Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T10:40:45.805Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Jeanne d'Arc During the German Occupation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2009

Patrick Marsh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During the German occupation, theatres in France had never been so full; the reasons for this phenomenon are not difficult to understand: other traditional leisure-time activities were seriously curtailed – restaurants were closed, films were either out of date or impossibly pro-German and there was no petrol for motor-cars. One of the very few areas of French life which was not seriously affected was the theatre; of course the theatre had its difficulties – materials for scenery, costumes and make-up were difficult to come by, and the activities of the censor reduced the number of plays which could be produced.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , February 1977 , pp. 139 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Le Matin, 20.6.41.

2. Semaine à Paris, 23.6.41–147.41.

3. Charles, Péguy, Le Mystère de la charité de Jeanne d'Arc, in Oeuvres Poétiques complètes (Pléiade), p. 31.Google Scholar

4. ibid., p. 139.

5. Le Petit Parisien, 9.5.42.

6. Le Matin, 11.5.42.

7. L'Oeuvre, 11.5.42.

8. Comoedia, 12.7.41.

9. Comoedia, 15.5.43.

10. Paris-Soir, 24.12.40.

11. L'Oeuvre, 4.1.41.

12. Report in Comoedia, 9.5.42.

13. Comoedia, 2.5.42.

14. Résistance, 13.1.43.

15. Pierre, Audiat, Paris pendant la guerre, p. 177.Google Scholar

16. Opéra, 19.12.45.

17. La Gerbe, 8.1.42.

18. Comoedia, 10.1.42.

19. The reason for Paula Dehelly not being allowed to take up the part of Jeanne may have been due to the fact that she was Jewish; in March 1941 the Germans passed a law banning all Jews from places of public entertainment, which included theatres, cinemas and cabarets. Negroes, and other ‘coloured’ races were allowed on stage only when it was absolutely essential for the success of the production; when members of the German forces were amongst the audiences the number of coloured actors was strictly limited in order to preserve ‘le caractère civilisé’ of the theatre.

Nevertheless, some Jewish actors were allowed back on the stage after March 1941 – notably Jean Yonnel of the Comédie-Française, who created the rôle of Ferrante in Montherlant's La Reine Morte: how Yonnel was allowed back on the stage is not clear, but it is notorious that several members of the state theatre collaborated with the Germans and this favour may have been granted for services rendered in other directions. As far as can be seen from the minutes of the ‘Comité d'Administration’ for 5 September 1940, the members of the Comédie-Française allowed their Jewish colleagues to depart without much show of ‘solidarité’ for their cause.

Four Jewish members of the Comédie-Française left – René Alexandre, Robert Manuel, Jean Yonnel (briefly) and Véra Korène: the only member who resigned in protest at the treatment of her Jewish colleagues was Béatrice Bretty who left the Maison de Molière, to return in February 1945.

20. The following extracts are taken at random from the text. Page numbers are from the edition of Jeanne avec nous, Paris (Odette Lieutier), 1945, 173p.

‘Premier milicien: Il n'y a pas de brave ennemi…. Il n'y a pas d'innocent ennemi.’ (p. 11);

‘Premier milicien: Attends qu'on l'ait gagnée, la guerre, qu'on n'ait plus besoin de ces brutes.

Les anguilles de la Seine n'auront pas faim de longtemps.’ (p. 15);

‘Bedfort: Quand il s'agit d'impôt patriotique les premiers contribuables du monde, ce sont encore les Français.’ (p. 18);

‘Cauchan: (avec une émotion véritable) Camarades, une femme va paraître devant vous qui est le symbole de ce que nous exécrons tous, de ce que nous croyions à jamais aboli: la guerre, une cause ignoble et rétrograde, l'esprit de haine dont l'Europe est pourrie….

Oubliez notre pays saigné à mort, nos églises en ruines, vos offices perdus.

Oubliez que l'union de l'Angleterre et de la France, c'est la paix, le premier pas vers notre rêve de République universelle.

Oubliez que celui qu'elle dit son roi veut faire passer la charrue sur Paris.’ (p. 27);

‘Jeanne: La nuit tombée sur nos provinces quand leurs quatre énormes armées s'allongaient sur la France saisie comme un oiseau dans cette serre.’ (p. 41);

‘Lohier (to Cauchen): Vous en êtes là; vous, notre vieux camarade, vous que nous nommions le généreux, le juste, vous en êtes là; à châtier la vaincue, museler vos amis, vous faire le domestique des Anglais.’ (p. 90);

‘Bedfort (to Jeanne): Un corps international s'en va pour la bohême écraser l'hérésie. Vous vouliez commander plus tard le contingent français. Je vous confie le nôtre.’ (p. 105);

‘Jeanne (to Bedfort): Ces mêmes paysans qui empoignent leur faux dès qu'on touche à leur lopin, ces mêmes casaniers, ces mêmes réfractaires debout pour la croisade contre l'esclavage et l'injustice, c'est un peuple vaincu, fourbu, désemparé, qui sur un ordre refait face et gagne la bataille. La France, c'est l'audace, l'orgueil, la sainte brutalité, l'héroïsme.’ (p. 110).

21. de, Beauvoir Simone, La Force de L'Åge, p. 470.Google Scholar

22. Le Pays, 29.12.45.

23. Spectateur, 2.1.46.