This is a FACSIMILE REPRINT of an exceedingly difficult book to find.
1974 edition printed in 2025.
Please allow two weeks for the book to be delivered.
Note: This book is a reproduction of the historical text for academic, historical, or collector purposes.
6" x 9" / 271 pages
In the course of making the text black and white with a white background, some of the text has a faded appearance, but 99%+ is clear. See pics as examples.
Some men are helplessly drawn to conflict and ideology like months to a fire. Christian de La Maziere was one of those men.
Wrapped up in his devotion to anti-communist causes, he worked as a freelance reporter, mostly because his wealthy background allowed for it. He honestly had no reason to join any military group he had abstained from service to his own country. However, because of a sense of honor, and devotion to ideology he did something remarkable. He volunteered for the Waffen SS.
In this manner the book provides an outstanding perspective on the turmoil that France as a nation prior to World War Two, during and after. They were a nation divided among many political fronts. There were legitimate fascists who wanted power along with nationalists, communists, and dozens of others all willing to fight for their share.
What I liked about this book were the outstanding description of the SS Charlemagne division and why it was created and how it was destroyed on the Eastern Front. De la Maziere really had no reason to survive. Only a handful of France's 7,000 volunteers managed to survive the destruction of the division. He is also not the least bit apologetic about his disdain for left-wing ideologies.
This book does a fantastic job of describing the situation in post World War Two, France, and shows the judicial system at work in a way that isn't present in Guy Sajar's book The Forgotten Soldier.
What is missing from this story is the fact that De La Maziere was able to put his life back together after his prison sentence but his appearance in the documentary The Sorrow and the Pity destroyed it. After the war he started a public relations firm...and once the film was release...it cost him his business.
