Novel cover “Dans le ventre de Klara” by Régis Jauffret
[For the presentation of this book published in French, I did my best to translate some sentences in English, but a professional translation would have better reflect the quality of Régis Jauffret’s writing].
“In July 1888, around Saint James’s Day, Uncle made me pregnant”. So begins Régis Jauffret‘s novel “Dans le ventre de Klara” (In Klara’s Belly) , that master of punchlines and synthesis. The Klara in question is Klara Hitler, who at the time of the story is carrying within her an Adolf Hitler already capable of infusing her on occasion with visions of the disaster he would orchestrate years later.
The author has found a unique way to position Klara’s terrible premonitions in the text. They are suddenly imposed in the midst of the mother-to-be’s daily reveries, often right in the middle of a paragraph or sentence.
In this tale of fact and fiction, the wife must stay in her place and hope for nothing. The writer has Klara say: “I’m afflicted with the mania of hoping for something other than my fate“. The husband decides everything. The local church’s confessor would love to have as much control as the spouse, but this proves more difficult than expected. The husband and abbot are a good example of the excessive power they wield over women in this era. A military officer with little combat experience who dictates his conduct to his wife as if she were a soldier, and a fanatical abbot who imposes the arbitrary rules of a sickening religion, enslaving women and imposing his dogmas on couples from a distance.
Back cover of the novel “Dans le ventre de Klara” by Régis Jauffret
Speaking of God and women, the author writes: “A Christian woman must bear children, help to populate the Earth He has given us as a theater for our sins”. And when Klara finds herself back in the confessional and being chastised by the priest: “Far from the voice of Christ gone, it was now Abbé Probst who was busy putting me through the wringer of language. Sentences as long as straps. Words as heavy and blunt as bludgeons. Subtle, sharp words, in places bristling with reddened spikes. Punctuation like broken glass […].” You get the idea…
I particularly appreciate Régis Jauffret’s writing, having read many of his works, including “La ballade de Rikers Island“, “Le dernier bain de Gustave Flaubert“, “Papa” and the three volumes entitled Microfictions, published respectively in 2007, 2018 and 2022. He even won the Goncourt short story award for the 2018 edition.
Régis Jauffret explains the intention behind his latest novel in a video on Youtube, if you’re interested in digging deeper into the subject.
“Enfant de salaud” means “Bastard’s child” in English. Author Sorj Chalandon is a journalist and worked for decades for the French newspapers Liberation and Canard Enchaîné. During his career, he received numerous awards: Albert-Londres (1988), Médicis (2006), Grand Prix de l’Académie française (2011), Goncourt des lycéens (2013) and most recently Goncourt 2021 des lecteurs de 20 Minutes.
“Enfant de salaud” is the true story of the author who tries to shed light on his father’s extremely nebulous past during World War II, in the German-occupied France.
Having had access to official archives, he gradually discovers that his father went through the war by enlisting in five armies, which he all deserted. He served the enemy in every way, but always made sure that the few things he was doing for Francewere listed somewhere in case of an investigation after the war.
The head of the Sûreté nationale de Lille who questioned the father after the war said of him: “This individual is a liar endowed with an astonishing imagination. He must be considered very dangerous and treated as such.”
Between the reflections and the discoveries of the son on the past and the psychology of the father, the reader participates in parallel to the trial of Klaus Barbie , psychopath and great war criminal, who died in prison in France in 1991. Passages of the book are blood curdling, although we know what to expect when it comes to Nazis, SS and members of the Gestapo.
When the survivor Isaac Lathermann takes the stand during the Barbie trial, he announces: “[in the concentration camps], at breast height, there was no more bark on the trees, everything had been eaten. No more grass either. Eaten too.” (p. 238)
The reader discovers the resistant Lise Lesèvre who, even tortured by Klaus Barbie for days, doesn’t give up a single name: a phenomenal example of courage and patriotism.
“Enfant de salaud” is the author’s decades-long inner journey. The fact that he relates a real-life story further reinforces the intensity of the narrative.
The book “J’étais le pilote de Hitler” tells a true story that was originally published in 1957. The 2020 French edition, presented and annotated by Claude Quétel, improves our understanding of Hans Baur, one of the founders of Lufthansa in 1926, Hitler‘s personal pilot, but also a high-ranking Nazi SS officer and a close friend of the Führer.
The information offered by Hans Baur is of great interest. Early in Hans Baur’s career, the pilots doing what he did were called aviation pioneers. At the time, planes contained virtually no air navigation instruments that could assist a pilot flying in difficult weather conditions. The Alps are tricky to fly through in good weather, so it gets a lot more challenging in bad weather and in a poorly equipped plane. If we add the freezing conditions, engine failures, cabins that are not heated and that are not equipped with devices providing supplemental oxygen to pilots, then there are flightsthat would be considered something like an “exploit”. This aspect of the book is therefore very interesting.
I also liked all of Hans Baur’s anecdotes about Hitler’s demands on him. Being a pilot for the Führer was no small task. Hitler had very high expectations regarding the performance and the punctuality of his personal pilot, and the latter certainly demonstrated extraordinary abilities to satisfy his superior.
Where we have to be wary is that we are still dealing with an SS pilot, who was a member of the Nazi organization before Hitler took power. We have to question his personal values and what he voluntarily neglected in his book. The regular massacres carried out during Barbarossa Operation in Russia, or the elimination of six million Jews, are not discussed, as the SS pilot maintains he was never involved in politics. He carried passengers without asking questions, but he had chosen Nazism as a political movement. When you are invited to Hitler’s table on a daily basis and are therefore part of his inner circle, it is clear that the Nazi represented by Hans Baur is speaking about more than piloting.
The experience in Russian prisons is described as inhuman by Hans Baur, who has been there ten years. He talks about the transport of German prisoners in cattle cars, very bad food, etc. But I couldn’t help but wonder what planet he lived on to denounce his condition as a prisoner while ignoring the treatment the Germans imposed on the Russians and all the people who were deported and massacred. The Einsatzgruppen were not altar boys. Moreover, Claude Quétel also questioned this remark from Hans Baur, adding that “although very harsh, the living and working conditions in the Soviet camps have nothing to do – as we sometimes read – with those of the German concentration camps.”(p.381).
There are also some inaccuracies and sometimes falsehoods that Claude Quétel does not hesitate to point out. Sometimes these are trivial errors resulting from poor memory. However, other important facts are downright inaccurate. As in this passage where Baur says that Hitler decided to attack Russia four weeks before the start of the war, which is not true. The conquest of the East and of more living space is specifically enunciated in Mein Kampfand is spoken of in a book written while Hitler was in prison in 1923 following a failed coup.
Conclusion
The book « J’étais le pilote de Hitler » is a very interesting book, one more about Nazi Germany. The history of Germany is fascinating and complex, from the time of the Holy Roman Empire to the present day. But it seems that it will always be the twelve years of the Nazi period that will achieve more success in bookstores.
Have a good read!
Click on the link for other books on war in my blog.
Translated from German to French, this book is titled : « L’extase totale – Le troisième Reich, les Allemands et la drogue ». The original title was : « Der totale Rausch. Drogen im Dritten Reich ». The author is a German journalist and documentarist who worked for Stern and Der Spiegel. He has also written four other books. I tried to translate the quotes to the best of my ability.
The research made by the author shows that in the years preceding the Second World War, the German population regularly used drugs to better support the defeat resulting of the First World War. Drug consumption was a standard phenomenon. It became necessary to curtail this habit.
Front cover of the book “L’extase totale” by Normand Ohler
Hitler is thus presented as a « pure role model […], an ascetic, the enemy of drugs who disregards his own needs » (p.25). But if there is somebody in Germany who is becoming a regular user of drugs and who even has access to his own pusher, namely the well-known Dr Morell, it is Hitler.
In the documents presented by the author, Hitler is also described as thePatient A : « Hitler is getting used to repetitive shots and to those mysterious substances flowing in his veins to supposedly invigorate him » (p.37).
In 1937, the Temmler factories create the first German methylamphetamine, also known as « pervitin ». There is a widespread use in the German population as well as in the army. Pervitin is the artificial booster that lasts more than twelve hours, « solves problems » and keeps the German soldier awake for several days : « Use of pervitin becomes as natural as drinking a cup of coffee » (p.44).
The German troops, who sleep every two or three days now, rush through Europe. It is the famous Blitzkrieg. The armour do not stop anymore. While the Allied soldiers must sleep on a rotating basis, the German soldiers charge without taking any breaks, energized with methamphetamine.
Poland is the first surprised. « […] provided with a huge amount of drugs, but without dosage indications, the Wehrmacht attacks the Polish neighbour who is not doped and has no idea of what to expect. » (p.63).
Thirty five million doses are ordered for the army and the Luftwaffe. « The Wehrmacht becomes the first army in the world to widely use chemical drugs […]. A new form of war has appeared » . (p.76)
Peter Steinkamp, a medical historian, states that « the Blitzkrieg was led through the use of methamphetamine, not to say that it was planned with methamphetamine in mind » (p.85).
The German officers do not obey orders anymore, exhilarated by the quick victories : « Guderian […] continues his offensive while he has formally received the order to stop » (p.86). It is the same thing for Rommel who does not obey General Hoth’s orders : « He has lost all senses of danger, [which is] a typical symptom of an excessive consumption of methamphetamine. He maintains his offensive both day and night ». (p.88). Hitler does not control the generals of the armoured divisions who now act in an autonomous mode.
Decided to regain control of his officers, Hitler takes a decision that ignores any military strategy. He orders all his troops to stop during ten days, at a moment when they have almost surrounded the Allied. The German officers impress upon Hitler to complete the military campaign but « Hitler wants to show his ground troops that it is him and nobody else who leads this war » (p.95). At Dunkirk, « more than 340,000 French, Belgian and British soldiers escaped by the sea » (p.95).
Backcover of the book ” L’extase totale ” by Normand Ohler
The author refers to numerous research documents pertaining to extensive drug consumption among soldiers and officers. This habit was present up to the highest military ranks. The German population was also keen to use drugs on an extensive basis : « It does not take long before the number of doses that find themselves in the stomach or blood of Germans exceed the million doses » (p.114)
The melting pot of drugs used on a daily basis by Hitler has an important effect on his judgment. He makes a serious strategic mistake concerning the war raging with Russia. He forbids any retreat of the German troops without his official authorization. The Wehrmacht undergoes heavy losses to the elite Russian divisions « freshly arrived from Siberia » (p.135).
Another important strategic mistake happens in December 1941 when Germany decides to declare war to the United States : « Germany is already exhausted by the fights it wages on multiple fronts, while overseas, the industrial giant is ready for the battle » (p.139).
Hitler’s stubbornness « to refuse to give up an inch of the conquered territory has a more profound reason : that the chimneys continue to work as long as possible in the East, in the extermination camps in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobidor, Chelmno, Majdanek and Belzec. Hold all positions until all the Jews are killed. Distancing himself from the human laws, [Hitler] continues his war against the weakest» (p.140).
The author enumerates other military strategical mistakes made by Hitler. He also details the close relation that existed between Hitler and his personal doctor, Dr Morell. The reader learns about the content of Hitler’s daily drug cocktails, among which Eucodal, cocaine and morphine. Benefiting from his close personal relation with Patient A, Dr Morell also increases his personal influence and fortune.
The reader witnesses the Führer’s progressive decline and the consequences of his desperate decisions. It is quite surprising that among all Hitler biographies, his heavy consumption of drugs and their consequences are barely noted.
The end of the book deals with the harsh experiments made on prisoners in the concentration camps.
The book « L’extase totale » allows a different understanding of the Second World War and of the psychology of the German population at the time. The reader realizes the very strong impact of the chemical drugs before and during the war. Even the way the Blitzkrieg is traditionnally presented has to be reviewed.
The advanced technology combined with military strategy and extensive use of chemical drugs initially gave the advantage to the German forces. However, with time, a lack of control on pervitin and other drugs had irreversible negative consequences on a huge number of soldiers and officers. It was the cause of crucial military strategical mistakes. An exclusive identity-based nationalism was also responsible for the loss of millions of human lives.
