- Faverjon, Philippe.
Les mensonges de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Paris: Perrin, 2004.
ISBN 2-262-01949-5.
-
“In wartime,” said Winston Churchill, “truth is so precious that she
should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” This book
examines lies, big and small, variously motivated,
made by the principal combatants in World War II, from the fabricated
attack on a German radio station used as a pretext to launch the
invasion of Poland which ignited the conflict, to conspiracy theories
about the Yalta conference which sketched the map of postwar Europe
as the war drew to a close. The nature of the lies discussed in the
various chapters differs greatly—some are propaganda addressed to
other countries, others intended to deceive domestic populations;
some are strategic disinformation, while still others are delusions
readily accepted by audiences who preferred them to the facts.
Although most chapters end with a paragraph which sets the stage for
the next, each is essentially a stand-alone essay which can be read
on its own, and the book can be browsed in any order. The author is
either (take your pick) scrupulous in his attention to historical
accuracy or, (if you prefer) almost entirely in agreement with my own
viewpoint on these matters. There is no “big message”, philosophical
or otherwise, here, nor any partisan agenda—this is simply a
catalogue of deception in wartime based on well-documented historical
examples which, translated into the context of current events, can
aid in critical analysis of conventional wisdom and mass stampede
media coverage of present-day conflicts.
July 2005 