Bylo jich pět ... Kolaborace, trest a rozpory – Chateau Ladislava (2023)

A collection of five profiles of significant French writers who accepted invitations to Weimar for writers' congresses under the direction of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in 1941 and 1942. The book offers insights into the life failures of exceptionally gifted creative personalities, often adorned with numerous literary awards and honors, who, through their inclination towards fascism and anti-Semitism, severely damaged their otherwise valuable works – Robert Brasillach, Marcel Jouhandeau, Ramon Fernandez, Jacques Chardonne, and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. In France, the participation of these prominent literati in the Weimar congresses remains a topic of great discussion and controversy. It is considered a betrayal of intellectuals, a collaboration of the educated French class. This is a living and still relevant topic for us as well. Ladislava Chateau not only recalls the fates of her protagonists but also lesser-known facts that occurred in France even before the outbreak of the first and second global conflicts, which ultimately culminated in anti-Semitic frenzy during World War II. The book evokes the atmosphere of post-war France, the trials, and how this country struggled to come to terms with the moral responsibility of its writers and artists,…