A L'ombre De La Croix Gammée - "Under the Shadow of the Swastika" - Collection of excerpts written by journalist Émile Poiteau in countless hiding places in Nazi-occupied France during the war, published by Nouvelle société anonyme du Pas de Calais, Strasbourg 1944 - First edition - Dedicated copy by author. French.
Collection of short excerpts written by the author during the war in countless places where he hid in occupied France, dealing with the Nazi enemy and the brutal way it entered France. The poems were written over four years on pages he hid in various hiding places, under gravestones in cemeteries and other places, expressing his feelings amid all that was unfolding around him. Immediately after the war ended he hurried to those same places to take out the pages on which he had written chilling passages dealing with his fate during the war and the crimes of the Nazis. Some of the pages were blurred because they absorbed a lot of moisture, and some were in better condition. The author hurried to publish this edition even before the end of the war "so that the horrors of the occupation and the barbaric acts would not be forgotten", and in the introduction he writes that he plans to publish expanded editions in the future since he has many more pages with things he wrote during the war.
In the excerpts he wrote, he documents arrests, executions and deportations of Jews and other groups, Nazi massacres of "a hundred passersby who were shot on the spot as hostages... this is the cruel way of the great barbarians full of crosses and blood...", another section titled "Wild Beasts" describes the atrocities committed by the Nazis when the order is one: "Advance without mercy, to steal, pillage, destroy, murder, burn, strangle, deport...", an excerpt appears about his brutal arrest by the Gestapo, and about various incidents of Gestapo cruelty against others, an excerpt appears titled "Germany Above All" describing the slaughter and devastation Germany brought to the world in the war, excerpts emerge clearly written in burning heart during distress expressing the world's opposition to Nazi Germany, about the two-facedness of the Nazis in the occupation of France trying to recruit as many Frenchmen as possible: "We will never be able to live as good friends my conquering lords...", an excerpt titled "Elbow to Elbow" expresses the unity of peoples against Nazi Germany: "Is there today an enemy other than the man with the iron heart we call 'The Hun' from the cruel soldier, occupying and barbaric oppressor?" and many more.
Rare. Of the first publications released about the Nazi occupation of France. Only two listings in the world cat library catalog.
88 p. 20 cm. Very good condition. French resistance ink stamp on cover.
