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«The last message of marshal Petain» (1945): apocrypha or an unknown document?

Burlakov Alexandre, Molodiakov Vassili

For the first time published in the original and in Russian translation «The Last Message of Marshal Petain» may be apocrypha, but undoubtedly refers to 1945. As far as is known, this document has never been mentioned or quoted before. At the specified time of its writing (August 21, 1945) Marshal Philippe Pétain (1856-1951) was imprisoned in Fort Portalet and remained in a quite depressed state of mind. There is no information about the message in the notes of his jailer Joseph Simon. The content of the message generally corresponds to other statements of the Marshal but with some divergence. Perhaps French historians will be able to shed light on the origin of the document or conduct a detailed linguistic analysis in order to establish the alleged authorship.

Keywords: Maréchal Philippe Pétain, message, authenticity, occupation, trial, anti-Bolshevism
Link: Burlakov A., Molodiakov V. «The last message of marshal Petain» (1945): apocrypha or an unknown document? // Annual of French Studies 2024. Т. 57: On the 150th anniversary of academician E. V. Tarle.М. P. 387-395.
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