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The Art of Resistance

My Four Years in the French Underground: A Memoir

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

An unforgettable World War II memoir set in Nazi-occupied France and filled with romance and adventure: a former Eastern European Jew remembers his flight from the Holocaust and his extraordinary four years in the French underground. Justus Rosenberg, now 98, has taught literature at Bard College for the past fifty years.

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 who was helping thousands of men and women escape the Nazis, among them artists and intellectuals Hannah Arendt, Marc Chagall, Andre Breton, and Max Ernst.

With his German background, understanding of French cultural, 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, and black market currency, surveying escape routes, and dealing with avaricious gangsters. When Fry was eventually forced to leave France, his trusted colleague Justus—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 eventually 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.""

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 28, 2019
      Rosenberg, professor emeritus of literature at Bard College, recounts his remarkable journey from young Polish-Jewish student to daring French underground freedom fighter in this powerful debut memoir. As the Nazis tightened their grip on the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) in 1937, Rosenberg’s parents sent their blue-eyed, blond, 16-year-old son to schooling and safety in Paris. Three years later, he fled south after the Nazis occupied the city. In Marseille, through an amazing “confluence of circumstances,” he met an American journalist named Varian Fry who helped artists and intellectuals escape Nazi occupation. Rosenberg’s German background, French education, and fluency in several languages allowed him to become a successful espionage agent, and he went on to work with Fry, assisting the likes of Marc Chagall, Andre Breton, Franz Werfel, and Max Ernst to escape into Spain. Rosenberg, a modest narrator, nevertheless writes thrillingly of his life—of participating in reconnaissance and guerrilla attacks; joining the 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion as interpreter and scout; and serving as supply officer for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration—all while dodging injury, imprisonment, and death. Rosenberg’s memoir has all the suspense of a tense spy thriller.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from December 1, 2019

      Originally from an upper-middle-class Jewish family in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland, and the surrounding area), Rosenberg (languages & literature, Bard Coll.) was sent to Paris in his teens to study and to escape increasing violence. Unable to join the French Army because of his Polish birth, Rosenberg eventually joined the French Underground, serving as a recruiter, intelligence operative, and guerilla fighter. He ended the war as an interrogator attached to a U.S. Army tank destroyer battalion. From there, he became a supply officer for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), helping to rebuild post-war Germany. At long last, he was able to return to the Sorbonne to finish his studies in literature, was offered a teaching position in the United States, and finally found out that his parents and sister--alone of the 68 members of his extended family--survived the war. VERDICT Rosenberg provides a thrilling account of gut-wrenching wartime experiences; an epilog details what happened to the major players in his life during that time. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in World War II and autobiography.--Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Lib.

      Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from October 15, 2019
      A gripping memoir from an Eastern European Jew who fought in the French Resistance. Born in 1921, Rosenberg, who has received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star from the U.S. Army for his service in World War II, thrived within a loving Polish family into his teenage years. His residence in Danzig meant immersion in both Polish and German culture, and his parents believed that Danzig's well-integrated Jewish population would escape the rise of Hitler and his Nazi supporters. When that optimism began to crumble, the 16-year-old Rosenberg departed Danzig to study in Paris. (Nobody knew then that most of his relatives would be slaughtered in the Holocaust. Rosenberg's parents and sister survived, but the author would be separated from them until 1952.) The German invasion of France interrupted Rosenberg's studies. On his own, with dwindling cash, he decided against trying to flee the Nazi juggernaut. Instead, he found a path to joining the underground resistance against the Nazis, centered in occupied France and comprised of fighters from a variety of backgrounds, including expatriate Americans. Rosenberg offered special value as a Resistance guerrilla for multiple reasons: Given his blond hair and other physical features, he did not "look Jewish." His baby face meant that he could easily pass as a schoolboy. He spoke Polish, German, Yiddish, and English. He could subsist on meager resources during wartime hardships. He welcomed all assignments offered by Resistance commanders, and he was fearless. The narrative unfolds chronologically, in semi-diary format, and while readers will know, of course, that Rosenberg avoided death, the narrative tension is continuous, as the author recalls imprisonments, escapes from confinement, and successful missions against the Nazis. The author's writing style is crystal-clear and understated, as he wisely allows the drama to unfold from the events themselves. As the war wound down, Rosenberg was unsure about his future. Eventually, he settled in the U.S. and has taught language and literature for 70 years. A welcome addition to the World War II memoir shelf.

      COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Rob Shapiro's calm manner is an effective complement to the harrowing world Justus Rosenberg describes in this compelling audiobook. Rosenberg, who waited until he was nearly 100 to write this memoir, escaped the Holocaust and then spent four years in the French Underground. During that time, his worldview was shaped by his encounters with Nazis as well as artists and intellectuals who were also trying to survive the war. At its core, the audiobook is a story of courage that benefits from Shapiro's ability to convey Rosenberg's words in a tone that mixes reality with optimism. No matter what event Rosenberg discusses, including some horrific moments, the listener benefits from Shapiro's delivery. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

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