Dora Bruder

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In 1988, French novelist Patrick Modiano happened upon a notice in a 1941 Paris newspaper placed by the parents of a 15-year-old Jewish girl, Dora Bruder, who had disappeared from the Catholic boarding school where she was being hidden. The notice stuck in Modiano's memory, and it launched him on a quest for information about the girl's life that resulted in Dora Bruder. Modiano's lengthy investigation turned up only tiny scraps of information about Dora--but every scrap made the mystery of her disappearance more haunting. Most strikingly, Modiano found her name on a list of Jews deported from Paris to Auschwitz in 1942. "It takes time for what has been erased to resurface," Modiano explains. "It took me four years to discover her exact date of birth: 25 February 1926. And a further two years to find out her place of birth: Paris, 12th arondissement. But I am a patient man. I can wait for hours in the rain." Eventually Modiano's search forces him to come to terms with his own difficult adolescence. Yet this book defies categorization in both history and memoir. It is something more complex, and harder--a poetic acknowledgment and a philosophical refutation of common and terrifying human fates: being isolated, forgotten, and lost. --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

In 1988 Patrick Modiano stumbled across an ad between the stock market report and a story of a school visit to Maréchal Pétain in the personal columns of Paris Soir from December 31, 1941: "We are looking for a young girl, Dora Bruder, 15 years old, five feet tall, round face, gray-brown eyes, gray sportscoat, burgundy pullover, navy blue hat and skirt, brown athletic shoes. Send all information to Mr. and Mrs. Bruder, 41, Boulevard Ornano, Paris."
Placed by the parents of a 15-year-old Jewish girl who had run away from her convent school just before New Year's Eve, this ad set Modiano on a quest to find out everything he could about Dora Bruder and why she ran away from the Catholic boarding school that had been hiding her. He found only one other official mention of her name: on a list of Jews deported from Paris to Auschwitz in September 1942.
With no knowledge of Dora Bruder aside from these two records of disappearances, Modiano continued to dig for fragments from Dora's past. What little he found in official records or through remaining family members, Modiano transforms into a meditation on the immense losses of the period--lost people, lost stories, and lost history. As he tries to find connections to Dora, Modiano delivers a moving account of the ten-year investigation that took him back to the sights and sounds of Paris under the Occupation and the paranoia of the Pétain regime. In his efforts to exhume her from the past, Modiano realizes that he must come to terms with the specters of his own troubled adolescence. The result is a montage of creative and historical material that unfolds as a moving rumination on loss.

Customer Reviews:

it's not the best book Modiano wrote.......1999-06-18

Apparently "Dora Bruder" is the only novel by Patick Modiano available on your site. It's too bad because it's not, by far, his best book. If you haven't tried this author before you won't be too disappointed. Otherwise you'll probably have the feelind of reading something you've read before ! Anyway Modiano is a very good French writer. He's furthermore very easy to read in French. If you are interested, I would recommend "Rue des boutiques obscures" or the very poetic "Dimanches d'Aout" (sorry I don't know the their title in English).

The Jews of Modern France (Jewish Communities in the Modern World)

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The Jews of Modern France (Jewish Communities in the Modern World)
Paula E. Hyman
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520209257

Book Description

The Jews of Modern France explores the endlessly complex encounter of France and its Jews from just before the Revolution to the eve of the twenty-first century. In the late eighteenth century, some forty thousand Jews lived in scattered communities on the peripheries of the French state, not considered French by others or by themselves. Two hundred years later, in 1989, France celebrated the anniversary of the Revolution with the largest, most vital Jewish population in western and central Europe.
Paula Hyman looks closely at the period that began when France's Jews were offered citizenship during the Revolution. She shows how they and succeeding generations embraced the opportunities of integration and acculturation, redefined their identities, adapted their Judaism to the pragmatic and ideological demands of the time, and participated fully in French culture and politics. Within this same period, Jews in France fell victim to a secular political antisemitism that mocked the gains of emancipation, culminating first in the Dreyfus Affair and later in the murder of one-fourth of them in the Holocaust. Yet up to the present day, through successive waves of immigration, Jews have asserted the compatibility of their French identity with various versions of Jewish particularity, including Zionism. This remarkable view in microcosm of the modern Jewish experience will interest general readers and scholars alike.

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Honest, informative tale of one individual

Rue Ordener, Rue Labat (Stages)
Sarah Kofman
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0803277806

Book Description

Rue Ordener, Rue Labat is a moving memoir by the distinguished French philosopher Sarah Kofman. It opens with the horrifying moment in July 1942 when the author’s father, the rabbi of a small synagogue, was dragged by police from the family home on Rue Ordener in Paris, then transported to Auschwitz—“the place,” writes Kofman, “where no eternal rest would or could ever be granted.” It ends in the mid-1950s, when Kofman enrolled at the Sorbonne.

The book is as eloquent as it is forthright. Kofman recalls her father and family in the years before the war, then turns to the terrors and confusions of her own childhood in Paris during the German occupation. Not long after her father’s disappearance, Kofman and her mother took refuge in the apartment of a Christian woman on Rue Labat, where they remained until the Liberation. This bold woman, whom Kofman called Mémé, undoubtedly saved the young girl and her mother from the death camps. But Kofman’s close attachment to Mémé also resulted in a rupture between mother and child that was never to be fully healed.

This slender volume is distinguished by the author’s clear prose, the carefully recounted horrors of her childhood, and the uncommon poise that came to her only with the passage of many years.

Rue Ordener, Rue Labat was first published in France in 1994.

Customer Reviews:

Honest, informative tale of one individual.......2003-10-22

This is a slim volume from a French philosopher writing of her childhood as a Jew in France during World War II. She writes from the perspective of an adult who clearly still is ill-at-ease with her history, specifically her choosing of a Christian woman who help hide her over her mother; her violation of Jewish law taught her by her rabbi father. This volume does not speak to common experience, not even French Jewish experience; rather it is the experience of Sarah Kofman as seen in retrospect. What is most evident is the lack of resolution regarding her past - the reader appreciates the difficulty with which she apparently tells her story.

Your Name Is Renee: Ruth Kapp Hartz's Story as a Hidden Child in Nazi-Occupied France

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Your Name Is Renee: Ruths Story As a Hidden Child
High School Readingand Stacy Cretzmeyer's Class Speech
Your Name Is Renee-Astonishing and Satisfying
A CHILD'S VIEW OF THE 1940 WORLD
Compelling...A Story That Captivates

Your Name Is Renee: Ruth Kapp Hartz's Story as a Hidden Child in Nazi-Occupied France
Stacy Cretzmeyer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195132599

Book Description

In Nazi-occupied France in 1941, four-year-old Ruth Kapp learns that it is dangerous to use her own name. "Remember," her older cousin Jeannette warns her, "your name is Renee and you are French!" A deeply personal book, this true story recounts the chilling experiences of a young Jewish girl during the Holocaust. The Kapp family flees one home after another, helped by simple, ordinary people from the French countryside who risk their lives to protect them. Eventually the family is forced to separate, and young Ruth survives the war in an orphanage where she is not allowed to see or even mention her parents. Without the trappings of lofty language or the faceless perspective of history, this first-person account poignantly recreates the terror of war seen through the eyes of an innocent child. Your Name Is Renee is a tale of suffering and redemption, fear and hope, which is bound to stir even the most hardened heart.

Customer Reviews:

Your Name Is Renee: Ruths Story As a Hidden Child.......2006-04-23

I read this book in fifth grade. It was one of the best books I have read. Me being a huge WWII fanatic who reads about it all the time. I was said when Uncle Heinrich didn't make it to the train i felt like crying because Ruth loved him and Jeanette. I have read many books like this like Number The Stars, Hitler's White Russians, The Russian Roots of Nazism, The Russian German War, but this book was nothing like those others it was incredible, fascinating, heart thumping, and most of all touching. Sure it was a little slow in the end, but it was still an incredible book.

High School Readingand Stacy Cretzmeyer's Class Speech.......2005-10-05

When i was a senior in high school, the class read this book. A chilling, heart rendering tale of a horrible time in our history through the eyes of a victim too young to be so brave. While others griped about having to read yet another book. it was not long till all eyes in the class were glued to their books. The writing makes you want to continue, almost as if you stop reading then maybe you can close your eyes and act as though the horror never happened. Yet you continue out of a strange respect for this child. Luckily for our class after we had read the book and its end became known to all of us, our teacher had Stacey Cretzmeyer,the author, come and speak to our class. An awe inspiring moment for most of us. While origianlly she was there to talk about the writing of the book, it became abundanlty clear that even the toughest of kids where concerned about what had happened to that child. She informed us that she had been to a family reunion not to far long before this event.She passed pictures around the class and yes.there were tears shed as people were finally able to put faces to names we had only read about. The most poignant picture was of a group photo. A large smiling group of people looked back from the glossy page-and the most hard hitting moment that dawned on the class-and finally uttered by one of the biggest, quietest, hulking guys in the class- "They grew into such a large family" They had carried on. The Nazi's had lost in every way. Not just to U.S. bombers and fighters but to the unending spirit to survive, thrive and to flourish. Even Ten years after reading this book for the first(but not the last time) I look forward to reading this story with my own little girl.This story is so touching and leaves a mark on you that never fades from your memory.

Your Name Is Renee-Astonishing and Satisfying.......2002-12-15

Your Name Is Renee is an extraordinary book that captures the mind and spirit of the reader. It keeps you interested and has so much great detail that you just fall in love with the characters. I was truely amazed at how wonderful this book was. There were several reasons I found it so astonishing. There was great detail and information about the characters, events of WWII, and of the Holocaust. While you read this book you discover how hard the Jews had to work to stay unharmed and how scary it was for them for fear of being caught. You learn that everywhere they went they had to be cautious not to give themslves away as Jews. I love how you felt as if you were there. The events seemed so real. You especially felt sorry for the young children,such as Ruth (Renee was her fake French name), who had no idea what was going on, why families everywhere were being pulled away from eachother, and why her family was on a constant run. It was very emotional to learn about the Jew's struggles and ways of life during the Holocaust. Even children like Ruth had to adapt to this lifestyle and learn exactly what they should say around strangers to keep themselves safe. I got really into Your Name Is Renee, even catching myself yelling at characters for treating Ruth or another Jew cruely or taking something away from them. I mostly loved this book because I learned a lot about the Holocaust and who was involved during it. I also learned that the Jews always had to be alert no matter where they were and careful about who they trusted. Your Name Is Renee is a remarkable book full of suspicion, suspense, suffering, and support. I recommend to each and every person who likes or dislikes reading. Your Name Is Renee will astound everyone.

A CHILD'S VIEW OF THE 1940 WORLD.......2002-05-21

This is the story written from the view of a 5 yr. old girl who is literally torn away from her parents where she is not old enough to understand what is happening. The story is heart rendering and a good one to start reading about the holocaust. Other books are far more compelling than this as regards what happens to people, but in the eyes of a youngster it is almost life ending for her and her friends. It seems there is another book or two awaiting to tell Ruth's parents' side of the story as well as possibly the Resistance Movement in and around the geographical area mentioned in this book.

Compelling...A Story That Captivates.......2001-11-26

"Your Name is Renee" is the unforgettable story of Ruth Kapp Hartz, told from her viewpoint as a child in Nazi-occupied France in the early 1940's. It is too compelling to read in little increments...you'll want to consume it from cover to cover in one sitting. The writing style is simple and tremendously effective, never distracting from the story itself. Mrs. Hartz's story should be required reading from middle grades on up. Hats off to Stacy Cretzmeyer for giving us such a gem.

When Memory Comes (George L. Mosse Series in Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History)

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When Memory Comes (George L. Mosse Series in Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History)
Saul Friedlander
Manufacturer: University of Wisconsin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0299190447

Book Description

Four months before Hitler came to power, Pavel Friedländer was born in Prague to a middle-class Jewish family. In 1939, seven-year-old Pavel and his family were forced to flee Czechoslovakia for France, but his parents were able to conceal their son in a Roman Catholic seminary before being shipped to their destruction. After a whole-hearted religious conversion, young Pavel began training for priesthood. The birth of Israel prompted his discovery of his Jewish past and his true identity. Friedländer describes his experiences, moving from Israeli present to European past with composure and elegance.

The Wisconsin edition is not for sale in the British Commonwealth or Empire (excluding Canada.)

The Jews in Modern France (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series)

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The Jews in Modern France (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series)

Manufacturer: Brandeis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0874513243

Book Description

Eighteen noted historians and political scientists analyze the history of the Jewish minority in France since the Revolution.

Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World)

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Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World)
Susan L. Einbinder
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Pious and Rebellious: Jewish Women in Medieval Europe (Brandeis on Jewish Women)

ASIN: 069109053X

Book Description

When Crusader armies on their way to the Holy Land attacked Jewish communities in the Rhine Valley, many Jews chose suicide over death at the hands of Christian mobs. With their defiant deaths, the medieval Jewish martyr was born. With the literary commemoration of the victims, Jewish martyrology followed. Beautiful Death examines the evolution of a long-neglected corpus of Hebrew poetry, the laments reflecting the specific conditions of Jewish life in northern France. The poems offer insight into everyday life and into the ways medieval French Jews responded to persecution. They also suggest that poetry was used to encourage resistance to intensifying pressures to convert.

The educated Jewish elite in northern France was highly acculturated. Their poetry--particularly that emerging from the innovative Tosafist schools--reflects their engagement with the vernacular renaissance unfolding around them, as well as conscious and unconscious absorption of Christian popular beliefs and hagiographical conventions. At the same time, their extraordinary poems signal an increasingly harsh repudiation of Christianity's sacred symbols and beliefs. They reveal a complex relationship to Christian culture as Jews internalized elements of medieval culture even while expressing a powerful revulsion against the forms and beliefs of Christian life.

This gracefully written study crosses traditional boundaries of history and literature and of Jewish and general medieval scholarship. Focusing on specific incidents of persecution and the literary commemorations they produced, it offers unique insights into the historical conditions in which these poems were written and performed.

Simone Weil: Portrait of a Self-exiled Jew

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Simone Weil: Portrait of a Self-exiled Jew
Thomas R. Nevin
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807819999

Book Description

Over fifty years after her death, Simone Weil (1909-1943) remains one of the most searching religious inquirers and political thinkers of the twentieth century. Albert Camus said she had a "madness for truth." She rejected her Jewishness and developed a strong interest in Catholicism, although she never joined the Catholic church. Both an activist and a scholar, she constantly spoke out against injustice and aligned herself with workers, with the colonial poor in France, and with the opressed everywhere. She came to believe that suffering itself could be a way to unity with God, and her death at thirty-four has been recorded as suicide by starvation.

This extraordinary study is primarily a topography of Weil's mind, but Thomas Nevin is persuaded that her thought is inextricably bound to her life and dramatic times. Thus, he not only addresses her thoughts and her prejudices but examines her reasons for entertaining them and gives them a historical focus. He claims that to Weil's generation the Spanish War, the Popular Front, the ascendance of Hitlerism, and the Vichy years were not mere backdrops but definitive events.

Nevin explores in detail not only matters of continuing interest, such as Weil's leftist politics and her attempt to embrace Christianity, but also hitherto unexamined aspects of her life and work which permit a deeper understanding of her: her writings on science, her work as a poet and dramatist, and her selective friendships. The thread uniting these topics is her struggle to maintain her independence as a free thinker while resisting community such as Judaism could have offered her. Her intellectual struggles eloquently reveal the desperate isolation of Jews torn between the lure of assimilation and the tormented dignity of their communal history.

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