WWII and Vichy France history book – “Deposition 1940-1944” (Oxford University Press, 2018) – David Ball interview
Military History Inside Out
English - November 14, 2018 03:17 - 1 hour - 16.9 MB - ★★★★ - 30 ratingsHistory Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
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…
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