Fort-Dimanche, Dungeon of Death

Patrick Lemoine

Trafford Publishing, May 3, 2011 - History - 276 pages

Fort-Dimanche, Dungeon of Death is a vivid testimony of the most horrendous kind of mental and physical cruelties that we can inflict on our fellow men. Patrick Lemoine’s harrowing tale about his years of imprisonment in one of the worse dungeons in the world will stand as a constant reminder that our basic freedoms, when taken for granted, can be trampled by the very ones elected or selected among us to be sentinels of society. Jonathan Demme, filmmaker and producer, USA This book is an implacable referendum against dictatorship. Its sole ideology is to proclaim freedom of thought and expression. This book must be read by anyone who wants to know, especially by the young who should know, because it is difficult for them to imagine the unthinkable... Jean Desquiron, Le Nouvelliste, Port-au-Prince, Haiti It is a disturbing testimonial on the physical and moral degradation of human beings orchestrated by the militia of a totalitarian regime. Patrick Lemoine's surgical description of a long descent into Duvalier's dungeons leaves us completely numb. Other books have been written on the subject, but none offers such a detailed account of this historical legacy. Yves-Robert Dougé, M.D., Pour Haiti, Paris, France Written in a soft literary style, yet concise, detailed, and captivating [...], this book remains the most acerbic discourse on the vicious cruelty of a political class mired in cynicism and debauchery...! Haiti-Observateur, New York, USA It is necessary to read this book in its entirety, even when you are tempted to hide it, to bury it, as if it would prevent forever such horrible acts from occuring again... Elsie Ethéart, Haiti en Marche, Miami, USA

Contents

• BRIEF HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 9
• FOREWORD: 13
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 15
• Caught in The Spiral: 17
• Life in Obscurity: 45
• THE ABYSS: 103
• Back at the Casernes Dessalines: 209
• Partial Listing of Prisoners: 253
• Epilogue: 263
• Index: 269

About the author

I was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on December 19, 1945, where I received my primary and secondary education. Arrested in 1971, I was incarcerated for nearly six years without a trial, as a political prisoner in Baby Doc Duvalier's dungeons. The book is my testimonial about the horrific events that occurred during those years of imprisonment. It is the fulfillment of a promise made to my cellmates who perished during the years spent in Fort-Dimanche - the dungeon where prisoners were sent to die - to denounce the cruelty of the regime and to ensure that their death will not have been in vain. Of the 103 initial prisoners that I joined in the Fort in 1974, only six of us were still alive three years later to benefit from the Human Rights policy of Jimmy Carter that gained our eventual freedom . These memoirs capture, through incredible stories of survival, the triumph of life over death; the power of the human spirit to foster determination, strength, and hope in the absence of justice; and the challenge to emerge from this dungeon of death, even when death is the sole given to life. I started my second life in New York in 1977, where I built a career in aircraft technology, first as a technician and later as an administrator. I reunited with my son that was born only a month before I entered the dungeons and was proud to run the Chicago Marathon with him in 2008. The following year, I suffered from a brain aneurysm that required two surgeries within ten days, without no significant after effects. Thus began my third lease on life.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Fort-Dimanche, Dungeon of Death
• Author: Patrick Lemoine
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing, 2011
• ISBN: 1426966245, 9781426966248
• Length: 276 pages
• Subjects: History / Latin America / General