Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France - Couverture rigide

Moorehead, Caroline

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0701186410 ISBN 13 : 9780701186418

Editeur : Chatto & Windus, 2014

Synopsis

Used book

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

"Brilliant... It is refreshing to read a book that so confidently abandons the rhetoric of heroism and tries to see its subjects for who they were... Moorehead has had to master a huge amount of background material, and she pulls it off with skill and a remarkable lightness of touch" (Keith Lowe Mail on Sunday)

"Riven with complexity... Stories of this weight could occupy several volumes and would still disorientate with all the possibilities – both altruistic and malevolent – of human nature" (Sinclair Mckay Telegraph)

"Vivid...an unsparing yet balanced account of the Vichy years...we need books like this to make it impossible for us to forget." (Alan Judd Spectator)

"An especially poignant story... enthralling and meticulous book... amidst the horror of the Holocaust – and such horror is painfully evident in the lives of those left behind – this book shows that human kindness endured undimmed by the propaganda, the threats of violence and the vast rewards on offer for submitting to the will of Nazis" (Harry Hodges Daily Express)

"Moorehead draws vivid portraits of those who helped...The emotional heart of the book beats in the children’s stories...The story does not end with Liberation. Moorehead, a biographer and historian, scrupulously records the emotional fallout from the children’s experiences" (Edward Stourton The Times)

"A lot is known about the authors of this unhuman cruelty, the Nazi overlords and their villainous Vichy accomplices. Less well-documented are the heroes, the ordinary, decent people, who put their lives at risk by hiding and saving Jews from death camps. Village of Secrets is an impressive attempt to set straight the record, an uplifting tale of courage and morality...Moorehead travelled the world interviewing survivors and had access to archives that few have seen" (Matthew Campbell The Sunday Times)

"Compelling and authoritative...latterly, Moorehead writes, there has been an emphasis on 'minimising collaborators and celebrating resisters'. She sets that record straight" (Sue Gaisford Financial Times)

"Moorehead is not the first to have written of this remarkable safe enclave, but she has investigated the most thoroughly, tracking down survivors among the protectors and among the children...this is an inspiring book " (Peter Lewis Daily Mail 'Book of the Week')

"A tremendously well-written and important book and a testament to the qualities Camus lent La Peste's hero: 'humane, optimistic, tolerant, free-thinking, ever alive to injustice and acts of inhumanity'" (Rebecca K Morris Independent)

"Caroline Moorehead’s remarkable book is in essence the story of how a community, or rather group of communities, survived the travails of war with dignity. It is also a tale that gives a larger meaning to Hemingway’s macho phrase, 'grace under pressure'... Moorehead is wary of attempts to simplify history and ignore the complications of memory... What, as the last memories dim, was the truth? Moorehead’s question is implicit: is there such a thing? The reader is left with another question, equally difficult: 'what would I have done?’" (Ian Bell The Herald)

Quatrième de couverture :

From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Train in Winter comes the fascinating story of a French village that helped save thousands hunted by the Gestapo during World War II.

High up in the mountains of the southern Massif Central in France lie tiny, remote villages united by a long and particular history. During the Second World War, the inhabitants of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and its parishes saved thousands wanted by the Gestapo: resisters, Freemasons, communists, and, above all, Jews, many of them orphans whose parents had been deported to concentration camps. There were no informers, no denunciations, and no one broke ranks. During raids, the children would hide in the woods, their packs on their backs, waiting to hear the farmers' song that told them it was safe to return. After the war, Le Chambon became one of only two places in the world to be honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among Nations.

Just why and how Le Chambon and its outlying villages came to save so many people has never fully been told. With unprecedented access to newly opened archives in France, Britain, and Germany, along with interviews documenting the testimony of surviving villagers, Caroline Moorehead paints an inspiring portrait of courage and determination: of what was accomplished when a small group of people banded together to oppose tyranny.

A major contribution to the history of the Second World War, illustrated with black-and-white photographs, Village of Secrets sets the record straight about the events in Chambon and pays tribute to a group of heroic individuals for whom saving others became more important than their own lives.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Chatto & Windus
• Date d'édition: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0701186410
• ISBN 13: 9780701186418
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 384