G., then aged four, two, and one. The three children did brilliantly in school; only Cécile, the youngest, was still living with her adoptive parents.
A student of the École Polytechnique, Robert G. had been mobilized as a second lieutenant of artillery. The only one from his battery to survive after a violent German attack in February 1916, he was hospitalized for a head injury, then sent back to the front in April. During the events of June 1917, he was on a few days’ leave.
At the court’s request, he was the subject of a psychiatric appraisal performed by our esteemed colleague, Doctor Bergamotte. The latter shared with us his remarks on the report he submitted to the judicial authorities, for which we are grateful. Briefly:
- the subject was perfectly conscious during the crime,
- he acted for reasons of eugenics,
- he declared himself satisfied with having eradicated the deficient branches of the family.
From the doctor’s interviews with the patient and the exams he performed on him, Doctor Bergamotte concluded that Robert G. would be harmless from that point forward.
The judge—acting very prudently where a combatant was concerned, one who, moreover, was wounded in the war—was lenient and decided to have him interned. He has been at the Saint-Maurice Hospital, in our unit, for three years.
We would like to highlight the fact that Robert G.’s eldest sister, Nicole, who is two years older than he, was not present at the fatal lunch. She is very attached to the patient. She was also a witness at the trial. Her love for her brother, in spite of the crime committed against the family, stupefied the jury and bore weight on the decision as well.
REMARKS ON THE HOSPITALIZATION
Robert G. is living in a locked room that has been furnished for a long-term stay.
He is a calm and amiable patient. For this reason, he is well-liked by the staff. He demands far less attention than the noisy, agitated patients who are brought in here wrapped up like dolls.
He seems to be very satisfied with his situation. Dressed in a hospital gown and a black velvet cap, he spends his days reading and writing.
He willingly goes along with our questions, enduring them with a look of indifference, which might be feigned.
He asked to be allowed to use books. He wrote a list of the ones he needed himself, and we asked his sister to bring him the desired volumes. With the exception of Goethe’s Faust, they are all books on mathematics. A bookshelf and a table have been set up in his room so that he can write.
He has returned to studying mathematical science, to which he had had little time to devote after he left the École Polytechnique, on the very eve of the war. He asked permission to correspond with mathematicians from France and other countries (but not Germany), to which we agreed.
As he himself has made us note, he can work peacefully, without having to be preoccupied with teaching classes or engaging in other lucrative activities needed to earn a living.
We will add that he reads a passage from his copy of Faust every evening. This act of reading and the evocation of hell make him cry. Each time we ask for an explanation of these tears, he launches into a long series of reflections which are unclear (and repetitive), with recurring mentions of succubi, which are, according to G., demons with blue eyes.
He receives regular visits from his sister, sometimes accompanied by her husband.
A VISIT TO VAL-DE-GRÂCE
(L’Humanité, July 14, 1920)
Here, faces are remade. Just a glimpse at the two photos included in this article will allow you to judge the doctors’ work completed on the broken faces of our soldiers.
THE SOLEMN HOMAGE OF THE GRATEFUL HOMELAND
(Le Petit Parisien, November 12, 1920)
The coffin of the “Unknown Soldier,” placed on a cannon, preceded by the chariot carrying Gambetta’s heart, arrived at the Arc de Triomphe yesterday.
DID YOU SEE THE ECLIPSE?
(Le Petit Parisien, April 9, 1921)
The extreme clarity of the atmosphere allowed curious amateur astronomers to contemplate yesterday’s solar eclipse in all its beauty. The classic method? Good old cheap smoked glass.
PIERRE MEYER (interview, December 18, 2006, cont.). She felt a tremendous amount of compassion for her husband. His injury caused him to suffer for his entire life. He must have not been very easy to live with. Terrible temper. And that huge household she had to look after, six children! They were very close in age: the youngest, Ignace, was born in 1924. They named him after Mortaufs’s brother, who was killed in 1918. Such an atrocious war…
It was at that time, when Ignace was born, that they bought the house in Chatou. Marguerite had a personal fortune, and Mortaufs was earning a good amount of money, with all those courses he was teaching in various places.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Le Figaro, October 24, 1922)
The professor Christian Mortaufs
and Madame,
née Marguerite Janvier,
announce the birth
on October 18, 1922, of
BERNADETTE MARIE BAPTISTINE
The baptism will take place
on Tuesday at 10 o’clock in the morning
at the Church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule
22, Rue d’Artois, Paris, 8th arr.
—
Claude Duvivier
lawyer at the Paris Bar,
and his wife Nicole,
née Gorenstein,
have the joy of announcing
the birth of their daughter
MIREILLE ANNE
on October 17, 1922
9, Rue de Médicis, Paris, 6th arr.
THE CLIMB TO THE PANTHÉON
(Le Petit Parisien, November 23, 1924)
The final arrangements for the ceremony marking the transfer of Jean Jaurès’s ashes to the Panthéon began yesterday and were completed that very night. This morning, everything will be ready.
LAWS OF POPULATION FLUCTUATION OF SEVERAL COEXISTING SPECIES IN THE SAME AREA
BY V. VOLTERRA
(French Association for the Advancement of the Sciences, Lyon, 1926)
Let there be two species (of animals, for example). The first gets its food from its natural habitat, and, if it were alone, would grow exponentially. The second does not find food in its natural habitat, and, if it were alone, would decrease exponentially. If the second species were to eat the first, what would happen? […] The fluctuations of the number of individuals of each species are thus periodic. […]
Let us suppose some animals in each species are destroyed (by fishing). […] We see that, when the intensity of fishing grows, the number of individuals in the first species grows and the number in the second decreases, which is to say that fishing, as verified by statistics from the Adriatic, has a favorable effect before, during, and after the war.
ELECTROCUTED! A SCIENTIFIC KILLING…
(L’Humanité, special edition,