Je Reviens De L’Enfer – “Return from Hell” – Poems and Texts Written by Buchenwald Camp Prisoner Leloir Léon Under Harsh Imprisonment Conditions. Published by Editions du Rendez-vous. Paris, 1945 – First Edition. French. Copy with the Rare leaf: Rescapé de… BUCHENWALD il a le droit de TOUT dire – “Survivor of Buchenwald, He Has the Right to Say Everything.”
Poems and writings by the Belgian resistance fighter Léon Leloir, composed while he was a prisoner in Buchenwald. In his work, Leloir describes the horrors he witnessed and his yearning for freedom. His poems recount the relentless death industry that operated daily:
“Two hundred thousand dead of all ranks and ages… In the name of science, they grabbed the ringing bell of ‘Death…” He also vividly portrays the severe tortures he and his comrades endured:
“Rags abound on our bodies, wooden slippers on our tortured feet… Down a bumpy path, we descend… Around us, fleas and lice… We are crouched one on top of the other for two days without bread. Will we eat tomorrow?… The clock moves slowly…” The book includes prayers he composed while imprisoned:
“Please, G-d, remove from us these heavy chains.” His reflections on the transport to Buchenwald include:
“… Up to a hundred per wagon, in straw and filth / Suddenly torn from our dreary prisons / We roll through the night towards other horizons…” There are also poems expressing longing for his friends, mourning songs for those who perished beside him in the camp, poems conveying the desire for global justice, and many more.
About the Author: Léon Leloir [1907-1945] was responsible for editing the journal of the White Fathers, a missionary order focusing on the Belgian colonies, especially in the Congo, before the war. During the Nazi occupation, Leloir joined the resistance while continuing to serve as a priest in the Ardennes. He was arrested in July 1944 and deported to Buchenwald, where he managed to hide his religious background by posing as a professor. He was liberated in April 1945. On April 18, 1945, upon disembarking from the plane at Le Bourget Airport, Father Léon Leloir was interviewed by a Time journalist who asked him about Buchenwald. To everyone’s surprise, he said, “If it is a grace to be saved from Buchenwald, it is an even greater grace to get there, so much so that it was worth receiving the pardon of entry even without that of exit… No one will ever know how hard it was for me.” Leloir died in a car accident a year later.
Leloir published “Return from Hell” shortly after his release, including many texts written in 1944 during his imprisonment, in the form of “oral-style poems.” The first edition of this book, printed for France, was followed by editions for Belgium and Canada.
285 [2] pages. Hardcover with the original dust jacket featuring an illustration of a liberated prisoner, slight stains on the dust jacket. Good condition.
