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RésuméEn juillet 1944, Céline quitte Paris pour se réfugier au Danemark où il arrivera non sans mal en mars 1945. Au cours de cette longue fuite, il traverse une Allemagne sous les bombes, séjourne à Baden-Baden, se réfugie à Sigmaringen où se trouvent Pétain et Laval. Un leitmotiv domine l'écriture torrentielle des trois récits qui composent la trilogie allemande, son œuvre ultime consacrée à cette période (D'un Château l'autre, Nord, Rigodon) et dont il est question dans cet article : se défendre coûte que coûte contre l'injuste accusation qui, selon lui, le poursuit. De ces pages brûlées au feu de la persécution se dégage un scénario qui vise à conjurer toute confrontation avec la loi. À son retour en France, il continuera à plaider sa cause et trouvera des juges indulgents qu'il n'espérait plus.

In July 1944, Céline fled Paris to take refuge in Denmark, where he finally arrived, not without difficulty, in March 1945. During the course of this long flight, he travelled through Germany under the bombs, stayed in Baden-Baden and took refuge in Sigmaringen where Pétain and Laval were exiled. One leitmotiv dominates the torrential writing of the three novels that make up the German trilogy, his final work devoted to that period (D'un Château l'autre (Castle to Castle), Nord (North), Rigodon (Rigadoon) and it is the subject of this article: defending himself at all costs against what he considered as the unfair accusations made against him. These pages filled with a burning sense of persecution reveal a scenario that consists of warding off all confrontation with the law. On his return to France, he would continue to defend his position and would ultimately be judged leniently.