Resistance, Past
Let’s start with a laugh, from a headline at nypost.com: “Astrologer who failed to foresee COVID-19 now predicts second wave.”… Here’s another: “Social distancing beeper will go off if you’re within 6 feet of someone.” Accessorize, my friends… And a great one from foxnews.com: “South Korean soccer club receives record fine for using sex dolls as spectators in stands.” Here’s a pic. Does it look like something that warrants a fine? Leave it to government.
Caroline Moorehead was born in London in 1944. Her dad, an Australian, was a war correspondent, so it seems only natural that she would become a writer and devote several of her works to WWII. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France, copyright 2013, is a valuable chronicle. Meticulously researched, it follows the experiences of 230 French women, many of them communists, who stood up to the Nazis and their collaborators. Hardly any participated in physical violence. Most worked to publish and distribute secret newspapers, helped smuggle people into that part of France that was not occupied by the Germans at the time, concealed others, and helped distribute arms. Anyone who has watched war movies knows of the French Underground. What I didn’t know was the extent of collaboration with the occupiers. Of course, many citizens simply remained on the sidelines. In early 1943 the group was among many thousands sent to a dark fate. The 230 were transported to the Birkenau work camp, which was attached to Auschwitz. The author relates the horrific conditions and events which have become so familiar - and never cease to be mind-boggling. Only 49 were lucky enough to survive the ordeal. Within ten years, a third of those would die. They forged a bond that would be greater than any other they would ever experience. The last chapter deals with the aftermath, the psychological adjustment to normal life, and the fate of the monsters. Although the worst of the collaborators, more than 5000 who behaved as despicably as the Nazis, got their just desserts, many of the others got off easy. Of the 40,000 sent to prison, 37,000 were free by 1948, all by 1965. The feeling among the leaders was that reconciliation was more important than retribution. Whenever I read something like this or see a film on the subject, I always wonder what I would have done in such circumstances. How many folks carry a dormant gene for psychopathic behavior that is kindled when given license? Maybe that explains the behavior of so many Germans and Japanese during WWII. According to her Wiki profile, Moorehead has written two sequels to the book, as well as more than ten other works of non-fiction, many of them bios. She has published articles on human rights for newspapers, and contributed book reviews to magazines. 627 users at Amazon have rated A Train in Winter…, forging to a consensus of 4.3 on a scale of ten. 317 pages, the prose is solid, eminently readable. The only difficult aspect is keeping track of all those mentioned. There are many pictures, which adds a lot to the narrative. The book, although frequently relating familiar atrocities, would appeal to anyone not suffering holocaust fatigue. Here’s the dust jacket of the hardcover edition I read, which is missing from my copy:
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