Ferlov Mancoba
Audio file 47-2
[continued from 47-1] Wonga continues probing Ernest about visitors to St Denis, that Sonja was sometimes able to pass letters to Ernest with the laundry [Wonga speaks in mix of English and French, Ernest answers in English]
letters were allowed in St Denis but were checked and censored
[tape stopped and restarts] Wonga speaks about the experience of a Scottish prisoner who wrote a book about St Denis
[tape stopped and restarts] Wonga speaks of Sonja's time working on the one sculpture "Skulptur" (1940-46); of her receiving a visit from a German friend [unidentified] who is an artist and conscripted in the German army, that though Sonja saw him as a friend and artist, her neighbours saw him as an enemy and threw stones at her door and shouted insults
Wonga continues about Sonja being shocked by the xenophobia displayed by the Communist party at the end of the war and became disappointed by the party
Wonga speaks of the Trotsky-ites versus the mainstream Communist party's stances in post-war France, the support of the Communist party towards colonialsim including the massacre of Algerians, and the Communists in South Africa [mentions Jane Gool]
Ernest states that Sonja was not a Communist and Wonga clarifies that it allied with her instinct for the betterment of humanity
Ernest is reminded that in the camp, they sang the Communist anthem "Internationale" (written by Pierre de Geyter); Wonga comments that the prisoners did not know that Stalin had changed the anthem of the USSR in 1940 and that Russia was no longer the fatherland of Communism
Ernest expresses disbelief in the level of betrayal by the Communist party that Wonga is alleging and they debate the role Russia played in World War II
Facts
PDFAbout the recordings: Ernest Mancoba's son, Marc also known as Wonga, recorded interviews with his father. The interviews seemed to serve different purposes and are not in chronological order.
ca.1990-2002 (47-2)
- Montparnasse, Paris