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David Ball has studied the French language and French life for many years and has taught it as a Professor. We talk about the book he recently translated, a memoir by Jewish Frenchman and acclaimed author Leon Werth about his life hiding in occupied France.
1:04 – David Ball talks about how he got into translating French and translating this work.
4:11 – David talks about he edited a 700 page diary down to elements English readers would be interested in. He focuses on daily life in Vichy France.
6:00 – David compares this work to a memoir titled “The Dark Years.”
8:40 – David talks about participation in the French Resistance.
10:32 – David talks about how Leon Werth ended up in the village in which he was hiding.
14:20 – David talks about leon’s attitudes towards the crushing defeat in 1940.
18:54 – David talks about the language used in the diary and how he translated it.
23:45 – David talks about what kind of man Leon Werth was.
31:05 – David talks about Leon’s experiences and writings in WWI.
32:24 – David talks about how Leon recorded the Battle of Stalingrad.
39:03 – David talks about how Leon was worried about Hitler’s New World Order. He was also worried about a post-war civil war in France.
46:54 – David talks about Leon’s early awareness of the existence of the concentration camps.
58:13 – David talks about the passages on the liberation of Paris and reads them. The Germans and the Vichy government called the Resistance fighters terrorists.
Links of interest
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/deposition-1940-1944-9780190499549?cc=us&lang=en&
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Guests: David Ball
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, leon Werth, Vichy France, Occupied France, Germany, WWII, World War 2, de Gaulle, concentration camps, Liberation of Paris