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The art of resistance : my four years in the French underground : a memoir / Justus Rosenberg.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2020]Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First editionDescription: ix, 288 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780062742193
  • 0062742191
  • 9780062996053
  • 0062996053
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
The free city of Danzig (1921-1937) -- A pogrom German-style (spring 1937) -- Preparing to leave Danzig (summer 1937) -- At the station (September 1937) -- Berlin (September 2-12, 1937) -- Paris (September 1937-September 3, 1939) -- "The phony war" (Paris, September 1939-June 1940) -- The debacle (Paris and Bayonne, June 1940) -- Toulouse (June and July 1940) -- To Marseille, in Marseille (August-September 1940) -- Over the Pyrenees (September 11-13, 1940) -- Walter Benjamin (late September 1940) -- Villa Air-Bel (November 1940-February 1941) -- Mafia (February-June 1941) -- Chagall (Spring 1941) -- Max and Peggy depart (July 1941) -- The expulsion of Fry; my mountain climbing adventure (August-December 1941) -- Grenoble (December 1941-August 26, 1942) -- Internment (August 27-29, 1942) -- Escape (September 6, 1942) -- Underground intelligence at Montmeyran (autumn 1942-March 1943) -- Manna from the skies (November 1943-May 1944) -- Last days on the farm (June 1944) -- Becoming a guerrilla (June 1944) -- Haute cuisine in the camp (June-July 1944) -- The ambush (July 1944) -- The 636th tank destroyer battalion (August-October 1944) -- The Teller mine incident (October 11, 1944) -- Homecoming to Paris (December 1944-February 15, 1945) -- Granville (February 15-March 8, 1945) -- Unrra (April 1945-October 1945) -- To America (October 1945-July 1946) -- Epilogue: what happened to.
Summary: "In 1937, as the Nazis gained control and anti-Semitism spread in the Free City of Danzig, a majority German city on the Baltic Sea, sixteen-year-old Justus Rosenberg was sent to Paris to finish his education in safety. Three years later, France fell to the Germans. Alone and in danger, penniless, and cut off from contact with his family in Poland, Justus fled south. A chance meeting led him to Varian Fry, an American journalist in Marseille helping thousands of men and women, including many artists and intellectuals--among them Hannah Arendt, Marc Chagall, Andre Breton, and Max Ernst--escape the Nazis. With his German background, understanding of French culture, and fluency in several languages, including English, Justus became an invaluable member of Fry's refugee network as a spy and scout. The spry blond who looked even younger than his age flourished in the underground, handling counterfeit documents, secret passwords, black market currency, surveying escape routes, and dealing with avaricious gangsters. But when Fry was eventually forced to leave France, Gussie, as he was affectionately known, could not get out. For the next four years, Justus relied on his wits and skills to escape captivity, survive several close calls with death, and continue his fight against the Nazis, working with the French Resistance and later, becoming attached with the United States Army. At the war's end, Justus emigrated to America, and built a new life. Justus' story is a powerful saga of bravery, daring, adventure, and survival with the soul of a spy thriller. Reflecting on his past, Justus sees his life as a confluence of circumstances. As he writes, 'I survived the war through a rare combination of good fortune, resourcefulness, optimism, and, most important, the kindness of many good people.'" -- Publisher's description
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library Biography Rosenber J. R813 Available 33111009424496
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Rosenber J. R813 Available 33111009594991
Total holds: 1

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Thrillingly tells the story of an Eastern European Jew's flight from the Holocaust and the years he spent fighting in the French underground." --USA Today

An American Library in Paris Book Award "Coups de Coeur" Selection

The Art of Resistance is unlike any World War II memoir before it. Its author, Justus Rosenberg, has spent the past seventy years teaching the classics of literature to American college students. Hidden within him, however, was a remarkable true story of wartime courage and romance worthy of a great novel. Here is Professor Rosenberg's elegant and gripping chronicle of his youth in Nazi-occupied Europe, when he risked everything to stand against evil.

In 1937, after witnessing a violent Nazi mob in his hometown of Danzig, a majority German city on the Baltic Sea, sixteen-year-old Justus Rosenberg was sent by his Jewish parents to Paris to finish his education in safety. Three years later, the Nazis came again, as France fell to the Germans. Alone and in danger, Justus fled Paris, heading south. A chance meeting led him to Varian Fry, an American journalist in Marseille who led a clandestine network helping thousands of men and women--including many legendary artists and intellectuals, among them Hannah Arendt, Marc Chagall, Andre Breton, and Max Ernst--escape the Nazis. With his intimate understanding of French and German culture, and fluency in several languages, including English, Justus became an invaluable member of Fry's operation as a spy and scout.

After the Vichy government expelled Fry from France, Justus worked in Grenoble, recruiting young men and women for the Underground Army. For the next four years, he would be an essential component of the Resistance, relying on his wits and skills to survive several close calls with death. Once, he found himself in a Nazi internment camp, with his next stop Auschwitz--and yet Justus found an ingenious way to escape. He two years during the war gathering intelligence, surveying German installations and troop movements on the Mediterranean. Then, after the allied invasion at Normandy in 1944, Justus became a guerrilla fighter, participating in and leading commando raids to disrupt the German retreat across France.

At the end of the Second World War, Justus emigrated to America, and built a new life. For the past fifty years, he has taught literature at Bard College, shaping the inner lives of generations of students. Now he adds his own story to the library of great coming-of-age memoirs: The Art of Resistance is a powerful saga of bravery and defiance, a true-life spy thriller touched throughout by a professor's wisdom.

Includes index.

The free city of Danzig (1921-1937) -- A pogrom German-style (spring 1937) -- Preparing to leave Danzig (summer 1937) -- At the station (September 1937) -- Berlin (September 2-12, 1937) -- Paris (September 1937-September 3, 1939) -- "The phony war" (Paris, September 1939-June 1940) -- The debacle (Paris and Bayonne, June 1940) -- Toulouse (June and July 1940) -- To Marseille, in Marseille (August-September 1940) -- Over the Pyrenees (September 11-13, 1940) -- Walter Benjamin (late September 1940) -- Villa Air-Bel (November 1940-February 1941) -- Mafia (February-June 1941) -- Chagall (Spring 1941) -- Max and Peggy depart (July 1941) -- The expulsion of Fry; my mountain climbing adventure (August-December 1941) -- Grenoble (December 1941-August 26, 1942) -- Internment (August 27-29, 1942) -- Escape (September 6, 1942) -- Underground intelligence at Montmeyran (autumn 1942-March 1943) -- Manna from the skies (November 1943-May 1944) -- Last days on the farm (June 1944) -- Becoming a guerrilla (June 1944) -- Haute cuisine in the camp (June-July 1944) -- The ambush (July 1944) -- The 636th tank destroyer battalion (August-October 1944) -- The Teller mine incident (October 11, 1944) -- Homecoming to Paris (December 1944-February 15, 1945) -- Granville (February 15-March 8, 1945) -- Unrra (April 1945-October 1945) -- To America (October 1945-July 1946) -- Epilogue: what happened to.

"In 1937, as the Nazis gained control and anti-Semitism spread in the Free City of Danzig, a majority German city on the Baltic Sea, sixteen-year-old Justus Rosenberg was sent to Paris to finish his education in safety. Three years later, France fell to the Germans. Alone and in danger, penniless, and cut off from contact with his family in Poland, Justus fled south. A chance meeting led him to Varian Fry, an American journalist in Marseille helping thousands of men and women, including many artists and intellectuals--among them Hannah Arendt, Marc Chagall, Andre Breton, and Max Ernst--escape the Nazis. With his German background, understanding of French culture, and fluency in several languages, including English, Justus became an invaluable member of Fry's refugee network as a spy and scout. The spry blond who looked even younger than his age flourished in the underground, handling counterfeit documents, secret passwords, black market currency, surveying escape routes, and dealing with avaricious gangsters. But when Fry was eventually forced to leave France, Gussie, as he was affectionately known, could not get out. For the next four years, Justus relied on his wits and skills to escape captivity, survive several close calls with death, and continue his fight against the Nazis, working with the French Resistance and later, becoming attached with the United States Army. At the war's end, Justus emigrated to America, and built a new life. Justus' story is a powerful saga of bravery, daring, adventure, and survival with the soul of a spy thriller. Reflecting on his past, Justus sees his life as a confluence of circumstances. As he writes, 'I survived the war through a rare combination of good fortune, resourcefulness, optimism, and, most important, the kindness of many good people.'" -- Publisher's description

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