François MITTERRAND – Long autographed letter signed.

François Mitterrand (1916.1996)

Autographed letter signed to Marie-Louise Terrasse, known as Catherine Langeais.

Two pages in 8° on blue paper.

[Meuse, near Stenay]. January 26, 1940.

« We must immerse ourselves once again in our solitude, which our dreams attempt to fill

Mitterrand imagines his future home and his children born of love.

"I'm thinking of you, my darling, just as your letter of the 23rd depicts you. You're cold, darling, and yet you write to me that you love me instead of rushing off to find some comfort, snuggled up in your bed. How delightful you must be, how delightful you are like this; how I long to be near you too, to carry away your sweet warmth, your scent, and the taste of your kisses. Imagine, my Marizou, that every evening I come to find you like this, imagine that one day soon I will come to find you and take you forever. This is the leitmotif of my thoughts, of my hope; each of your letters brings me a little of your love, brings me a supply of happiness for 24 hours. So, what will it be like when nothing separates us anymore? I receive your letters in the evening; about an hour later, I reply, before going to bed. Our letters are like the prelude to our pre-nighttime conversations, all tenderness and love." And then, we must plunge back into our solitude, which our dreams try to fill. But a day will come, my darling Zou, when we will be married, when these words and confessions will be but the beginning of an even more complete happiness. Each of my caresses, my beloved, will be an act of adoration. You will never cease to be my goddess, and yet, my sweet peach, what power will be mine, what an incomparable feeling of strength, when in my arms you will be nothing more than my abandoned little girl.

Sometimes I'm surprised to find myself talking to you like this. Aren't you too young to hear these words of love? But I love you. What should I keep silent about? I feel that with you everything is easy and beautiful. And I tell you my love just as it is. Love? What a desire to possess one's whole being, body and soul, it expresses! That's how you distinguish true love from false. A desire that nothing, not even time, can diminish, but a mad, intractable, absolute desire. Does it bother you, darling, to be loved like this and to hear it repeated so often? Answer me…

My day was quiet; on duty in the village, I didn't go out. I read a bit of *La Fleur qui chante*, very engaging [a novel by André Beucler, published in January 1939]. This evening, along with your letter, I received one from Fr. Dalle, one from my sister Marie-Josèphe, one from the Father Director of the 104th, and above all, I stirred up our memories.

You speak to me of our home, your new home. The thought moves me deeply. To have you all to myself. To live only for you. You also speak of our children. You can't imagine how much that troubles me. I think I will love our children even more because they will be ours, because they will be the expression of our love, because they will have come from you, my beloved, and not for themselves. I love you so much.

Before finishing each of these letters, I always feel a touch of that sadness that gripped me before I truly left you. Yet I could still carry with me the memory, almost the taste of our last kiss, which allowed me to bear your absence until the next day! Thank goodness I have your letters. They are my only joy.

Darling, I hope you're suffering less from your rheumatism. Don't be too cold either. It could be -20°C, we won't care about the cold when you can snuggle up to me. Ah! May this war end. Let's not forget, my beloved, to pray fervently, to hope, to love each other madly to ward off this evil around us. François.

Catherine Langeais (1923-1998), whose real name was Marie-Louise Terrasse, met François Mitterrand on January 28, 1938, at the ball of the École Normale Supérieure. Although only 15 years old, she became engaged to him. Mitterrand wrote more than 300 letters to the young woman he nicknamed Zou.