" ... je crains toujours que vous ne vous priviez pour moi. Surtout ne faites pas cela..."

Touching autograph letter dated and signed by Henri Béraud addressed to his mother-in-law while imprisoned at Poissy prison (65 lines in blue then black ink on three pages) relating his situation as a prisoner while praising the love of the latter and his wife who watch over him and allow him to envisage prison life under better auspices.
The letter is on the letterhead of the infirmary of the central prison of Poissy, with fold marks inherent to being placed in an envelope.
Henri Béraud rejoices at having been able to see his mother-in-law in good health and worries about the sacrifices she inflicts upon herself for the well-being of her imprisoned son-in-law: "... j'ai été heureux jeudi de vous voir avec si bonne mine...je pense aux difficultés... je crains que toujours que vous ne vous priviez pour moi..." ["... I was happy Thursday to see you looking so well... I think of the difficulties... I always fear that you deprive yourself for me..."] while remaining lucid about the indignity of his prisoner's condition which does not allow him to protect his loved ones: "... je compte tellement sur vous pour veiller sur notre Germaine (Henri Béraud's wife) pour l'obliger à se soigner et à se ménager..." ["... I count so much on you to watch over our Germaine to force her to take care of herself and spare herself..."]
He considers his arrest and imprisonment illegitimate and abusive and shows confidence in his future with his mother and spouse "by his side": "... le triste et injuste sort qui m'est fait. C'est cela qui me donne le plus de confiance dans l'avenir - cela et votre bonté à mon égard chère maman et, bien sûr, l'amour de la plus noble et de la plus belle des épouses..." ["... the sad and unjust fate that has befallen me. This is what gives me the most confidence in the future - this and your kindness toward me dear mother and, of course, the love of the noblest and most beautiful of wives..."]
Finally, Henri Béraud continues in black ink with a recommendation for his wife: "... en ce qui concerne sa visite à l'ami d'H. Espiau, je la laisse naturellement juge d'orienter cette conversation... au mieux de mes intérêts immédiats..." ["... regarding her visit to H. Espiau's friend, I naturally leave her to judge how to direct this conversation... in the best interest of my immediate concerns..."]
A bon vivant native of Lyon, Henri Béraud was an international journalist and reporter (Le canard enchaîné, Le Crapouillot, Petit Parisien, France-Soir and Gringoire) and a prolific writer (Goncourt Prize 1922 for Le martyre de l'obèse and Le vitriol de lune published a year earlier) whose political evolution, moving from the extreme left to the extreme right pro-collaborationist, is characteristic of the inexorable rise of totalitarianisms between the wars and the corruption of many French intellectuals. Friend of Roland Dorgelès, Albert Londres and especially Joseph Kessel whom he met in 1922 in Ireland then recently and partially liberated from the British yoke, Henri Béraud defended very left-wing opinions. But after a trip to the U.S.S.R., he began to revise his positions while drifting toward anti-parliamentarianism, Anglophobia (Faut-il réduire l'Angleterre en esclavage ? published in 1935 and dedicated to Joseph Kessel), antisemitism "without realizing it" according to his friend journalist Jean-Galtier Boissière. It was the Stavisky affair and its corollary the riots of the fascist and anti-parliamentary leagues of February 6, 1934 that triggered Henri Béraud's manifest passage to the extreme right, going so far as to break his friendship with his great friend Joseph Kessel. In 1936, his violent articles in Gringoire would lead to the suicide of Popular Front Interior Minister Roger Salengro accused of desertion during the First World War. Arrested in September 1944 and condemned to death on December 29, 1944 for intelligence with the enemy, he was pardoned by General De Gaulle.