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Perrin
EAN : 9782262041649
Shaping : BROCHE
Pages : 480
Size : 154 x 240 mm
They were Jews, Resistants, Communists

Release date : 23/08/2018
The fascinating interwoven stories, collected and interpreted by a brilliant historian, of women
and men who at a young age were plunged into exaltation and distress by the 1940 war and its politics.
~Their names were Victor Zigelman and Henri Krasucki, Sophie
Szwarc and Yanina Soschaczewska, Jacquot Szmulewicz and
Etienne Raczymow, Paulette Shlivka and Esther Rozencwajg.
The youngest, in 1940, was 14 years old, the oldest under 30.
They or their parents, born in Poland or Romania, had come to
France to seek bread and freedom. They also...
~Their names were Victor Zigelman and Henri Krasucki, Sophie
Szwarc and Yanina Soschaczewska, Jacquot Szmulewicz and
Etienne Raczymow, Paulette Shlivka and Esther Rozencwajg.
The youngest, in 1940, was 14 years old, the oldest under 30.
They or their parents, born in Poland or Romania, had come to
France to seek bread and freedom. They also believed they would
find security, because all were Jewish, and all were or became
Communists, and joined the Resistance as part of the Main
d’oeuvre Immigrée (MOI) [The Immigrant Workforce], a branch of
the French Communist party (PCF) dissolved shortly after the war,
whose operations were secret. The story of these few hundred
young people has thus remained largely untold. Yet it holds
crucial significance not only for the Jewish community, but also
for the history of the Resistance, and of the PCF’s activities during
the Occupation, a controversial topic. The oblivion, or even the
deliberate concealment, that has befallen these young activists
is all the more surprising considering the excessive price they
paid for their actions. Only a few survived. How important was
their Jewish identity, which meant they were under constant and
permanent threat, versus their commitment to Communism, which
subordinated everything to the defense of the Soviet Union? This
was a tragic dilemma for many of them, including the notorious
Lucienne Goldfarb, known as “La Rouquine”, the Redhead, who
enjoyed a successful post-war career as the opera-loving madam
of a brothel.
Mixing the recollections of these fascinating and often larger-thanlife
characters, now deceased, with analysis of the politics that
inspired – and dictated – their actions, the book is an updated and
expanded edition of one first published in 1985. It illuminates a
troubled, heroic and controversial aspect of the black years that
continue to haunt our collective memory.
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EAN : 9782262041649
Shaping : BROCHE
Pages : 480
Size : 154 x 240 mm
Perrin