Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
A real-life Suite Française, this riveting diary by a key female member of the French Resistance in WWII is translated into English for the first time. Agnès Humbert was an art historian in Paris during the German occupation in 1940. Though she might well have weathered the oppressive regime, Humbert was stirred to action by the atrocities she witnessed. In an act of astonishing bravery, she joined forces with several colleagues to form an organized resistance--very likely the first such group to fight back against the occupation. (In fact, their newsletter, Résistance, gave the French Resistance its name.) In the throes of their struggle for freedom, the members of Humbert's group were betrayed to the Gestapo; Humbert herself was imprisoned. In immediate, electrifying detail, Humbert describes her time in prison, her deportation to Germany, where for more than two years she endured a string of brutal labor camps, and the horror of discovering that seven of her friends were executed by a firing squad. But through the direst of conditions, and ill health in the labor camps, Humbert retains hope for herself, for her friends, and for humanity. Originally published in France in 1946, the book was soon forgotten and is now translated into English for the first time.--From publisher description.… (more)
Subjects
User reviews
Humbert was languishing in the countryside and sinking into despair when she heard a broadcast by General de Gaulle exhorting the French soldiers and people to rally round him and carry on the struggle. She wrote of her reaction: “A feeling I thought had died forever stirs within me: hope.” Humbert was further buoyed by radio broadcasts recounting that the people of Paris were tearing down German posters as quickly as they were posted. The people of Paris were rebelling! She waded through the bureaucracy to obtain the papers that allowed her to return to Paris in August, 1940. Thus began her journal and memoir of her life as a member of the French Resistance and political prisoner subjected to forced labour in German prisons.
The book is two parts journal and one part memoir. Until two days before her arrest on April 15, 1941, Humbert maintained a journal. After she was liberated from the German prison in April, 1945, her journal commenced again. The story she told of the time in between was from memory. It was vivid.
Journal and memoir—throughout, the reader feels the author’s sense of humor, sense of the absurd, and courage. One gains an acute understanding of the strength of conviction of Humbert and of her fellows, and further, of the risks they undertook both before and after their arrests. The reader will cringe at the descriptions of the abuse and deprivation Humbert suffered while in prison, and cheer her efforts to sabotage the enemy’s war efforts in the small ways that were available to her.
I will not soon forget this book; it is incredible to me that it was published in 1946 but not published in translation until 2008.
I have only one other comment and that is about the translation. I believe the spirit of the book and the language of the book were accurately translated, so I am being a bit picky to say that the voice of the author does not come through as a French voice. The French have a certain way of expressing themselves that is different from the way we English speakers do. I would like to read it in French to see if it is just that much better.
The
There are about 40 pages in the Afterword by Julien Blanc, explaining the very interesting process of vetting the journals. How do we know they are real, how do we know they were indeed written by Humbert, etc. How do we know the things Humbert wrote were true? The description of this process alone is with reading for those of us unfamiliar with this process.
An extensive Appendix is included listing many documents about the Resistance and relating them to Humbert's writing.
For me, it is this combination of journal, memoir, explanation of primary vs. secondary sources that makes this a five star book. Without that, it would have been four. This combination gives us an interesting and detailed story in combination with historical documentation and a fascinating read.
Humbert is an interesting figure, educated, cultured and financially able to sit out the war in another safer place. However, those very privileges seem to have given her the knowledge, health and love of country that caused her to make the choice to stay in occupied France and fight. I was at first disappointed to find the initial section about the Resistance to be so short, but learned that Humbert's Resistance continued throughout her prison time and on into her Nazi hunting activities. The initial resistance was a lot about forming the structure of her cell and connecting with and educating others. Humbert seemed to have astute awareness of where individuals were in their own process of politicization and how to work with people where they were, with what they were willing to do. Many initial activities were educational involving the design and placement of posters, publishing propaganda, using political graffiti, etc. many things necessary at the beginning of a movement that seem to some to be rather innocuous (as some would say of today's Occupy movement activities). Only five months of these activities were enough to convince the Nazis however, that this movement was trouble.
Humbert's times in prison and labor camps were also works of resistance. For example her refusal to stand when a German entered her cell - when she heard them coming she stood up before they got there so as not to be seen as obedient. There were many small examples of this behavior which I see as things she was able to do, as small as they were, that kept not only her own passion up but those of her cohorts. In the labor camps her resistance to contributing to the war effort took place as sabotaging what ever products she was working on. EVERY product.
One of the best parts of the book for me personally was learning about the liberation experience. This was not presented as a movie experience with the hero rushing in, but rather the slow, real process involving keeping life going during this time of reorganization. Humbert was both compassionate and fiery in her pursuit of war criminals and the rebuilding of the town. She began her hunt by speaking with German pastor's wives in the areas where she went, asking them to tell her who had been forced into the Nazi party unwillingly and helped prisoners in secret, so that she could help protect them. Then she questioned those people and got more and more information that led to many arrests. For me, this last section was especially enlightening.
Fascinating book - excellent and important read - five stars.
When she and two colleagues were creating the Resistance broadside, they kept a fire going to burn the compromising papers if caught, and pretended to be writing a play, with the scenario on the table, just in case of capture. Although she was not young, and the experiences in prison and forced labor deprived her of adequate food, clothing, and warmth, her courage never faltered. She spent less than a year in the Resistance, and four years in prison and forced labor. Many of her companions were executed, but she survived and her memoir was published in 1946. It has only recently come to light again, and was recently translated. It is hard to imagine anyone as calm, and good, and brave. and honourable as Agnes Humbert. She is a secular saint, in my eyes and joins the pantheon of the righteous with Miep Gies, Etty Hillesum, Irena Sendler.
In the face of terrible evil, she stood firm and fought with all her intelligence and ability, to spread the word that the Nazis should be opposed no matter what the danger, and that de Gaulle is leading the fight.
She is one of the greatest heroines I know.
Through Humbert’s writing, readers learned about the interrogation and punishment of French nationalists, and how strenuous German work camp life was for its prisoners. Humbert’s style was easy and clipped, only containing the essential elements about her comrades and their activities. Humbert described her involvement in the Resistance as inconsequential, but historical sources (according to the book notes) showed that Humbert was a very important player. This inconsistency left me unsettled: was Humbert really insignificant or just humble?
It’s important to note that Resistance was written primarily after Humbert’s liberation. However, Humbert still wrote it in a diary-style (each entry was marked with a date), as if she had a journal and pen in prison with her. This was not the case. She worked feverishly on her “diary” for nine months after her release, and she had a solid memory because she recalled details such as times, dates, people’s appearances and the weather. Her eye as an art historian probably helped, but I wondered how one could remember such intricate details. For me, Humbert’s account would have been stronger if she had written it as a chapter-to-chapter memoir.
With that said, Resistance is a primary resource for readers interested in World War II history. Undoubtedly, Agnes Humbert was a brave, smart woman who loved her country (she also had a wicked sense of humor). While I disagree with the format of the book, the historical information gleaned from it was worthwhile and illuminating.
Résistance begins with Agnés Humbert's actual journal entries from the summer of 1940 and the beginning of the Nazi occupation of Paris. She describes the conception and birth of the French Resistance from a completely new point of view, almost as if it was a game she and her friends invented to annoy the Nazis. But it is the very casual way in which she describes certain horrors that brings home to the reader the atrocities of the Nazi occupiers. Her descriptions of the bravery, strength and loyalty of her compatriots brought tears to my eyes.
The later portion of the book, after Humbert's arrest, are also written in journal form, but these entries were written just after her release when the war ended. She writes "my memories are so clear that I am able to commit them to paper as they happened and in strict sequence. I remember everything as clearly as though it were written in notebooks". This portion of the book is truly an intimate look into the life of a prisoner of war, and you get the impression that as gut-wrenching as Agnés' experiences are, she actually got off somewhat easily compared to the treatment of so many other prisoners in Nazi camps.
Now that I've told you how clear she is in expressing the horrors of war, I need to tell you how very hopeful Humbert's book is. Although the tears flowed freely while reading many passages, the bleakness never took over, and often my tears were tears of admiration for a woman who was oppressed in so many ways, both physical and spiritual, and yet was still able to resist in any small way she could what she knew to be evil. You could not ask for a better narrator, a better guide through the unbelievable cruelties and unexpected kindnesses of the Nazi prison camps.
Humbert's journal/book covers the time period from just before the Nazi occupation of Paris to the end of the war and the American liberation of the prison camps in Germany. It is not a comprehensive view of the entirety of WWII, but it's not meant to be. It is one woman's harrowing and hopeful experience of losing her certainty in her country's leaders, but keeping her confidence in the spirit of her nation.
Humor in a book detailing the life in labor camps? Yes, biting humor! Humor, when the situation is as bad as it is, almost hurts.
I get back from the factory after a truly grueling night, prostrated with exhaustion. I am going to sleep like a log, I know. But then I see my bunk is already occupied. I start to make a fuss, but a plaintive voice beneath my blankets soon pulls me up short: ‘Oh please, please, don’t be angry. I haven’t got lice and I haven’t made your bed dirty. ‘
I discover this is the new regulation. For lack of space, the day shift and the night shift will take turns to sleep in the same bunks. From now on we will find our bunks already warmed for us. How delightful. (page 151)
I marked line after line that I wanted to quote, but I simply cannot put them all here. One example will have to suffice.
Agnès Humbert (Oct 12, 1894 – Sept 19, 1963) was a mature woman of forty-six at the date of her first diary entries. She had a solid political background. An art historian, she is articulate, well-educated, committed and passionate. As a member of the fledgling French Resistance, as one with vivid war experiences of life in labor camps and as one there in the confusion of the war’s aftermath, she describes it all, simply and powerfully. She experienced it all, and she has a remarkable writing ability. All parts are written in the first person present tense. This was one of the most difficult war books I have ever read, difficult simply because she makes it so very real and she makes the reader care.
Completed April 19, 2013
Reading this true story, even this long after WWII, was both enlightening and heartbreaking. Agnes Humbert tells her story as she helps lead one of France's first resistance newspapers and the subsequent trials she goes through as she is arrested and detained first in French camps and then later in German labor camps. The suffering she and other political (and criminal) prisoners went through was unimaginable. And yet through it all, she maintained an admirable sense of humor and lightheartedness that both made it easier to stomach her tale and served to ensure that her and her companions were able to survive to see the next morning.
I definitely recommend this read, especially to WWII enthusiasts and people who are interested in reading a truly inspirational story from a real life patriot and hero.
The book spans nearly 5 years, of which only 10 months are spent as part of the active resistance movement. Those months are also at the very formation of that movement, so the work done, while vastly influential, is not as directly powerful as that which came later. I was quite surprised that the vast majority of this book is a chronicle of the author's time in prison and serving as forced-labor in Germany.
The personality of Humbert shines through this book on every page, even at her lowest moments she has an energy that is almost palpable on the page. Yet her descriptions of the horrors she is witness to, and victim of, are almost dispassionate in their honesty.
Although this book was not what I expected, I'm glad to have read it.
Being a huge WW2 buff I jumped at the chance to review this book. There are so few first hand accounts of the French Resistance, and (so far as I know) no journal such as this, written by an active woman. I was not disappointed. Humbert’s account follows the early days of the Resistance and brings larger-than-life characters (such as Vilde’ and d’Orves) down to a more personal level. Through Humbert we see these icons as people- as friends… In the age of memoirs it’s nice to read something humble, and that is a good word to describe Humbert. Through it all she downplays her importance, even though many people later comment on her importance.
Resistance carries much weight as a document of WW2 France, and the only hesitations I have on it are the dates. As Humbert recounts her time in prison she uses very specific dates for certain events. Having no calendar (or writing materials) she relies on her memories to compile a timeline. We can only assume some of her dates are no accurate. Still, it gives an amazing picture of a movement shrouded in secrecy.
This book is worth reading. Not just for those with a historical sweet-tooth, but for anyone who has ever had to stand up for something they believed in. Humbert’s life and experiences are empowering and emotional- often humorous and even more often bittersweet. I clung to Resistance with the adamant fervor one can only attribute to reading something of profound circumstance.
Humbert wrote Resistance in 1946 shortly after the war, the beginning and end parts taken directly from her diary, the middle portion, by necessity written from memory, yet still in a diary format. This gives the book a strong sense of immediacy. I was feeling a bit lost in the opening pages of the book, there were many names and locations that I found difficult to keep track of. The story becomes quite intense when Humbert is arrested, tried and imprisoned. What is most striking in Humbert's writing is her sense of humor, her bravery, and her feistiness. Humbert finds herself working (slaving) in a rayon factory. I didn't know a thing about the manufacturing of rayon, but have discovered that it is quite dangerous and toxic. Humbert and her fellow prisoners are not given protective gear as the paid workers are, and the prisoners are suffering from terrible wounds, temporary blindness, and clothing that is disintegrating instead of covering them. Humbert suffers so much but never loses her sense of self and compassion for others.
Not only is Resistance an intensely personal story, it is an informative one as well. It was fascinating to read about the French Resistance and especially how its members were treated once imprisoned and charged. Resistance was out of print for many years, until Barbara Mellor the translator of this book, came across it and knew it was a story that transcended time. We have her to thank for bringing this story to our attention.
I end with a quote from Agnes Humbert from 1943, when she is thinking about her inanimate objects waiting for her at home:
I think about my books, especially: which one shall I open first when I get back? I can see my bookshelves, and the rows of my beloved books. By the time I get back I shall have quite forgotten how to read, and I'll have to start all over again by looking at picture books like a child.
Unfortunately for Agnes, she is betrayed by one of their number. She is picked up by German soldiers and after spending some time in a French jail, she is deported to Germany. It is in Germany that she faces horrors almost unimaginable. She is fed very little food, given improper clothing and despite the biting cold, her shoes can barely get her around. Brutality and inhumane treatment reign supreme. When human beings are allowed power unchecked, embrace their baser instincts and this held very true in this prison. She and the other women are forced to work in a factory that had such harmful chemicals that at one time or another almost all the women would lose their eye sight for a few days at a time. The wardresses and soldiers were for the most part cruel and harsh and would find excuses to punish the prisoners. In one incident, the wardress refuses the women water for three to four days because of some perceived offense. The women were forced to drink the water from the toilet.
But despite these horrors, Agnes still manages to find points of happiness and has a biting sense of humor. Once when she had the flu, she asked the wardress for an aspirin. The wardress gives her one aspirin. Unfortunately, Agnes was not cured by the next day and when she asks the wardress for another aspirin, she is punched in the stomach and sent flying down the stairs. Her response "I spent the rest of the day reflecting on German remedies for flu". She gains a small measure of happiness from sabotaging the products she is forced to produce. The incidents of sabotage may be small but they serve as sources of strength.
The book is generally very well written and keeps you engaged. It is written in the form of a journal with the first part of it written before her imprisonment. The vast majority of the book was written from memory after she had been released. One problem I had with the book was that in the beginning she mentioned so many friends and acquaintances that I lost track of who was who. A very good read.
The first two chapters are presented in journal form, recorded by the author almost on a daily basis. The larger section
There is plenty of anger and bitterness: “The Germans are a spineless lot on the whole, lacking any ability to reason things through or view them with a critical spirit; and they suffer from a total and absolute lack of initiative, inculcated by their educational system down the centuries.” This comment, made at the end of the war, is in response to Agnès stepping in to help when the native Germans did nothing to support other Germans with among other things, medical help. It’s not politically correct, but for the mores of 1945, coming at the end of a brutal war, it was probably considered mild. However in other instances within the book, the author gives credit to Germans for unexpected kindnesses. When a Nazi judge sentenced some of her fellow resistance fighters at trial, he went to considerable trouble to later plead for leniency for them, saying they behaved honorably and more. Agnès was at the time encouraged by his honest and respectful behaviour towards the prisoners and afterwards, during his own war criminal hearing, she wrote a moving testimonial supporting him. In another notable statement that would not be looked favourably on in present-day societal norms Agnès criticizes polish prisoners of war for their behaviour once they were granted freedom in 1945. Throughout the book, her feelings for the enemy seemed to be scorn for the many but genuine affection for the few.
I’ve only read one other book that touched on the French resistance – The Tiger Claw by Shauna Singh Baldwin. While that book does have some parallels to Résistance – obviously the topic, but also both are based on actual events with the main characters being real (as opposed to fictitious) women - Resistance is the more true to life work, simply because it’s written by the person who lived the events.
Occasionally the narrative jumps around and individuals are introduced but then not mentioned for some time making it difficult to keep track of the connections between Agnes and her friends. However, this is a minor criticism given the circumstances under which this book was written and especially so since several tools are provided to alleviate this issue at the back of the book: an afterword explains some of the methods and motivations of the author; an appendix which includes documents and transcripts from the war and which are pertinent to the book; a bibliography and an index, both of which are extremely helpful in identifying notables within the book.
I can recommend this book not just as an enjoyable read – it’s much more than that. It’s a history lesson that teaches the fortunate what could still happen given the right circumstances.
By Agnès Humbert, translated by Barbara Mellor
Hardcover: 370 pps.
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
ISBN-10: 1596915595
The diary (from real-time and reconstructed notes) of Agnès Humbert, a French woman who through her resistance
Humbert's words are haunting and inspiring. The reader is brought into her world, her thoughts, her fears, and her pain. We are inspired by her undaunted courage and ability to go on.
Résistance is a important work -- in the classic sense -- of a struggle in a specific time and place that should never be allowed to be forgotten.
The first section of this book was given over to the specifics and details of who and what her group of friends did in opposition to the German invasion. Many were implicated, yet as her journal was never found, Agnès was not the cause of any imprisonments or executions. Unfortunately, many of the people responsible for Résistance were tried and convicted anyway. I found this section to be a little dry and methodical. It almost seemed that this part of the book acted as a type of ledger of information, rather than a chronicle. Many of the people were only briefly mentioned, and I had some trouble in understanding who was who and what part they played in the opposition. While I believe that it was important to know the events that led up to her imprisonment, this section seemed a little too matter-of-fact.
The majority of this book was devoted to the time that Agnès spent as a prisoner and laborer. During this time she suffered many abuses at the hands of the Germans. The tortures that she and her fellow prisoners faced in the prison were terrible, from starvation and beatings to severe confinement. Despite their atrocious treatment, the women were able to form friendships and take joy in the company of others, sharing news and small victories with each other. Many would not recant their political ideology even after being subjected to daily bouts of cruel treatment. I found it hard to believe that things could get any worse for them, but when they were moved to a German work camp, what had come before paled by comparison. In the labor camps, it was obvious that life was expendable and cheap. The overseers' attitudes went beyond the malicious and into the area of savagery. They were worked like dogs, with no care given to injuries or illness, and the living conditions and rations were pitiful. While Agnès and her fellow laborers struggled, inhaling caustic chemicals that gave them temporary blindness and suppurating ulcers, they still found ways to share political information and news among themselves. Sometimes these friendships were cut short, as their overseers didn't like their fraternization, and women would be moved to other areas of the workhouse. Agnès, nevertheless, found ingenious ways to sabotage her work, as it was the only way she could oppose the occupation from inside its confinement. She never let them break her spirit, no matter what was forced upon her. When help finally arrived in the form of American troops in April of 1945, Agnès had been imprisoned for 5 years. Despite her experiences, she immediately took charge and helped the American forces seek out fleeing Nazis and created a temporary hospital for the refugees and Germans alike. She took command of many aspects of this new civilian life, and was greatly esteemed by the Allied forces, fellow prisoners and the community.
One of the most amazing thing about this book was Agnès' remarkable wit and sense of humor. No matter what horrors the day brought her, she had an amazingly beautiful spirit that enabled her to continue laughing. She never showed despair and defeat; rather a cynical cleverness in which she documented the sufferings of herself and those around her. Despite all that happened to her and her compatriots, she never let go of her beliefs and fought in the only way she knew how. Agnès never let herself sink into depression, despite her many injuries or disappointments. I very much admired her courage and strength.
This story was both haunting and inspiring. Among the atrocities committed in WWII, this remains a story that is not often heard but that truly needs to be told. It may enlighten others to the fact that Jews were not the only victims of this terrible war. I found myself feeling maudlin and upset while reading this book, but I am glad that I read it. It is a terrible tale, but behind that tale lurks the spirit of of a woman who would not give up, turning a story that could only be ugly into a thing of beauty.
The second part of her story, her time in custody, her trial, her time as slave labor, was obviously written after the fact but the details, the names, and the sights she remembers are remarkable and believable. They are the things anyone would remember, the kindness of a guard, the charity of a fellow prisoner, the snub of a fellow citizen. What struck me most about this section was seeing all this through the eyes of a woman. For example, the factory she was working in used vats of hot acid, I knew from seeing my father’s clothes when he worked as an electrotyper what that would do to clothing. His tee shirts would last a month before they were reduced to a series of holes joined by some threads. However, it never would have occurred to me that a woman might risk a beating to procure a safety pin to preserve her modesty after acid eat enough holes in her blouse until I read Humbelt’s account of the incident. After describing the conditions in the rayon factory where she was required to operate huge, intimidating machinery, had her hands plunged into acid, and endured molten chemicals burning into her flesh, she did not dwell on the conditions, or her tormenters but instead she wrote of the people with whom she was imprisoned, the ‘common criminal’ as well as the political prisoners.
The third part of Madam Humbert’s story was a complete revelation to me. After the rayon factory was destroyed and after being moved several times deeper into Germany, the American Army liberates the area. The prison holding her opens its gates, releasing her and her fellow inmates into chaos. She immediately begins a new diary. She also takes control of the prison, telling the former staff that she would protect them but they needed to do as she said. With the blessing of a passing American officer she did the same in the local town. She organizes relief work for the refugees and, most amazing, she began documenting the identities of the local Nazi officials and the local anti-Nazis. She did all this while armed groups of Nazis still roamed the nearby woods and the American soldiers were still pushing on toward Berlin.
I am dumbfounded that a book of this quality, with such rich details of underreported aspects of the war, written by a true hero, took so long to be translated into English and become available to those of us who are linguistically challenged. I fear that her left leaning politics might have had something to do with it. Her belief that the Soviet Union would be the nation that defeated Germany might not have been popular in the Cold War United States, or, it could just be that she was a woman. Regardless of the reason, I am thankful that it is now available and I cannot recommend it more highly.
Still, Humbert was a gifted writer, and her description of the fall of Paris and the populace's evacuation en masse paralleled the first "movement" of Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise which, although fiction, was also written almost as the events were happening. Her keen eye for detail renders her story all the more poignant, although one sometimes wonders how she was able to retain all of names and descriptions, despite years of not having her diary. Still, if one reads this as a memoir, rather than a diary, it is an elegant and valuable addition to the literature of World War II France and the citizens who lived through it.
For any student of WW11 this should be part of the research.
Her account of her experiences as a political prisoner, first in France and later in Germany, gives a different perspective of the Nazi war machine. Most Holocaust memoirs that I’ve read have been about Jews who were persecuted, went into hiding/tried to flee the country, and then were sent to concentration camps. Even in the French prison the Nazis did not treat the inmates in a humane manner, but life in the German prison camps made the French prisons seem posh.
Agnes and her fellow political prisoners were housed with criminals of all sorts in the German work camps, and were forced to work under hideous conditions with meager rations. In other words, the prison work camps were very similar to the concentration camps, but without the gas chambers and crematoriums. What amazed me was the variety of ways that people can create to inflict torture and pain on other humans. The capacity that mankind has for cruelty is astonishing. I am also surprised when reading books like this, at how much the human body can survive. Thank goodness there are also members of mankind with an alternately extreme capacity for mercy and compassion.
One quote that stood out to me was about the necessity of war in the face of tyranny, and the horror of all of the death that war brings:
Watching all this, I feel my heart and mind split in two. One half of my heart aches for all this misery, weeps for all this destruction. But then I tell myself for the hundredth, perhaps the thousandth time, that this is the only way that we can destroy the monster. . . . In the struggle between barbarism and civilization killing is a necessary and unavoidable evil. Civilization has to use the weapons of barbarism in order to prevail. That is the great tragedy. Page 194
As far as the reading experience itself, the first twenty pages or so are pretty dry, as she documents the movements and activities of the Resistance group. After that her story drew me in with descriptions of the inside of a Nazi prison cell, a court trial of Resistance members, and prison work at a rayon factory.
In regard to her documentation of the early French Resistance, it is mentioned in the afterword that she wrote down the real names of those involved in her journal. While this is considered valuable to historians (because other Resistance members didn’t use real names in documentation) it also seemed very reckless on her part. Had the Nazis found her journal they would have easily been able to locate and arrest the others with whom she worked.
I highly recommend Resistance to those who like World War II memoirs, and to anyone who wants to learn more about the formation of the French Resistance and the conditions of political prisoners under the Nazis.
Her account of her experiences as a political prisoner, first in France and later in Germany, gives a different perspective of the Nazi war machine. Most Holocaust memoirs that I’ve read have been about Jews who were persecuted, went into hiding/tried to flee the country, and then were sent to concentration camps. Even in the French prison the Nazis did not treat the inmates in a humane manner, but life in the German prison camps made the French prisons seem posh.
Agnes and her fellow political prisoners were housed with criminals of all sorts in the German work camps, and were forced to work under hideous conditions with meager rations. In other words, the prison work camps were very similar to the concentration camps, but without the gas chambers and crematoriums. What amazed me was the variety of ways that people can create to inflict torture and pain on other humans. The capacity that mankind has for cruelty is astonishing. I am also surprised when reading books like this, at how much the human body can survive. Thank goodness there are also members of mankind with an alternately extreme capacity for mercy and compassion.
One quote that stood out to me was about the necessity of war in the face of tyranny, and the horror of all of the death that war brings:
Watching all this, I feel my heart and mind split in two. One half of my heart aches for all this misery, weeps for all this destruction. But then I tell myself for the hundredth, perhaps the thousandth time, that this is the only way that we can destroy the monster. . . . In the struggle between barbarism and civilization killing is a necessary and unavoidable evil. Civilization has to use the weapons of barbarism in order to prevail. That is the great tragedy. Page 194
As far as the reading experience itself, the first twenty pages or so are pretty dry, as she documents the movements and activities of the Resistance group. After that her story drew me in with descriptions of the inside of a Nazi prison cell, a court trial of Resistance members, and prison work at a rayon factory.
In regard to her documentation of the early French Resistance, it is mentioned in the afterword that she wrote down the real names of those involved in her journal. While this is considered valuable to historians (because other Resistance members didn’t use real names in documentation) it also seemed very reckless on her part. Had the Nazis found her journal they would have easily been able to locate and arrest the others with whom she worked.
I highly recommend Resistance to those who like World War II memoirs, and to anyone who wants to learn more about the formation of the French Resistance and the conditions of political prisoners under the Nazis.