L’être juif ou l’être étranger L’expérience des hommes indésirables dans les camps d’internement français dans l’autobiographie de Jean-Jacques Bernard

Abstract

The Second World War was marked by many tragic events, including the internment camps in France. According to Denis Peschanski, the history of these camps can be divided into four phases: “exception (1938–1940), exclusion (1940–1942), deportation (1942–1944) and exception again (1944–1946)”. After the Nazi occupation, these camps took in various groups considered “undesirable”, including Communists, Jews, Gypsies, Freemasons, etc. Jews, whether of French or foreign nationality, were also arrested and interned in these camps, often located in northern France. Manuscripts of these traumatic experiences are rare, but essential. One of the survivors, Jean-Jacques Bernard, a French novelist and playwright, recounts his internment in his autobiographical work Le Camp de la mort lente. Compiègne 1941–1942. Clara Lévy points out that a writer’s Jewishness can be perceived through the plot, ideas and form of his work. The aim of this article is to analyse how the French writers labelled Jewish experienced their internment, how their Jewishness is reflected in Bernard’s work, and whether their Jewish or French identity was strengthened during their imprisonment.