Book Dispute In France
A
Elie Wiesel
and a French
government aide
are disputing
publication
rights.
bitter feud has erupt-
ed between Nobel lau-
reate Elie Wiesel and
Jacques Attali, former
top adviser to French Presi-
dent Francois Mitterand, over
the publication rights of con-
versations Mr. Wiesel had
with Mr. Mitterand.
Mr. Attali, currently pres-
ident of the European Bank
for the Development of East-
ern Europe, has published a
book titled Verbatim, made
up mainly of quotations from
Mr. Mitterrand and his
visitors.
Mr. Wiesel, the renowned
chronicler of the Holocaust,
has said he was surprised
and angered to discover that
the book contains scores of
quotations from his own
conversations with Mr. Mit-
terrand, material the noted
Jewish writer planned to
publish himself.
Moreover, Mr. Wiesel
claims, some of the conver-
sations are quoted out of
context or misplaced in time.
Mr. Attali, who served as
Mr. Mitterrand's adviser for
over 10 years, maintained
an office next to Mr. Mitter-
rand's and had the oppor-
tunity to speak with the
president's guests as well as
to sit in on conversations
between Mr. Mitterrand and
his visitors.
Verbatim purports to be a
non-fiction account of these
conversations.
Mr. Attali said that since
he was present at meetings
between Mr. Wiesel and Mr.
Mitterrand, he felt entitled
to use in his book part of
What he heard.
Furthermore, Mr. Attali
insists it was he who actu-
ally gave Mr. Wiesel the
idea to publish a book on his
conversations with Mr. Mit-
terrand.
Mr. Wiesel argues that he
never gave Attali permis-
sion to use this material.
"It is as if the person who
ran the tape recorder felt
legally authorized to sell the
tape," Mr. Wiesel said. "And
it is not Attali who gave me
the idea of the book with
Mitterrand, but a member of
Mitterrand's Cabinet, Jack
Lang."
Mr. Attali, who was active
in the Jewish community
before gaining high posi-
tions in the French govern-
ment, has previously run
into troubles with some of
Elie Wiesel accepted the Nobel Prize in 1986.
his past books, including re-
peated accusations of
plagiarism.
But given his high position
in the French administra-
tion, no one bothered to sue
him.
Undeterred by his these
previous experiences, Mr.
Attali presumably thought
Mr. Wiesel would be
flattered to be quoted by
him.
In the meantime, the book
has already sold well over
100,000 hardcover copies, an
unusually high figure for
this type of book.
Jacques Charrasse, a close
adviser to Mr. Mitterrand,
has proposed to Mr. Attali
that he renounce his rights
to the book and donate the
profits to a Jewish charity,
such as the museum of Izieu
in memory of the children
arrested and deported to
their deaths by Klaus Bar-
bie, the Nazi police com-
mander known as the
"butcher of Lyon."
Mr. Attali has not re-
sponded to this idea.
Mr. Mitterrand, whose
conversations are at the
center of the dispute, has not
commented on the issue.
In one of the more inter-
esting passages found in
Verbatim, the French presi-
dent is quoted as saying a
few days before his historic
trip to Jerusalem in 1982
that if he were an Israeli
leader, he would never
return "Judea, Samaria or
Jerusalem" to the Arabs.
"The Jews are one of the
only ancient people who
never wanted any other land
than their own," Mr. Mitter-
rand is reported to have said.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency