"AU PILORI"
" A Spectator's Notebook " of February 18th, 1944, over the signature of " Janus," you printed a paragraph concerning the feature called " Au Pilori " in the B.B.C. French broadcasts. In this paragraph " Janus " expresses the opinion that the denunciation of collaborationists men- tioned in " Au Pilori " originates from " agents or informers of some kind," and that " it is easy to conceive how private hostility or animus may in individual cases be the cause of denunciation." He adds that "in Germany that is a commonplace." He then suggests that " this kind of thing could be left to the Algiers Radio."
As London Delegate of the French Resistance Movements, may I say that "Au Pilori " broadcasts deal exclusively with well-authenticated cases of civil servants and police officials who have delivered patriots or Allied sub- jects to the Gestapo, of informers, of torturers and their active accomplices.
Any name mentioned in the B.B.C. " Au Pilori " has not only been care- fully studied and investigated by the Resistance Movements in France, but also checked on this side by French and Allied authorities. From all the in- formation we receive from France, it is evident that these broadcasts have a paralysing effect on the guilty, and a deterrent effect on any potential col- laborationists.
To quote only one document among the considerable evidence in our hands, this is what a recent official Vichy report from a department of southern France writes on the subject: " The B.B.C. is broadcasting the names of the heads of regional and departmental Militia; this campaign has not failed to throw confusion in the minds of the members of this organisa- tion and a swift increase in the number of resignations is to be expected." For anyone who knows of the daily crimes of Darnand's Militia such news can only be welcome. To sum up, it is an acknowledged fact that " Au Pilori " broadcasts have saved many lives, not only French ones. To advo- cate the cessation of such broadcasts is to assume the responsibility for the loss of many lives in the future.
As to the suggestion of leaving it to Algiers to broadcast " Piloris," it must be remembered that for technical reasons the B.B.C. is much more audible in the greater part of France. After June, 1940, the B.E.C. broadcasts were the main source of reliable information available to the French people, and the habit of listening then acquired still persists. This applies not only to the average Frenchman but to the few collaborators to whom these broad-
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