Peter Larsen et Ben Erickson, The Kellner Affair

Je viens de recevoir un mail de mon ami Peter Larsen qui a écrit un magnifique ouvrage (en trois volumes + un supplément) paru chez Dalton Watson Fine Books sur mon grand-père maternel Jacques Saoutchick en 2014.

Peter est en train de mettre la dernière main à un livre qui lui tient particulièrement à coeur (à paraître cet été) sur Jacques Kellner, Georges Paulin et les autres membres du groupe de résistance Phill, exécutés au Mont Valérien :

"Today, March 21, 2017 marks the 75th anniversary of the execution of Jacques Kellner, Georges Paulin and the other members of the Phill resistance group at Mont Valérien outside Paris.
 

And today, little is left of Phill.

There are the documents that still rest in the dusty stillness of the archives in Germany and France.

There are the engravings and names listed at the Memorial that has since been built at Mont Valérien.

In Paris, there is a rue Kellner in the 17th  arrondissement, named after Jacques Kellner. There is a plaque on the building where Georges Paulin used to practice as a dentist, commemorating his work in the French resistance.

There is also a monument in the suburb of Malakoff with Georges Paulin's name on it. For the rest : nothing.

Perhaps that is the fate of those who have done great deeds : they end up on walls made of stone, on street signs, and as engravings on the pedestals of statues and monuments, where the size of the letters, the bigness of the monuments, the width of the streets and squares, the height of the statues all depend on the importance and greatness we associate with the hero or heroes in question.

There is no monument to Phill. There is no statue of Jacques Kellner anywhere.

There is no plaque in Boulogne-Billancourt that commemorates the existence of the Kellner works or the heroic deeds of its owner.

Nor is there a statue anywhere of Georges Paulin or any of the others.

On this 75th anniversary, it is my hope that The Kellner Affair will redress this.

UPDATE:

The book is now finished and in correction and design. It will be in 3 volumes, so prepare yourself for something large.

We are working flat out to be able to launch during the Monterey week - cross your fingers that we succeed. We shall be the first to admit that we are cutting it thin.

The very best wishes to all of you for a happy spring with lots of great car events."

Peter Larsen and Ben Erickson.