Fiction by Alexis Landau
Vera and Michel had lived in France for more than twenty years, although both were born in Russia. Their daughter Lucie had been born in Paris and the family fully considered themselves French. However, when the Nazis took over in 1940, all foreign residents were ordered into internment camps, and Vera, Michel, and five year old Luice were technically foreigners. Worse, they were also Jews.
Vera and Michel make the decision to report to the internment camp alone and leave Lucie with her French nanny Agnes, a woman they know and trust. They figure that if anything happens, Agnes can take Lucie to her family home in the country, where Lucie will just be one of many little French children on the estate. They just can’t bear to bring their beloved daughter to the dirty camp, and they think the internment will only be temporary anyways. Of course they are wrong, and this separation will stretch out for years.
This book made me think a lot about what I would do in this situation. With the benefit of hindsight of course, we know that any measure taken to save your child from capture by Nazis is the correct choice. But people could not know that then, and Vera is absolutely tortured by guilt at leaving Lucie behind.
I liked this book a lot.
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