Editorial Content for A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
After enjoying a pleasant, personally satisfying life as the owner of a bookshop in Berlin catering to lovers of French art and literature, then struggling daily to survive amid the horrors of the Nazi era, author Françoise Frenkel was finally able to tell her story. This journalistic account was first published in 1945 under the title NO PLACE TO LAY ONE’S HEAD and was recently rediscovered and translated by Stephanie Smee, with a preface by Nobel Laureate Patrick Modiano.
"[Frenkel's] chronicle is a reminder of the evils of Nazism, which perhaps should be studied again by each new generation lest such a hate-filled philosophy should ever reemerge, in whatever form, in whatever place."
The first few chapters recount the mounting suspicions and dread that hovered over all Jewish people in Germany in the early days of the Nazi takeover, leading up to the notorious Kristallnacht in 1938. As a foreigner, Frenkel narrowly missed some of the worst abuses and managed to flee to Paris. But even there, the noose tightened. Frenkel’s account, based on what was surely a prodigious memory, gives at times an hour-by-hour picture of the foreboding that gripped her. She was befriended by a few bold, non-Jewish compatriots, and encouraged to move to more pleasant, less fraught locations --- Nice, Avignon, Vichy --- by a former professor, who also tried unsuccessfully, in one of the few humorous passages in this harrowing tale, to mate her with an aging Frenchman so as to guarantee her safety.
All French citizens were forced to stand for hours a day in lines for rations and often came home empty-handed, and all were subject to the disrupting, constantly changing regulations of the Nazi occupiers that affected every aspect of life. But as a Jew, Frenkel was also increasingly hounded and hunted, finally forced to take refuge with friends, but soon realizing they were imperiling themselves by giving her shelter. Determined to flee to Switzerland, she was arrested, but then miraculously freed based on a few letters from prestigious contacts who bespoke her fine character. In a final, fraught few minutes depicted at the end of the book, she managed to cross the border into Switzerland, from where she composed her memoir.
A dossier is included with a chronology of the events described in Frenkel’s vivid account. She had a husband (though she does not mention him) who left Germany earlier and was eventually put to death at Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was able to return to France after the war and reclaim some of her possessions, and died in Nice in 1975. No photo of her survives.
Frenkel sets an example of undaunted courage and resolve, especially considering that she was a female, and alone. Her chronicle is a reminder of the evils of Nazism, which perhaps should be studied again by each new generation lest such a hate-filled philosophy should ever reemerge, in whatever form, in whatever place.
Teaser
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel --- a Jewish woman from Poland --- opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin’s first French bookshop. It becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations. Françoise’s dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her.
Promo
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel --- a Jewish woman from Poland --- opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin’s first French bookshop. It becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations. Françoise’s dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her.
About the Book
An “exceptional” (The Wall Street Journal) and “poignant” (The New York Times) book in the tradition of rediscovered works like SUITE FRANÇAISE and THE NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE the powerful memoir of a fearless Jewish bookseller on a harrowing fight for survival across Nazi-occupied Europe.
In 1921, Françoise Frenkel --- a Jewish woman from Poland --- fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin’s first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations.
Françoise’s dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. When the city is bombed, she seeks refuge across southern France, witnessing countless horrors: children torn from their parents, mothers throwing themselves under buses. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her.
Published quietly in 1945, then rediscovered nearly 60 years later in an attic, A BOOKSHOP IN BERLIN is a remarkable story of survival and resilience, of human cruelty and human spirit. In the tradition of SUITE FRANCAISE and THE NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE, this book is the tale of a fearless woman whose lust for life and literature refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.
Audiobook available, read by Jilly Bond