From a World Apart

by Francine Christophe

Francine Christophe's account begins in 1939, when her father was called up to fight with the French army. A year later he was taken prisoner by the Germans. Hearing of the Jewish arrests in France from his prison camp, he begged his wife and daughter to flee Paris for the unoccupied southern zone. They were arrested during the attempted escape and subsequently interned in the French camps of Poitiers, Drancy, and Beaune-la-Rolande. In 1944 they were deported to Bergen-Belsen in Germany. In short, seemingly neutral paragraphs, Christophe relates the trials that she and her mother underwent. Writing in the present tense, she tells her story without passion, without judgment, without complaint. Yet from these unpretentious, staccato sentences surges a well of tenderness and human warmth. We live through the child's experiences, as if we had gone hand-in-hand with her through the death camps.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Autobiography, France

198 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books about the holocaust, this one was a bit different. I'd never heard of the concentration camps in France before and the girl in this story lived in several before being transfered to Bergen-Belson. Her relatively protected status as the daughter of a French POW meant that the suffering she endured, though enough to break even the strongest of people, meant they had a few limited privelidges the general population of Jews did not. It doesn't make her story any less horrifying.

Written in very short paragraphs and often devoid of emotion, I didn't think I'd like this book at first, but then I realised she was seeing the experience through child's eyes and I grew gripped by her story. Harrowing, but recommended.

[Nino Meladze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very refreshing and optimistic narrative. I loved reading this book in french, which is why it took me longer. While the horrors of concentration camps are always a painful subject to read, I loved Francine Christophe’ continuous positive vibe in writing and focus on things that matter.

[Joanna]

Un témoignage fort d'une petite fille qui a été déportée au camp de concentration de Bergen Belsen et qui en est revenue.

[bridget Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

i had to read this memoir for my history of the holocaust class. i had to read a memoir of a holocaust survivor. this was a difficult book to read due to the graphic nature. Francine was 6 years old in 1939 when the war began. her family was jewish but they were not practicing. they were part of the french upper class. her father was in the french army. they tried to escape paris before the german occupation but francine had a case of the german measles kept them from joining the rest of family fleeing to the south of france. francine's father was caught early in the war by the germans and spent the remainder of the war as a pow. when they did try to leave the city, mother and daughter were caught using false identification and they also spent the remainder of the war in various concentration camps for the families of soldiers who were taken as prisoner of war. it is a hear breaking story of a childhood lost. francine was 12 yrs old when she was finally liberated. it is not in narrative form but in snippets of what she could remember when she wrote her memoir.

[Aurore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depuis que j'ai vu le témoignage de Francine Christophe a propos du 'morceau de chocolat' j'avais envie de lire son livre. Elle a une manière très direct de raconter son histoire, l'impression qu'elle va à l'essentiel avec le mot juste, c'est vraiment poignant et la partie après les camps est très intéressante.

[Joy Llewellyn]

What a poignant, powerful book. It's the only one of Christophe's seven French books about children of the Holocaust that has been translated into English. This is her most personal, a memoir of her years spent in a number of camps, before ending up in Bergen-Belsen.

[Caitriona Krebs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Histoire très touchante, j'ai décidé de lire le livre après avoir regardé de nombreux témoignages de Mme Christophe, mais comme le livre est adapté pour une pièce de théâtre, il est très rapide à terminer et les événements s'enchaînent très vite aussi. Du coup, le choix de narration n'est pas le meilleur, surtout qu'au vu des vidéos de Mme Christophe, elle manie les mots d'une très belle manière tout en parlant d'un sujet très douloureux. J'aurais aimé retrouver ce style dans le livre.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very moving story of a Jewish French girl who (at the age of seven) was imprisoned with her mother in 1942 and then eventually deported to Germany, ending up in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp before being liberated in 1945. The author, Francine Christophe, recounts her terrible experiences in the present tense, in often short snippets. The prose is direct but poetic.

[Clem _ Lectrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Triste