From a World Apart

Francine Christophe, Christine Burls

Description

“I’m frightened, Mother. Last year, I was seven years old. This year, I’m eight and so many years separate these two ages. I have learned that I am Jewish, that I am a monster, and that I must hide myself. I’m frightened all the time.”—Francine Christophe.

Francine Christophe’s account begins in 1939, when her father was called up to fight with the French army. A year later he was taken prisoner by the Germans. Hearing of the Jewish arrests in France from his prison camp, he begged his wife and daughter to flee Paris for the unoccupied southern zone. They were arrested during the attempted escape and subsequently interned in the French camps of Poitiers, Drancy, and Beaune-la-Rolande. In 1944 they were deported to Bergen-Belsen in Germany.

In short, seemingly neutral paragraphs, Christophe relates the trials that she and her mother underwent. Writing in the present tense, she tells her story without passion, without judgment, without complaint. Yet from these unpretentious, staccato sentences surges a well of tenderness and human warmth. We live through the child’s experiences, as if we had gone hand-in-hand with her through the death camps.

Sujets

• Histoire
• The Holocaust
• World War II
• History of Europe
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Bison Books
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803206632
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

Title page by Nebraska Press

Originally published as Une Petite ^lle privilégiée: Une Enfant dans le monde des camps,qorw–qort © Éditions l’Harmattan ©2000by the Univer- sity of Nebraska Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America   Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Christophe, Francine, 1933– [Petite ^lle. English] From a world apart. p. cm.isbn 0- 8032-6402-x(pbk. : alk. paper)1. Christophe, Francine,1933– Childhood and youth.2. Jewish girls – France – Paris – Biography.3. Children in the Holocaust – Biography. 4. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) – Personal narratives.5. Bergen- Belsen (Concentration camp)6. France – Biography. ds135.f9 c47 2000 940.53'18'092– dc21[b] 99-046937 cip

To Mimi, the marketstall keeper,

Monsieur and Madame Baux, our concierges,

Madame Delay, the garage owner,

Madame Périn, my headmistress,

Monsieur Rouger, a neighbor,

Clo Avy-Prégniard, an artist,

Charles Streiff, a colonel in the gendarmerie,

And to all those who helped us, or even simply pitied us

ix

xi

1

171

177

Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction by

Nathan Bracher

From a World Apart

Chronology

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8

9

10 11

Illustrations following pageur Francine.1941. Francine. n.d. Robert and Francine.1939. Francine and Marcelle.1939. Francine and Marcelle.1942. Watercolor of Francine Christophe at age10. Drawings by Francine.1942. Francine’s song for her tenth birthday.1943. Drawing of Drancy concentration camp. Watercolor of Robert Christophe. Postcard from Robert to Marcelle Christophe.1944.