At Cambridge University Library, an exhibit entitled "Literature of the Liberation: The French Experience in Print 1944-1946" provided many powerful examples of the role an individual can have in trying to resist evil.
From children's books to photographs, newspapers to books of poetry, popular authors (Camus) to watercolors, the voices that rose in order to document the injustices experienced in the world offer us a chance to reflect on choices in our world and the need to make choices that respect the individual.
In the forward to the guide, Charles Chadwyck-Healey, who donated his collection for the exhibit, writes, "The book has always been central to French culture, and in this exhibition it is possible to see the extraordinarily beautiful and well-produced books that were published in France at a time when the country had regained its freedom but remained in a troubled and at times chaotic state."
The exhibit was divided into twelve themes: (1) Liberation of Paris, (2) Fallen Heroes, (3) Prisoners' Books, (4) Poetry and Song, (5) Humour, (6) Children's Books, (7) Le Silence de la mer, (8) De Gaulle and the Liberated Cities, (9) Orandour-sur-Glane, (10) The Writer's Response, (11) Grand Books, and (12) Military and the Maquis.
From children's books to photographs, newspapers to books of poetry, popular authors (Camus) to watercolors, the voices that rose in order to document the injustices experienced in the world offer us a chance to reflect on choices in our world and the need to make choices that respect the individual.
In the forward to the guide, Charles Chadwyck-Healey, who donated his collection for the exhibit, writes, "The book has always been central to French culture, and in this exhibition it is possible to see the extraordinarily beautiful and well-produced books that were published in France at a time when the country had regained its freedom but remained in a troubled and at times chaotic state."
The exhibit was divided into twelve themes: (1) Liberation of Paris, (2) Fallen Heroes, (3) Prisoners' Books, (4) Poetry and Song, (5) Humour, (6) Children's Books, (7) Le Silence de la mer, (8) De Gaulle and the Liberated Cities, (9) Orandour-sur-Glane, (10) The Writer's Response, (11) Grand Books, and (12) Military and the Maquis.
Of the twelve themes, I found the Prisoners' Books, the Liberation of Paris, and the Military and the Maquis most engaging.
The text above the Prisoners' Books ended with "by 1946, public interest in survivor testimony waved, partly because it brought French population face to face with the implications of their collaboration with Nazism." This is exactly what my two students discovered in their research about Vichy for National History Day, and two of the experts listed in the exhibit guide are experts we've read and with whom we've communicated.
Looking at Henri Calet's Les murs de Fresnes (from the guide: "...[the book] describes the individual cells in Fresnes prison on the outskirts of Paris after the Germans had left") and Pelagia Lewinksa's Vingt mois a Auschwitz/avec un avent-propos de Charles Eube et un poeme de Paul Eluard (from the guide: "The first book published in France by an Auschwitz survivor...for her, normal life was at night and the nightmare was during the day. She realised that life in the camp was designed to break the spirit as much as the body and from then on saw survival as a ceaseless battle, against violence, for human dignity, and for 'the honest beating of the human heart.'"), I was moved by the stories need to be told.
Looking at the Liberation of Paris books, I was struck by the artistic quality of the cardboard diaromas that were published for children. Roland Forgues was a professional illustrator who made the small cut-outs, and the magic that happened in the imagination of the child who played with the-these-bigger-ideas-on-painted-cardboard is what has contributed to society today.
In this research, I continuously find gems of knowledge, and when I viewed the Military and the Maquis theme, I saw many resistance groups and different contexts of which I had never previously heard or knew. Blemus,sergent-chef, illustrated "the life of a Maquis resistance group in the 'camp des Goths' in the Morvan forest region of Burgundy, south-east of Auxerre in the Occupied Zone. The names of the founders of this group might well be the inpsiration for later books and films about the Resistance: 'Grand Jean,' 'Camille,' and 'Madame Lucette,' the mother to the Maquisards of the band Camille'" in his pen and wash illustration book, Ceux du maquis: Plainefas, Vermot, Les Goths.
All in all, what a wonderful serendipitous experience for me in my research!
And what affirmation for the power of the Upstander.
The text above the Prisoners' Books ended with "by 1946, public interest in survivor testimony waved, partly because it brought French population face to face with the implications of their collaboration with Nazism." This is exactly what my two students discovered in their research about Vichy for National History Day, and two of the experts listed in the exhibit guide are experts we've read and with whom we've communicated.
Looking at Henri Calet's Les murs de Fresnes (from the guide: "...[the book] describes the individual cells in Fresnes prison on the outskirts of Paris after the Germans had left") and Pelagia Lewinksa's Vingt mois a Auschwitz/avec un avent-propos de Charles Eube et un poeme de Paul Eluard (from the guide: "The first book published in France by an Auschwitz survivor...for her, normal life was at night and the nightmare was during the day. She realised that life in the camp was designed to break the spirit as much as the body and from then on saw survival as a ceaseless battle, against violence, for human dignity, and for 'the honest beating of the human heart.'"), I was moved by the stories need to be told.
Looking at the Liberation of Paris books, I was struck by the artistic quality of the cardboard diaromas that were published for children. Roland Forgues was a professional illustrator who made the small cut-outs, and the magic that happened in the imagination of the child who played with the-these-bigger-ideas-on-painted-cardboard is what has contributed to society today.
In this research, I continuously find gems of knowledge, and when I viewed the Military and the Maquis theme, I saw many resistance groups and different contexts of which I had never previously heard or knew. Blemus,sergent-chef, illustrated "the life of a Maquis resistance group in the 'camp des Goths' in the Morvan forest region of Burgundy, south-east of Auxerre in the Occupied Zone. The names of the founders of this group might well be the inpsiration for later books and films about the Resistance: 'Grand Jean,' 'Camille,' and 'Madame Lucette,' the mother to the Maquisards of the band Camille'" in his pen and wash illustration book, Ceux du maquis: Plainefas, Vermot, Les Goths.
All in all, what a wonderful serendipitous experience for me in my research!
And what affirmation for the power of the Upstander.
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