Rose Valland, l'espionne à l'oeuvre | Jennifer Lesieur

EAN : 9782221269473

Shaping : BROCHE

Pages : 240

Size : 135 x 215 mm

Voir la fiche produit

Rose Valland

Jennifer Lesieur

Emmanuelle Polack (postface de)

Release date : 11/05/2023

When Goring enters the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris to snatch away priceless paintings by Fragonard, Rubens or Brueghel, she is there. When a French art dealer is helping the Nazis to ship countless masterpieces confiscated from Jewish art collectors to Germany, she is also there. Hiding behind her... When Goring enters the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris to snatch away priceless paintings by Fragonard, Rubens or Brueghel, she is there. When a French art dealer is helping the Nazis to ship countless masterpieces confiscated from Jewish art collectors to Germany, she is also there. Hiding behind her thick glasses, she writes down everything, even at the risk of being executed herself. But she knows that her courage will eventually be rewarded, that one day, she will be able to give back all these art treasures to their rightful owners. Writing down everything during the 5 years of the German occupation of France, she even becomes instrumental in helping the French Resistance reclaim a train full of stolen statues and paintings heading for Germany in 1944. Her name? Rose Valland.
In this work, writer and Goncourt laureate Jennifer Lesieur narrates how Rose went on from collecting information during the German occupation to actively pursuing the recovery of stolen masterpieces in post World War II Germany from April 1945 on, when she is promoted to the rank of “captain” by general Leclerc. In 10 years time, she would bring back over 60,000 works of art to France.
Despite her extraordinary destiny, Rose Valland’s very existence remained completely unknown to the French public. Residing in Paris with her partner of 30 years Joyce Heers, a British woman with a German father, her life played out in the shadows, in secret and in general indifference, until her death.
In this novel based on real events that seem even more fictional than the plot of a romance, Jennifer Lesieur retraces the lines of a singular destiny, the extraordinary life of a woman inhabited by an inextinguishable thirst for justice and a devouring passion for art as well as for equality.
A gripping read and homage to Rose Vallant whose name needs to be remembered.

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Voir la fiche produit

EAN : 9782221269473

Shaping : BROCHE

Pages : 240

Size : 135 x 215 mm

See the product page