. Her own uncle was arrested, imprisoned, then murdered as a reprisal against saboteurs _ voilà. Sometimes 900 planes a day flew over Arnhem, German, American, and British planes, often engaging in wicked dogfights and crashing nearby. The Battle of Arnhem raged in the streets of the city and outlying towns.

In the winter of 1944-1945, 20,000 Dutch people died of starvation. There was no food to eat. Schools shut down. The trains were not running so no food was being delivered.  The people subsisted on a diet of 500 calories a day. They were reduced to eating bread made from flour from crushed tulip bulbs.  That “Hunger Winter”, there was no wood to build a fire to warm even one room in the house. It was a very desperate time, with the Germans taking over people’s houses and forcing large groups of people to huddle together in small dwellings.

Dutch people strip the tram rails out of the street to use for firewood. This was the last year of the war, a desperate time of scant food and resources known at "The Hunger Winter," 1944-45.

Audrey almost died from starvation. Her body, adolescent at the time, did not develop adequately and never fully recovered from the deprivations. Her rib cage was underdeveloped, and she suffered from an eating disorder all her life. She was so malnourished that her ankles swelled up and she could barely walk. She retained stretch marks on her ankles from where the skin was stretched from the edema. She suffered from anemia and respiratory problems, too.

Nazis required all Dutch people over the age of 15 to carry an i.d. card. Here is Audrey's at age 15. Her card doesn't bear the dreaded letter, J, for Jew, which would mark her for deportation to the east for gassing at Auschwitz. 1944

 

For a long time after the war was over, she had no stamina. She would go on eating binges, as she herself said : she couldn’t just eat one spoonful out of the jelly jar. She had to eat and eat until the jar was empty ! She would then get fat, then diet herself back to rail thinness so she could compete in the worlds of ballet, modeling, stage, and screen. She forever was nervous, adored chocolate most of all, worked hard, and chain smoked, dying of cancer at the relatively young age of 63.

What They Tried to Make us Believe about Audrey’s War Time

In interviews, Audrey did not volunteer that she was a resistance worker. She didn’t really talk about the war days _ voilà. Those stories were mostly generated in the fifties by her Hollywood publicists, largely appearing in popular magazines such as Modern Screen and Photoplay. Although the stories were mostly false, they entered the public lore, were repeated in article after article, and thus acquired an undeserved air of authenticity. Some of the stories include :

  •  Audrey helped a downed Allied pilot in the woods. She encountered a German patrol on the way and pretended to just be picking flowers.
  • Audrey was almost deported by the Germans.
  • Audrey hid in a basement for a month with only a few apples to eat to avoid being picked up by a Nazi patrol who wanted her for a cook.
  • Audrey delivered illegal newspapers on her bicycle.
  • Audrey danced in blacked-out homes to an audience that didn’t clap for fear they would be discovered by the Nazis (Audrey claims this part is true; how many times did she do it, though, once? Also, her ballet teacher was a Dutch Nazi, so I doubt she would have approved of Audrey dancing for the Resistance.)

However, this resistance worker that braved life and limb for country and kin did not exist except in magazine articles. That Audrey Hepburn was a invention of Hollywood’s _ voilà.

The irony is that Audrey’s World War II experience needed no embellishment. It is a tale of great endurance, of courage in the face of daily fear.

The lies about her involvement with the Dutch Resistance weren’t Audrey’s fault. Myth making was show business in the fifties. Hollywood wanted control. Hollywood wanted its leading ladies squeaky clean and, if they could keep her that way, Audrey was going to be a big star.

February 12, 1952 Look Magazine featuring rising Hollywood star, Audrey Hepburn

The Hollywood image machine went into overdrive creating the myth of Perfect Audrey, the Resistance Worker, to cover up _ voilà _ the embarrassing truth about her past and her roots. They claimed her father was an international banker (a lie) and that her mother was a Dutch noblewoman (which was true, but no one mentioned that she liked rich playboys). Hollywood created this myth because Audrey Hepburn had a lot of skeletons rattling around in her closet. As it turns out, her parents – the Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra and her British husband Joseph Anthony Ruston — did some very bad things with some very bad people before and during World War II. And neither of them was a decent parent _ voilà _ to little and lovely Audrey.

Audrey Hepburn's father in the Alps, 1927: Joseph Anthony Victor Ruston (later Hepburn-Ruston)

The Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra and daughter, Audrey Ruston (Hepburn) ca. 1935

In 1953, Audrey won the Best Actress Oscar for her debut American film, “Roman Holiday_ Vacances romaines

Even a hint of scandal would have jeopardized Audrey’s budding career ; Americans had no stomach for Nazis. So the Hollywood image makers hid the truth.

What Her Parents Were Really Like

The truth can now be told : Audrey’s parents were devotees of the notorious British fascist, Sir Oswald Mosley, a Hitler wannabe, whose followers were called the Blackshirts (the British Union of Fascists or BUF) _ voilà. Mosley, like Hitler, blamed the Jews for all the problems Britain faced. There was no truth to this monstruous lie, but this is how fascists always derive their short-term power, by turning one group of citizens against another.

ad Mosley Speaks October 29, 1938_ACTION. No. 141, Page Efcvcrt

In October 1934, Mosley was losing steam politically so, in order to keep his following and funding, he ramped up the anti-Semitic rhetoric. At the Albert Hall in London, he addressed a huge crowd, saying,

« I openly and publicly challenge the Jewish interest in this country commanding commerce, commanding the press, commanding the cinema, commanding the City of London, commanding sweatshops.” (1)

Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts march to stir up hatred against British Jews and Communists. 1936

What Audrey’s Parents Did for Her Sixth Birthday

Audrey Ruston (Hepburn) ca. 1936

Audrey Ruston Hepburn turned six years old on May 4, 1935, in Brussels, Belgium, but neither of her parents were there with her to celebrate. Ella and “Joe” were touring Germany with a delegation from Mosley’s BUF _ voilà. They were there to observe what a wonderful job the Nazis had done in restoring the German economy. Along with the infamous Unity Mitford of England, Hitler’s lackey, they toured autobahns, factories, schools, and housing developments.

Adolf Hitler and British citizen and devotee, Unity Mitford. photo undated, ca. 1938

Then Audrey’s parents met Hitler himself _ voilà _ at the Nazis’ Brown Househeadquarters in Munich. A photo was taken of Ella in front of the Brown House, showing her with her friends Unity, Pam, and Mary Mitford. Upon her return, Ella put the photo in a silver frame and displayed it proudly in her home.

Shortly after Audrey’s parents returned from Germany, her father and mother had a terrible argument. Audrey’s father walked out on the family, leaving her, her mother, and her two half-brothers to fend for themselves. (This was Ella’s second marriage). Some said Joe was a big drinker and that had caused the split-up. Others said he was a womanizer, with a lover or two on the side. Worse, it was rumored that the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina had spoken to Ella’s father, the Baron, about Joe’s embarrassing politics and told him to tell Ella to end the marriage.

Chances are, though, that Joe just wanted to be free of domestic entanglements to pursue his rabid anti-Communist agenda. At that time, he was very active in the Belgian fascist party, the Rexists _ voilà. He would soon divide his time between Belgium and England.

Audrey remembers her mother sobbing for days on end, mourning the loss of yet another husband. But Ella must have recovered herself fairly quickly because, four months later, she was back in Germany with the Mitford sisters, this time, to witness the military pageantry of a Nuremberg Rally (and have a quick fling with the sexy and much younger journalist Micky Burn).

British citizens at the Nuremberg Rally, Germany, ca. 1935-35. Second from left is Diana Mitford, who marries Sir Oswald Mosley. Third from left is journalist Michael ("Micky") Burn.

Upon her return to Brussels, Ella wrote a gushing editorial in The Blackshirt, extolling Hitler’s virtues :

« At Nuremberg…What stuck me most forcibly amongst the million and one impressions I received there were (a) the wonderful fitness of every man and woman one saw, on parades or in the street; and (b) the refreshing atmosphere around one, the absolute freedom from any form of mental pressure or depression.

These people certainly live in spiritual comfort….

From Nuremberg I went to Munich….I never heard an angry word….They [the German people] are happy….

Well may Adolf Hitler be proud of the rebirth of this great country…” (2)

Ella’s article appeared in column two of The Blackshirt. To its right, in column three, appeared this anti-Jewish propaganda fiction purportedly written by someone named “H. Saunders” :

« I walked along Oxford-street, Piccadilly, and Coventry-street last Saturday and I thought I had stepped into a foreign country.

A Jew converted to Christianity becomes a hidden Jew, and a greater menace. Jews have conquered England without a war….” (2)

What Ella did Next

In 1939, Baroness Ella van Heemstra, now divorced, moved with Audrey to Arnhem, the Netherlands, where her parents lived. Ella’s noble and esteemed father, A.J.A.A. Baron van Heemstra, had been the mayor of Arnhem from 1910-1920.

Then, in May 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Ella and Audrey would spend the entire war years in Arnhem (1940-1945) _ voilà _, yet they would not live with Audrey’s grandparents much of the time.

In May 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Sadly, there were Dutch citizens sympathetic to the Nazi Party. Here they provide the invading troops with the Nazi salute. These Nazi sympathizers were called "NSBers." They were collaborators and were always spying for the Nazis. May 1940

Although he had, at an earlier time, been somewhat pro-German in his outlook, the Baron van Heemstra had changed his views. When the Nazis occupied Arnhem, they tried to coerce him to become the director of a disgraceful charity called Winterhulp. However, the Baron refused the post. Stung, the Germans struck back. As a reprisal, early in 1942, they confiscated many of his lands, houses, bank accounts, stocks, and even jewelry. German soldiers were quartered in his grand home at Zijpendaal and he was forced to move to his country homes in the small villages of Velp and Oosterbeek.

Castle Zijpendaal (or Zypendaal in Arnhem, the Netherlands. This was the home of Audrey's maternal grandparents.

Ella, on the other hand, had none of her father’s integrity. She liked to drink and she liked to have a good time. The way she saw it, the Germans had all the good things that she lacked. Unlike the average Dutch person, the German officers drank real coffee and real tea and champagne. They had cars, too, and petrol to put in them, whereas the Dutch citizens couldn’t even take their bicycles out into the street without the Germans commandeering them. Ella liked the good life and the German officers could give it to her. She openly fraternized with them _ voilà _, having them into the family home, and going out with them in their cars, even crossing the border and driving into Germany for entertainment. She even organized a cultural evening in Dusseldorf, Germany, along with the regional head of the NSDAP (the Dutch Nazi Party). She was ruthless in pursuit of pleasure.

The illegal press of the Dutch Resistance suspected the Baroness of being an agent for the Gestapo (the Nazi secret police). She worked for the German Red Cross in the Diaconessenhuis (hospital) in Arnhem, nursing wounded German soldiers. Before the war, Ella had already displayed a Nazi swastika and a German eagle on the wall of her house in Arnhem. (3) She was the worst of the worst. And this is the home and the atmosphere in which she raised sensitive Audrey.

Hatred ran so high against the van Heemstra family – because of Ella’s Nazi sympathies and her collaboration with the Germans – that, when the Allies liberated Arnhem in May, 1945, the Baron had to hang his head in shame. He felt compelled to leave town and move to the Hague. (4)

Ella van Heemstra and Audrey Hepburn, ca. 1946.

With the war behind them, Ella concentrated her energies in forging ties with people who could further daughter Audrey’s career in becoming a prima ballerina, then a model, followed by a film star. They lived in Amsterdam for a time and then The Hague before settling in London.

Audrey Hepburn as a model. 1952

What Joe Had Been Doing

Meanwhile, in the time since Audrey’s father had left his family, he had managed to get in a lot of legal and financial trouble. From 1935-1940, “Joe” Ruston was involved in multiple questionable business transactions that kept landing his name in the news in the Netherlands, England, and Belgium. In 1938, for example, he was being investigated by both the Belgium Parliament and the British House of Commons for his involvement in a corporation with financial ties to the Third Reich :

« Mr. Anthony Ruston, a director of the European Press Agency, Ltd. [was] alleged in the Belgian parliament to have received £110,000 from German industrial chiefs in close touch with Dr. Goebbels [Nazi propaganda minister] to publish an anti-communist newspaper.” (5)

His two business partners at the European Press Agency were a Nazi lawyer and a member of the Gestapo _ voilà.

Curiously, a year later, Anthony Ruston officially renounced and abandoned the name Anthony Joseph Victor Ruston and adopted the new name of Anthony Joseph Victor HEPBURN-Ruston. (6) Ruston claimed to have had a Hepburn relative with blood ties to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, the fourth husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. But the claim was bogus. True, there was a marriage to a Hepburn in his family line but there was no issue of which Ruston is kin.

Perhaps Ruston was attempting to prove his Britishness by connecting himself with a Scottish king. War clouds were gathering over Britain and Ruston was in hot water for his connections with Germany.

In June 1940, the Battle of Britain had begun, and England was earnestly at war with Germany. Anthony Ruston was arrested and imprisoned in England under Defense Regulation 18B, as he was considered an enemy of the state for his membership in “the British Union of Fascists…and as an associate of foreign fascists. (7) He was interned for the duration of WWII _ voilà ! _, after which he settled in Ireland.

Sources:

(1) Dalley, Jan. Diana Mosley : A Biography of the Glamorous Mitford Sister who Became Hitler’s Friend and Married the Leader of Britain’s Fascists. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. p. 195

(2)At Nuremberg,” The Blackshirt, October 11, 1935.

(3) 1557 Documentatiecollectie Tweede Wereldoorlog. Inventory number 247 Audrey Hepburn.  Gelders Archive. Arnhem, the Netherlands.

(4) Heemstra, Aarnoud Jan Anne Aleid Baron (1871-1957). Huygens : Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands. (online)

(5) “Banned Nazi Barrister ‘Plays Violin Beautifully,’” Daily Express, March 31, 1938. (Manchester, UK newspaper with leading circulation in the 1930s)

(6) The London Gazette, April 21, 1939.

(7) Public Record, reference # KV 2/3190. The National Archives, Kew, UK

 

 

Un bien intéressant éclairage sur la situation familiale d’Audrey Hepburn, de 1929 à 1945…

Ce lundi 28 septembre 2020, Titus Curiosus — Francis Lippa

Avoir lu « Guerre et paix » de Tolstoï : sous le prisme du regard de Pierre Bezoukhov…

27sept

Hier soir, par hasard,

ai suivi, non sans plaisir, plusieurs épisodes _ le troisième et le quatrième (sur six) _ de la série Guerre et paix (de Tom Harper),

pour la télévision anglaise, en 2016.

En me souvenant de ma lecture, adolescent _ peut-être en 1964 _, du roman Guerre et paix de Tolstoï _ paru en feuilleton entre 1865 et 1869.

Ainsi que de ma vision, au cinéma et en cinémascope, du film de King Vidor _ avec Audrey Hepburn, Mel Ferrer et Henry Fonda _,

sorti en 1956.

C’est à l’humanité de la vision de Léon Tolstoï (Iasnaïa Poliana, 28 août 1828 – Astapovo, 7 novembre 1910)

que je demeure sensible,

tout particulièrement à travers son regard _ amical _ sur le protagoniste principal, qu’est Pierre Bezoukhov _ interprété par Paul Dano dans la série de Tom Harper…

Tolstoï, ou une anthropologie relativement vierge de mysticisme…

Sans parler de l’essai Tolstoï ou Dostoïevski, de George Steiner (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 23 avril 1929 – Cambridge, 3 février 2020),

paru en 1959.

Ce dimanche 27 septembre 2020, Titus Curiosus – Francis Lippa

« Disobey orders, save the artists » : une expo Varian Fry à The American Gallery à Marseille cet automne

26sept

Je découvre, ce samedi 26 septembre,

l’existence à Marseille, du 30 août dernier au 29 novembre prochain,

à The American Gallery (54 rue des Flots Bleus),

d’une exposition-hommage à Varian Fry (1907 – 1967) et son action, à Marseille (d’août 1940 à septembre 1941), pendant la France de Vichy,

intitulée « Disobey orders, save the artists« .

Voici deux de mes articles, du 7 mai 2013, et du 27 septembre 2014, où se croisait, en passant, la présence marseillaise du très valeureux Varian Fry :

et 

Le très remarquable article d’Edouard Waintrop, dans le Libération du 17 février 1998, intitulé « Fry, agent secret humanitaire sur la Canebière« ,

est tout à fait éclairant. 

Fry, agent secret humanitaire sur la Canebière

Par Edouard WAINTROP 17 février 1998 à 18:20

En 1940, cet Américain vint à Marseille pour sauver des centaines de juifs et d’antinazis. 

Varian Fry est mort en 1967, à 59 ans, pratiquement inconnu. Il est à l’époque simple prof de latin dans le Connecticut. Et plus grand monde ne se souvient qu’au début de l’Occupation, il a passé treize mois en France dans la zone libre, prêtant assistance à environ 4 000 antinazis et juifs allemands, autrichiens, tchèques, polonais ou français, et en sauvant directement 1 500. Dont André Breton, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, André Masson, Jacques Lipschitz, Hans Namuth, Marcel Duchamp, Heinrich Mann et son neveu Golo, fils de Thomas, Jean Malaquais, Victor Serge, Hannah Arendt, Victor Brauner, Hans Sahl, Benjamin Péret, Franz Werfel et Wilfredo Lam. L’oubli a été _ très _ tardivement réparé. D’abord par un livre, Marseille New York, qu’a écrit Bernard Noel en 1985 (1); ensuite par l’Institut Yad Vashem, en Israël, qui a fait figurer son nom parmi les «justes» qui ont sauvé le peuple juif. Enfin aujourd’hui, par le musée juif de New York, qui présente une exposition sur son activité humanitaire. Sauf-conduit de la YMCA. C’est en 1935, en voyage en Allemagne, que ce fils d’un financier protestant de la côte Est, ancien étudiant à Harvard, assiste à un pogrome qui le marque à jamais. En 1940, la guerre met la France à genoux. Angoisse de Fry qui voit le pays des droits de l’homme signer un armistice dont l’article XIX stipule que le gouvernement français devra «livrer sur demande tous les Allemands, désignés par les autorités d’occupation, qu’ils habitent sur le territoire français proprement dit ou dans les possessions françaises, colonies, protectorats et mandats.» Des intellectuels de gauche américains partagent avec lui le sentiment que pour des centaines d’intellectuels et artistes émigrés dans les années 30, la France est devenue un piège mortel _ voilà : une nasse de mort. Ils fondent à New York un comité d’aide d’urgence. Qui décide d’envoyer un agent en France. Ce sera Fry. Il ne parle pas bien le français, est un peu naïf, mais peut disposer du sauf-conduit d’une organisation considérée comme neutre, la YMCA. L’élégant Américain de 32 ans, toujours habillé d’un costume sombre, débarque à Marseille pendant l’été 1940, avec 3 000 dollars en poche. «Les odeurs de la ville étaient françaises – ail, poisson, vin, avec des effluves de pain fraîchement cuit« », écrit il dans un livre relatant son aventure (2). Pour les Américains, Marseille (Marseilles en anglais) est un mot qui sent l’aventure, la bouillabaisse, les quartiers chauds, les agents doubles et les bidets. Fry se donne un mois pour déblayer le passage et rentrer outre-Atlantique. Il restera treize mois.

Chef de bande. Dans la cité phocéenne, il rencontre Frank Bohn, un représentant des syndicats américains qui est là pour sauver des personnalités social-démocrates. Celui-ci sera vite expulsé, mais aura le temps de donner à Fry les conseils pour devenir un véritable agent secret humanitaire. Sous la couverture d’un centre américain d’aide aux réfugiés qui affluent du Nord occupé par les Allemands, Fry installe un bureau et s’entoure de gens de confiance : un jeune social-démocrate allemand, Hirschman, alias Beamish ou Hermant _ une personnalité absolument remarquable : cf son livre, en 1995, « Un certain penchant à l’autosubversion«  _ ; une secrétaire polyglotte, Lena Fishman ; un noble autrichien, Franzi von Hildebrand, monarchiste qui bénéficie d’un passeport suisse ; les époux Fittko _ dont l’extraordinaire Lisa Fittko (cf l’indispensable « Le Passage des Pyrénées« ) _, qui feront passer plus de cent personnes par la voie F _ F comme Fittko _, route de la liberté qui traverse la montagne, entre Banyuls et Port-Bou (Espagne) _ ouverte par Lisa Fittko pour faire passer en Espagne Walter Benjamin… Il y a aussi plusieurs seconds couteaux qui se révéleront très utiles, notamment quand il faudra établir de nouveaux trajets, par Casablanca ou la Martinique. Et Daniel Benedite _ oui _, un Français, qui deviendra le bras droit de Fry lorsque Hirschman devra fuir. Avec cette équipe, Fry va commencer à se procurer des faux papiers, définir des procédures pour sauver les proscrits. Et essayer d’éviter la police de Vichy. Les flics français, Fry en verra de toutes sortes : quelques-uns l’avertiront des dangers ; d’autres, plus nombreux, se laisseront corrompre ; ou essaieront de le coincer. Quant aux services diplomatiques américains, ils sont surtout préoccupés _ en effet ! _ par leurs relations avec Vichy, et somment Fry d’en finir avec ses activités clandestines. Quand celui-ci demande un visa pour sauver Largo Caballero, le dirigeant socialiste espagnol et ancien Premier ministre républicain, le consul refuse, s’exclamant : «Oh encore un de ces rouges!» Heureusement (tout est relatif), la cour d’Aix-en-Provence a refusé l’extradition de Caballero vers l’Espagne franquiste, où on l’aurait garrotté tel un Companys : il restera prisonnier des nazis jusqu’à la fin de la guerre.

Fry a aussi parfois du mal à convaincre les victimes potentielles de la Gestapo. Ainsi, après le départ de Bohn, n’arrivera-t-il pas à faire évader Rudolph Breitscheid et Rudolph Hilferding, deux leaders du Parti social-démocrate allemand persuadés qu’Hitler n’osera jamais les faire arrêter, que la classe ouvrière allemande ne le permettrait pas. Ils seront pris, puis tués _ oui. D’autres sont en mauvaise santé. C’est Fry lui même qui fera donc passer la frontière espagnole au frère de Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann, qui a 70 ans et marche difficilement, et à Franz Werfel _ époux d’Alma Malher _, trop gros pour grimper dans la montagne. Inventivité. Pendant six semaines (à partir de la fin août 1940), la tâche est quand même facilitée par la passivité de la police marseillaise et par le fait que la Gestapo n’a pas encore communiqué tous les noms des antinazis qu’elle réclame. Mais dans les mois suivants, la situation deviendra critique. Heureusement l’équipe de Fry fait preuve d’inventivité, utilisant par exemple des documents chinois, où il est écrit en idéogrammes «absolument interdit d’entrer en Chine», que les Espagnols et Portugais prennent pour des visas. Il y aura toutefois des échecs. L’évasion de Walter Benjamin s’achèvera par un suicide dans le bureau des gardes civils de Port-Bou _ le lendemain de son passage, grâce à Lisa Fittko, par la montagne. Le peintre Otto Freundlich, dénoncé par un voisin, sera déporté vers un camp de la mort. En revanche, Fry réussira à faire partir (par bateau) tous les locataires de la villa Air-Bel, les surréalistes, avec un Breton chef de bande, Max Ernst qui débarque d’Ardèche, Victor Brauner et Wilfredo Lam. Sans oublier Victor Serge, l’auteur de S’il est minuit dans le siècle, l’ancien compagnon de Trotsky qui a connu les geôles de Staline.

Mais l’été 1941, le capitaine de Rodellec du Porzic _ l’Intendant de police de Marseille _ informe Fry qu’il va le faire expulser, «parce que vous avez protégé des juifs et des anti nazis». A l’automne, il est à New York. A la fin de l’année, les Japonais attaquent Pearl Harbour, les Etats-Unis rompent avec Vichy et entrent en guerre. En décembre 1942, dans New Republic, Fry écrit le Massacre des juifs, un article sur la situation en Europe. Quelques mois plus tard, il rompt avec ce magazine pour protester contre le sentiment prostalinien de ses animateurs. Le reste de sa vie ne sera pas gai. Sa première femme mourra, il se séparera de sa seconde. Vivra en solitaire au nord de New York. Et sombrera dans l’oubli _ oui.

1) Ed. André Dimanche à Marseille.

2) Fry a écrit deux livres sur son activité à Marseille : Assignment Rescue et Surrender on Command.

Hommage new-yorkais L’exposition du musée juif _ de New-York, en 1998 _ commence par une évocation de l’Occupation. Avec des fac-similés de documents, une radio en Bakélite, une carte de la France avec la division entre les zones annexées, la zone occupée et la zone dite libre. On en vient ensuite à Marseille, aux chambres d’hôtel qui sont reconstituées, avec ces salles de bains de l’époque qui fascinent tant les Américains, des photos de Fry, une machine à écrire Underwood censée lui avoir appartenu. Puis on découvre les peintures de Victor Brauner, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, les dessins d’André Masson, un ready made de Duchamp (tous artistes sauvés par Fry). Ainsi que des œuvres d’Otto Freundlich qui, lui, périt dans un camp de la mort. Dans une bibliothèque s’alignent les livres de Victor Serge (S’il est minuit dans le siècle), André Breton (les Vases communicants), Tristan Tzara, etc. Ne manque que la version intégrale de Sierra de Teruel de Malraux que Fry parvint à faire livrer à la bibliothèque du Congrès.

Edouard WAINTROP

Assignment Rescue. L’histoire de Varian Fry, organisée par le United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, jusqu’au 29 mars au Jewish Museum de New York.

Dans le cadre de mes recherches sur les activités de Résistance dans la France de Vichy,

je me suis intéressé d’un peu près aux activité marseillaises de Varian Fry _ notamment pour aider la sortie de France de Hannah Arendt _ ;

et je possède une intéressante collection de livres à lui et son action consacrés.

On notera aussi le témoignage de Stéphane Hessel (1917 – 2013), compagnon de randonnées de Varian Fry, en Provence.

Stéphane Hessel est le fils d’Helen Hessel Grund (1886 – 1982), très active dans l’organisation marseillaise de Varian Fry ; et qui fut la Kathe de Jules et Jim, dans le roman épatant _ et autobiographique _ d’Henri-Pierre Roché, Jules et  Jim.

Varian Fry mérite tout notre intérêt…

Ce samedi 26 septembre 2020, Titus Curiosus, Francis Lippa

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