Un épistolier alsacien dans la Grande Guerre

• Published in: Cahiers d’Études Germaniques
• Main Author: Françoise KNOPPER
• Format: Article
• Language: German
• Published: Presses Universitaires de Provence 2016-11-01
• Subjects: First World War; personal letters from War; home front; Alsace; Puech (Marie-Louise)
• Online Access: https://journals.openedition.org/ceg/688

This article deals with the genre of letters writing during the First World War. It analyses unpublished letters of a German-speaking artillerist from St. Johann/Zabern. He joined French forces and wrote about hundred letters to his “marraine de guerre” M.-L. Puech. These letters underline that the “culture of war” and “the culture of peace” are complementary. On one side, First World War is in his mind a defensive war (justum bellum) and violence is justified. On the other side, the author still uses the peace habits, as friendship and relatedness to his parents. His style is simple, unskilled, he treats letter writing as a variation of conversation. His perseverance is due to his patriotism, both to France and Alsace.