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This lyrical memoir offers a fresh look inside the trauma of war
and captivity during the First World War, with resonance for
today's world.Georges Connes was a young literature graduate when
he was drafted and served in the infamous and bloody battle of
Verdun. A survivor, he was captured by the Germans in June 1916 and
became a prisoner of war until his repatriation in January 1919. In
the Second World War, he was active in the French Resistance, was
arrested and detained, and ultimately went into hiding. After the
war, he served as the interim mayor of Dijon before returning to
his academic life as a professor of British and American
literature.Connes referred to his time as a POW as 'The Other
Ordeal', recognizing that the most important suffering continued
for those who had to endure the 'firing, blood and mud' of war.
Connes focuses on the human aspects of war, which are all too easy
to forget in the age of mass media. He passionately argues against
the predominant black and white view of 'us versus them' to unearth
the complexities of war. Rather than demonizing his German captors,
for example, he describes individual examples of gratuitous acts of
kindness.Connes offers a pacifist, internationalist perspective on
war. A survivor of two of the greatest conflicts in modern history,
Connes remained optimistic about humanity. This voice of hope
provides insight not only into the First World War but into the
contemporary world.
This lyrical memoir offers a fresh look inside the trauma of war
and captivity during the First World War, with resonance for
today's world.Georges Connes was a young literature graduate when
he was drafted and served in the infamous and bloody battle of
Verdun. A survivor, he was captured by the Germans in June 1916 and
became a prisoner of war until his repatriation in January 1919. In
the Second World War, he was active in the French Resistance, was
arrested and detained, and ultimately went into hiding. After the
war, he served as the interim mayor of Dijon before returning to
his academic life as a professor of British and American
literature.Connes referred to his time as a POW as 'The Other
Ordeal', recognizing that the most important suffering continued
for those who had to endure the 'firing, blood and mud' of war.
Connes focuses on the human aspects of war, which are all too easy
to forget in the age of mass media. He passionately argues against
the predominant black and white view of 'us versus them' to unearth
the complexities of war. Rather than demonizing his German captors,
for example, he describes individual examples of gratuitous acts of
kindness.Connes offers a pacifist, internationalist perspective on
war. A survivor of two of the greatest conflicts in modern history,
Connes remained optimistic about humanity. This voice of hope
provides insight not only into the First World War but into the
contemporary world.
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