Germaine Tillion Credo du « solidus » et sympathie à la lettre

Résumé

Face à l’adversité – misère, totalitarisme, violence –, Germaine Tillion a montré que l’expérience individuelle peut devenir connaissance et la connaissance partagée se muer en action groupale. Toute sa trajectoire tient dans cette éthique qui est aussi mise en pratique solidaire liant étroitement observation, dialogue et réflexivité. Ce credo anime la vie de Tillion en amont et en aval de sa déportation à Ravensbrück en un « double apprentissage » qui allie l’étude et l’expérience sans les dissocier ni les hiérarchiser quant à leur apport commun de connaissances. Ce credo traverse de manière performative l’œuvre collective du Verfügbar aux Enfers.

Mots-clés :

• care,
• engagement,
• ironie,
• solidarité,
• Germaine Tillion

Abstract

In the face of adversity—misery, totalitarianism and violence—, Germaine Tillion showed that individual experience can become knowledge and that shared knowledge can mutate into group action. The entire trajectory of her life was embodied in an ethos reflecting these principles and converting into action a kind of solidarity that combined observation, dialogue and the ability to reflect. These principles were exemplified in Tillion’s life both before and after her deportation to Ravensbrück in a form of “double learning” in which study and experience were intimately connected—and not differentiated qualitatively—in terms of their common contribution to knowledge. The entire collective work of Le Verfügbar aux Enfers (“The Campworker goes to Hell”) is permeated with these principles in a performative manner.

Keywords:

• Care,
• engagement,
• irony,
• solidarity,
• Germaine Tillion