CÉLINE Louis-Ferdinand (1894-1961). 7 L.A.S. "Destouches,"... Lot 18

CÉLINE Louis-Ferdinand (1894-1961). 7 L.A.S. "Destouches," [Copenhagen Prison] July 2-13, 1946, to Thorvald MIKKELSEN and his wife Lucette DESTOUCHES; 2 pages in-4 each in pencil on pink paper headed Københavns Fængsler prison, Vestre Fœngsel. Important letters from prison, partly to his wife, justifying himself for the charges against him. [These letters are in two parts, one to his Danish lawyer Mikkelsen, the other, more intimate, to his wife Lucette.] Monday, July 2. A diplomat from the French Legation wanted to see him, and Céline agreed to the meeting, but in the presence of his lawyer. He would have "the whole file of the reproaches that the French justice system has levelled at me. [...] I'll need a quarter of an hour to go through it all, and in your presence. In reality there is nothing - only nonsense interpreted by silliness and fanaticism. I only ask to return to France, you know that, I am a super French patriot, a Jansenist of French patriotism, as Chateaubriand was a purist an absolutist of royalty. I want to be too pure and too beautiful, that's my only crime"... Then he addressed his wife: "It is my dearest desire to explain myself to the authorities of my country, but not in Fresnes! He denied having been a friend of Jacques Doriot: "I met him four or five times in all in my life. He was not stupid and my job as a doctor and novelist is to know everyone. The people who wanted to kill me at Sigmaringen as a defeatist were Doriot's." He also explains his relationship with Alphonse de Châteaubriant. "Farting about, nonsense", alongside articles by Guitry and Montherlant. "If I insisted a little with the Germans, they sent me to Buchenwald. I had the reputation of being anti-German - which I am"... Wednesday, July 4. An echo of the Populaire newspaper worries him a lot by announcing his next extradition, it is a "very unfortunate omen. It's convenient! I am gagged, put in prison, the press and gossips are made to work, invented, false and slandered. After a few months of this work, extradition and the guillotine seem quite natural! Alexandre Varenne this pig is now a minister. If I am handed over to France, I will wake him up a little. To his wife: "this echo of the Populaire upsets me because it reproduces the kind of campaign I know well: the preparation of the bad blow. [...] It's a hand of darkness and hatred that doesn't let go. And yet they are nothing but dirty little shits that a little courage would be enough to baffle but nobody dares"... This Populaire, Léon BLUM's newspaper, is "the most Jewish newspaper in Paris (if possible), small civil servants, small bourgeois"... Monday, July 8. It seems that Mikkelsen returns from London with good news and that hope is allowed: "Let us wait for confirmation of the miracle! From France, two more hateful communist echoes: "The most enraged are the writers, the thought that I might survive and above all write again throws them into epilepsy"... To his wife: "Our Saint Bernard Mikkelsen has kept us out of the ravine, but the abyss is still there"... He thinks he will publish his books in Switzerland: "Too bad for the house Denoël! I can't starve to death for their sadistic whims. They'll lose an author and customers!"... Tuesday, July 9. He sends a clipping (attached) from the Figaro, and hopes that everything will speed up: "I have been in torment and silence for eight months"... To his wife, who suffers from eczema, he gives long advice on how to treat her hands, and urges her to eat... "I want to be treated as well as Montherlant, Guitry, La Varende, Ajalbert, Giono - who have collaborated a hundred times more than me. [...] Don't ever let yourself be convinced of my "special" unworthiness - it doesn't exist? Churchill wrote worse than me against the Jews. And Jesus Christ himself"... Wednesday, July 11. He complains of a new outburst by journalists against him, even though he did not collaborate during the war: "They judge me according to themselves, you shitty plumbers who are too happy to drool over a few columns [...]. Here is your Ministry of Foreign Affairs quite embarrassed by this press cabal to take a benevolent measure towards me! Public opinion! It is not a question of justice but of sadism"... To his wife: "I'm tired of always being covered with lies and shit by anyone without ever being able to defend myself"... The hospital being full, he is going to be sent back to his cell: "Why not to the cemetery right now"... Friday 12 July. He is sorry to see so many efforts in vain, he is still in prison. If he were Jewish, he would have been released a long time ago: "Let's say it straight out, if I am not released from the Vestre prison, it is for fear of appearing to protect an old anti-Semite. [...] Pure Jewish revenge.