Among the large number of testimonies from survivors of the Nazi extermination and concentration camps, Charlotte Delbo’s contribution is one of the most haunting. Her aim, as a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, was not only to testify for the dead as well as for herself, but to make the reader feel “la vérité de la tragédie en restituant l’émotion et l’horreur” [the truth of the tragedy by recreating the emotion and the horror] (Delbo 1965). She wanted the reader to see this unimaginable reality with the help of literature, particularly poetic language, because “la poésie est le langage de la vérité” [poetry is the language of truth] (Delbo 1972). Although she acknowledged her debt to Louis Jouvet and to Jean Giraudoux’s plays, she developed her own distinctive voice. Her camp experience also led her to write...
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Citation: Thatcher, Nicole. "Charlotte Delbo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 July 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11859, accessed 09 June 2026.]
