Page 86 - All About History - Issue 29-15

REVIEWS

All About History on the books, TV shows and

films causing a stir in the history world

THE COST OF COURAGE

La Résistance lives on

Author Charles Kaiser Publisher Other Press Price $26.95 Released Out now

utofthemanychaptersof haunted by his wartime ex
WorldWarII,thestoryofthe That it has taken until now
French Resistance is one of the wounds to heal so that the
most dramatic and tragic. In the familymembersfeelcomf
O face of certain torture and likely disclose their experiences
deathiftheywerecaught,thousands testament to the impact of
riskedtheirlivesinordertohamperthe Takensolelyfromthest
Nazis and the ruling Vichy regime. of the reader, it’s a thrilling
Everyone involved has their own timesitplaysoutlikeaHo
story, but the one Charles Kaiser is movie, with the Boulloche
most interested in telling is that of compatriots narrowly avoid
the Boulloche siblings: Christiane, and death on numerous oc
JacquelineandAndré(wholater all the while going about th
becameCharlesdeGaulle’spersonal business and dealing with
representative in Paris). Along with triumphs and tragedies alo
many other Parisians, this relatively way. With the narrative com
well-off trio played a critical role in the their perspective, it’s easy
French Resistance, to their great cost: yourselfintheirshoes,ima
in1944,Andréwasbetrayedandshot excitement and terror they
by the Gestapo then shipped off to felt while risking their lives
Auschwitz, where he barely survived. greater good. Not that this
His parents, Jacques and Hélène, and meansaone-sidedaccoun
hisolderbrotherRobert,weren’tso occupyingGermanforces
lucky, however. Having been arrested in stage, most notably Genera
lieu of the wanted Christiane, they did von Cholitz, who, despite h
notsurvivetheconcentrationcamps. to Hitler, couldn’t bring him
Consciousofthelackofawareness obey his orders to destroy
–andinalotofcases,abundance Lights. Combined with the
of outright scorn – regarding the a section that switches the
contribution made by the French activities of larger-than-life
ResistanceinhisnativeUSA,Kaiser de Gaulle and Dwight Eise
seemsdeterminedtoplayupthe this time, and you have a p
bravery of its members and the period of the war that is c
sacrifices they made, although at the somehow feels complete.
same time it isn’t glamorised. The Oneofthemostpoignan
finalquarterofthebookgoestogreat the story is that it is just on
painstoemphasisetheimpactthewar talesfromoneofthemost “It’s easy to find yourself in their
hadonthesurvivingBoulloches,with times in history. Simultane
Andréinparticular–despitegoingon providing food for thought shoes, imagining the excitement and
togainrenownasamemberofthe to reflect, Kaiser has penne
French Socialist Party – remaining that everyone should read. terror they must have felt”
86