Editing Louis-Ferdinand Céline (section)

=== 1939 to 1945 ===
At the outbreak of war in September 1939, the draft board declared Céline 70% disabled and unfit for military service. Céline gained employment as a ship's doctor on a troop transport, and in January 1940, the ship accidentally rammed a British torpedo boat, killing twenty British crewmen. In February he found a position as a doctor in a public clinic in [[Sartrouville]] northwest of Paris. On the evacuation of Paris in June, Céline and Lucette commandeered an ambulance and evacuated an elderly woman and two newborn infants to [[La Rochelle]]. "I did the retreat myself, like many another, I chased the French army all the way from [[Bezons]] to La Rochelle, but I could never catch up."<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=335-339}}</ref>

Returning to Paris, Céline was appointed head doctor of the Bezons public clinic and accredited physician to the département of [[Seine-et-Oise]].<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|p=348}}</ref> He moved back to Montmartre and in February 1941 published a third polemical book ''Les beaux draps'' (A Fine Mess) in which he denounced Jews, Freemasons, the Catholic Church, the educational system and the French army. The book was later banned by the [[Vichy France|Vichy government]] for defaming the French military.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=248-251}}</ref>

In October 1942, Céline's antisemitic books ''Bagatelles pour un massacre'' and ''L'École des cadavres'' were republished in new editions, only months after the round-up of French Jews at the ''[[Vel' d'Hiv Roundup|Vélodrome d'Hiver]]''.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|p=361}}</ref> Céline devoted most of his time during the occupation years to his medical work and writing a new novel, ''Guignol's Band'', a hallucinatory reworking of his experiences in London during World War I. The novel was published in March 1944 to poor sales.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|p=393}}</ref>

The French were expecting an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] landing at any time, and Céline was receiving anonymous death threats almost daily. Although he had not officially joined any collaborationist organisations, he had frequently allowed himself to be quoted in the collaborationist press expressing antisemitic views. The BBC had also named him as a collaborationist writer.<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=353, 362, 391-394}}</ref>

When the Allies landed in France in June 1944, Céline and Lucette fled to Germany, eventually staying in [[Sigmaringen enclave|Sigmaringen]] where the Germans had created an enclave accommodating the Vichy government in exile and collaborationist militia. Using his connections with the German occupying forces, in particular with SS officer {{ill|Hermann Bickler|de}} who was often his guest in the apartment on Rue Girardon,<ref>{{Harvp|Gibault|1985|p=64}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Sautermeister|2013|pp=284-287}}</ref> Céline obtained visas for German-occupied Denmark where he arrived in late March 1945. These events formed the basis for his postwar trilogy of novels ''[[D'un château l'autre]]'' (1957, ''Castle to Castle''), ''Nord'' (1960, ''North'') and ''Rigodon'' (1969, ''Rigadoon'').<ref>{{Harvp|Vitoux|1992|pp=411-431}}</ref>