“Le Train de La Mort” – “The Train of Death, ” by Christian Bernadac. Paris, 1970 – Dedicated Copy by the Author: “To Michel, the years that have passed will not dim within us the bitter memory. With affection, C. Bernadac.”
A harrowing account of the tragic journey of over 2,000 French prisoners, deported on July 2, 1944, from the Compiègne camp in France to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. The journey, lasting three days under inhumane conditions, led to the deaths of hundreds of prisoners due to extreme heat, lack of water, overcrowding, and unsanitary conditions. The book is based on survivor testimonies, external witnesses, and personal diaries, providing a gruesome and detailed documentation of the horrors that unfolded in each train car during the transport. Many passages in the book are difficult to read due to the graphic depictions of the atrocities that took place aboard the train.
Christian Bernadac a French journalist and writer, born on August 1, 1937, in Tarascon-sur-Ariège, and passed away on December 12, 2003, in Compiègne. He was the son of Robert Bernadac, a police officer and member of the French Resistance, who was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Christian studied at the École Supérieure de Journalisme in Paris and began his career as a military journalist. He later worked in radio and television, including Europe 1 and TF1, where he served as an editor-in-chief.His books were based on first-hand experiences, survivor interviews, archival research, and medical records, offering meticulous documentation of Nazi atrocities. He often relied on rare, unpublished documents and sources. However, some French scholars criticized his works for their vivid and sensational style.
365 [1] pages. Good condition.
