Pierre Drieux la Rochelle is one of the most famous French writers of the mid-20th century. Having entered literature together with the surrealists, he, not satisfied with “poetic rebellion,” connects his work with politics, and pays special attention to the development of socialist ideas in Russia and Germany. "Diary 1939-1945" is a unique evidence of the quests and delusions of an outstanding French intellectual, crowned with an admission of defeat and suicide. In France, “The Diary” was published in the wonderful series “Witnesses” by the Gallimard publishing house. The book, in which the French writer settles scores with his own political mysticism, is unusually relevant for the enlightened reader of Russia, who rejects the power of political mythology.