Pierre Bayard's 'Aurais-je été résistant ou bourreau?' Explores Hypothetical Resistance

Pierre Bayard's book 'Aurais-je été résistant ou bourreau?' published by Les Éditions de Minuit, uses a fictional self-portrait to examine whether he would have been a resistor or executioner under Vichy France. The book opens with a Primo Levi epigraph questioning the ability to judge others. Bayard constructs an 'auto-portrait au passé' through deductive analysis of personal, familial, and historical data. The choice of being a 'bourreau' is barely touched, as the three Bayards (author, father, and delegated avatar) quickly affirm hostility toward the Vichy regime. The author examines various situations of conscience to find the trigger for resistance behavior, which leads to 'inventing one's own bifurcation.' Meanwhile, the delegated character remains a passive observer, hiding behind books in the normal school library, saying 'I don't see what I can do except continue working.' The review by Sylvie Astié suggests the character may have emancipated himself, hiding certain acts and leading a clandestine life unbeknownst to the author.