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Melting in the face of the enormity of the mausienne theory of giving (we prefer the term “exchange” here) and based on some of the propositions of Alain Caillé and Thomas Lindemann, we support some giving, the antagonistic potlatch and the sacrifice of life that are three variants, in size order, of the same societal global engagements, which are logically waiting for a return. At this measure, the potlach appears like a profane form of sacrifice, and that sacrifice is a transcendental guaruntee of the potlatch. We are striving to illustrate these propositions by reading la Grande Guerre as if it were a giant potlatch, one that draws a parallel between the commemorative ceremony of November 11th and a catholic mass: the “Poilu” (the soldier of 1914) killed becoming a new Christ, secular but not any less sacred.