ENFANTS DE DICTATEURS

A book full of contrasts : The innocence of childhood vs. The cruelty of the regime The intimate father vs. The father of the people

Involuntary actors in a scenario over which they had no control, some of them were compelled to sacrifice their innocence to a regime which saw in them a vision of dynastic continuity. Others, on the contrary, were treated no better than the rest of the population. They were placed in the spotlight in the service of dogmatic propaganda or hidden, exiled, or disowned to avoid drawing attention from an inaccessible father. If some of these children acknowledge and even proclaim their paternal heritage, for others, it is too heavy a burden to bear. The latter will continue with all their strength to hide or to cut themselves off from the man to whom they owe life. Fiery and complex relationships, that lie between the private history of an individual and the big historical picture. ? Jean-Christophe Brisard, journalist and author of several documentaries about dictators ? Claude Quétel, renowned historian