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from Part III - Liberation: Dachau, April 29, 1945
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2018
Léon Boutbien was born in 1915 in Paris. He became a doctor of medicine; he was arrested in 1943 and in July deported to Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp as a Nacht und Nebel prisoner. He was later evacuated from Erzingen, an external camp of Natzweiler-Struthof, to Allach, an external camp of Dachau, in a brutal forced march in April 1945. Here, Boutbien worked as a doctor until his liberation, as is also clear from the poem reproduced here, which was first printed in a brochure titled “Natzweiler Struthof.” After his liberation Boutbien published several books and, as a socialist, was involved for a time in French politics. He died in Lanloup, France, in 2001.
Léon Boutbien's poem refers toward the end to a very specific incident that occurred the day Dachau concentration camp was liberated, April 29, 1945. The incident is described in another source in the following way: “American shells, which were targeted at German anti-aircraft fire, hit the periphery of the Allach camp and the Jewish camp, wounding and killing some of the prisoners, who were waiting for their liberation. A Jewish doctor who was standing next to Dr. Boutbien during an operation met a tragic end in this way….”
Poème
Nous avons pas à pas descendu les gradins
La plaine est devant nous
Courbés sous notre fardeau
Le ventre creux
l'oeil hagard
le geste tremblant
Nous avons retourné la tête
Une tête vieillie
blanchie
usée
Le champ est couvert de grands nénuphars
de terre ocre et sale
éclaboussée de boue
les bombes
Le canon tonne au loin
la sirène épouvante
Si la mort est là, pour nous maintenant
qu'importe!
La montagne est loin
elle fuit, elle a dépouillé son habit
tué son chien
jeté son sac et son fusil
elle fuit comme un homme
qui a peur
tout simplement
La montagne est derrière nous
je l'aperçois au loin
elle reste toujours neigeuse
insensible
étrange.
Serait-ce ça la montagne!
Le train roule! J'ai froid
je frissonne
j'ai peur
L'air vibre, l'avion passe
il passe
Le train roule! Où allons-nous
je m'inquiète
dans un coin râle
un mort.
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