ORADOUR: MASSACRE AND AFTERMATH. INTRODUCTION BY JOHN FOWLES.

MACKNESS, Robin. ( Introduction By John Fowles.)

ISBN 10: 0747500827 / ISBN 13: 9780747500827

Published by Bloomsbury, London, 1988

About this Item

8vo. pp. viii, 166. 8pp. Illustrations. Maps. Original publisher's crimson cloth lettered gilt on spine unclipped pictorial dust jacket. Presentation copy: 'Chris, a small token of my gratitude for your patience. Robin Mackness March 1988'. Pencil notes throughout the text by writer and reviewer Chris Peachment. Loosely inserted publisher's advertising flyer on which he has written notes in pen. The story of how the massacre at Oradour was not primarily in revenge for Resistance activity, but a search for gold captured by the SS which had fallen into a single individual's hands almost by accident. In the 1980s that individual attempted to cash in some of the gold via a Swiss bank, aided by Mackness; while doing so the author was caught by French customs officers and spent some time in prison. Very slight wear to edges of dust jacket, otherwise very good. ISBN 0747500827 Very slight wear to edges of dust jacket, otherwise very good indeed. Seller Inventory # C16184

Bibliographic Details

Title: ORADOUR: MASSACRE AND AFTERMATH. ...

Publisher: Bloomsbury, London

Publication Date: 1988

Binding: Hardcover

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

On June 10 1944, four days after the Allied invasion of Normandy, the inhabitants of a remote village in South-west France were rounded up by a company of SS soldiers and all but a handful were shot or burnt to death - 642 in total. The atrocity and its particularly disturbing details have never been adequately explained. In 1982, Robin Mackness met the one man left alive who held the knowledge which made sense of the massacre. It cost Mackness 21 months in prison. Convinced that he was not embarking on anything illegal, Mackness agreed to carry out an unusual task for a Swiss bank, of which he believed he was about to become a director. The "task" swiftly became a nightmare as he found himself falling foul of the French and Swiss law. He made the painful decision not to reveal the names of his banking colleagues or their client and was thereby sentenced by the French authorities who were deprived of an even bigger catch. In prison, Mackness began to research the background of the extraordinary story he had been told by the bank's client and five years of investigation convinced him that he had discovered the true secret of Oradour. His sources include members of the French Resistance as well as ex-members of the SS.