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Marc Bloch, a remarkable historian, wrote "The strange defeat" — reflections
on the French military collapse of 1940. The only aim of this sculpture
is to make people read his last testament, written in 1941. A resister,
he was shot by the Germans on 16 June, 1944.
Clermont-Ferrand, 18 March 1941.
Whenever the time comes for me to die, and whether it is in France or
in a foreign land, I leave to my dear wife, or failing that, to my children,
the task of organising my funeral in the way they wish. It will however
be a purely civil ceremony. My loved ones well know that I would want
nothing else. But on that day Ð whether at the mortuary or at the cemetery
Ð I want a friend to read out the following few words:
"I have not asked for Hebrew prayers to be recited over my tomb, though
the sound of these accompanied so many of my ancestors, including my father,
to their final resting-place. All my life long, I have striven to achieve
a complete sincerity of thought and expression. I believe a tolerance
of lies, for whatever reason, to be the most deadly disease of the soul.
Following the example of one much greater than I, I would wholeheartedly
ask for these simple words to be carved on my gravestone, "Dilexit
veritatem".
That is why, at this hour of the last good-bye when each of us has a duty
to summarise his life, I could never agree to any appeal being made on
my behalf to the sentiments of a religious doctrine whose beliefs I do
not share.
But it would be even more odious to me if, anyone should discern in this
act of integrity the slightest sign of a cowardly denial. Therefore, I
affirm if necessary in the face of death that I was born a Jew, that I
have never thought of denying it, nor have I ever had the slightest temptation
to do so, In a world besieged by the most atrocious barbarity do not the
generous traditions of the Hebrew prophets, subsequently taken up and
enlarged by the purest forms of Christianity, provide one of the best
reasons for living, believing and fighting on.
As a stranger to all formal religion and to all so-called racial solidarity,
I have all my life felt myself to be, above all and quite simply, French.
Attached to my country by a long family connection, nourished by her spiritual
traditions and her history, feeling myself to be incapable of imagining
another country where I could breathe as freely, I have loved France deeply
and served her with all my strength. I have never felt that being a Jew
was the slightest obstacle to the pursuit of these beliefs. During two
wars, I have not been called on to die for France. Let me at least and
in all sincerity, make this last declaration: I die as I lived Ð a
good Frenchman.
In conclusion, if it is possible to obtain the texts, my five military
citations should be read out.
Marc BLOCH
Two texts appear on
the sculpture:
• a photograph by Brassai showing the actors in "Desire caught by
the tail", a play by Picasso.
• a text written by the artist apologising for having added this
photograph to a sculpture where it is out of place.
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