Distiques pour une carmagnole de la Honte

Exceptionally rare autograph satirical poem by Louis Aragon, entitled Distiques pour une Carmagnole de la Honte, written between September 1944 and February 1945. 26 lines penned in black ink on a single leaf, with a note from the author in blue ink at the foot of the page.
Our manuscript belongs to a group of thirteen poems composed during the first half of 1945, intended for publication in a poetry anthology (Aragon, published by Pierre Seghers in Paris, Collection “Poètes d’aujourd’hui” no. 2, 20 July 1945). It was sent by Aragon as a working copy to his editor and friend Claude Roy. This autograph poem is the only known manuscript of the Distiques, with neither manuscript nor proofs held in the extensive Triolet-Aragon archives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

The autograph poem is housed in a midnight blue half-morocco folder with patterned paper boards, beige lambskin doublures, and a matching morocco-edged slipcase. Binding signed by Thomas Boichot.
A true historical document and scathing indictment of the collaborators who sought refuge in Sigmaringen, Aragon’s Distiques were composed during the winter of 1944–1945 following the publication of Musée Grévin. A quintessential example of Aragon’s resistance poetry, this octosyllabic and ten-line verse composition denounces, in no uncertain terms, the leaders of the Vichy regime and their most ardent supporters. Sarcasm, insult, and invective fuel a vengeful poetry reminiscent of the fiery tone of Front Rouge, which marked his break with surrealism. Yet the poem’s tone remains brisk and lively: the residents of Sigmaringen castle sing, dance, and play, and Aragon concludes with a rousing quatrain: « Ah ça ira ça ira Les Pétain Laval tous à la lanterne, Ah ça ira ça ira ça ira, Les Pétain Laval tous on les pendra », borrowed from the revolutionary anthem « Ah ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Les aristocrates à la lanterne. Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira ! Les aristocrates on les pendra. »
Despite numerous appeals to flee France at the outbreak of war, Aragon chose to remain, going underground with Elsa Triolet after serving bravely during the German offensive. The Occupation marked a period of intense activity for the writer, who clandestinely published his collections of resistance poetry (Le Crève-cœur, 1941, Les Yeux d’Elsa, 1942, Le Musée Grévin, 1943, La Diane française, 1944) and, under various pseudonyms, poems and responses to collaborationists in the Lettres Françaises. At the same time, he was commissioned by the Communist Party to rally writers and intellectuals in the southern zone, where he founded a branch of the Comité National des Écrivains, bringing together Stanislas Fumet, Auguste Anglès, Henry Malherbe, and Jean Prévost. Aragon’s example proved that, in times of war, poetry could itself be a form of resistance, a refusal to yield. As Claude Roy, recipient of the manuscript, later remarked: « La parole d’Aragon s’élevait avec une violence et une aisance qui se répercutaient d’un bout de la France à l’autre. »
« Ça doit avoir de la dégaine/Le château de Siegmaringen/On s’y retrouve entre félons/Sous les lustres du grand salon » Aragon wrote two poems about Sigmaringen, the former Swabian stronghold of the Hohenzollern family, which hosted Pétain and his entourage after their flight from Vichy and Belfort. As Allied forces advanced and on orders from the Reich, the Marshal and his supporters set up a puppet government there in September 1944, later replaced by the “Gouvernemental Delegation for the Defence of French Interests in Germany” during the war’s final months. Aragon dedicates a distich to Laval, who had been ousted from power by this new structure: « Laval a l’air bien embêté / D’être en disponibilité ». Notably, Aragon adds an “e” to Sigmaringen, likely a sardonic play on the Nazi salute “Sieg Heil.”
For nearly eight months, until April 1945, this extraterritorial enclave sheltered over a thousand collaborators fleeing the Liberation’s reprisals. Intellectuals and disgraced writers such as Céline and Lucien Rebatet found refuge there, alongside militiamen, Gestapo agents, and exiled politicians. Pro-German journalists are among the poem’s most acerbic targets: Paul Ferdonnet, responsible for urging surrender on Radio-Stuttgart (« Pétain tous les soirs joue aux cartes / Avec le traître de Stuttgart »), and Hérold-Paquis, an honorary member of the Waffen SS (« Mon cher monsieur Hérold Paquis / Parlez nous un peu du maquis »). The invective continues with the leaders of the delegation, which was disavowed by Pétain from its inception—it included Joseph Darnand, Secretary of State for the Interior; Marcel Déat, Minister of Labour and National Solidarity; and actor Jean Luchaire, Commissioner for Information: « Darnand se plaint à Jean Luchaire / Des déménagements si chers / José Laval cette idée a / De séduire Marcel Déat. »
The poem explicitly names its enemies, exposing executioners and traitors in terse, clipped lines. A note from Aragon at the bottom of the manuscript clarifies the intended performance: « (1) note pour une lecture : les distiques se disent en coupant l’octosyllabe par la moitié sans égard au sens. Le quatrain terminal se chante sur l’air connu avec une voix de basse, funèbre et éraillée ». Aragon revives the Carmagnole, the sans-culottes’ anthem from 1792, in a gesture of defiance echoing the revolutionary fervour of the past. Reciting the notorious names of French collaborationism as the condemned of the Terror were once sung, he relishes in caricature: « Jamais dit Fernand de Brinon/ Beau nez n’a déparé beau nom ».
This jab targets the Vichy ambassador to the German authorities, as famous for his noble lineage as for his prominent nose. The symbolic sentence for the collaborationist icons Pétain and Laval is pronounced by Corinne Luchaire, actress and Vichy muse, who had taken refuge with her father in Sigmaringen: « Et Corinne se lève et chante / D’une voix plaintive et touchante. Ah ça ira ça ira ça ira / Les Pétain Laval tous à la lanterne / Ah ça ira ça ira ça ira / Les Pétain Laval tous on les pendra »
A powerful poem steeped in revolutionary fervour and humanist resolve, this precious manuscript of resistance poetry is among the very few autograph works by Aragon still held in private hands.