This week my book group was immersed in Paris. We planned it back in June. While it isn’t uncommon to have current events creep into the discussion, it is rare to have the past and present echo so strongly. Our book was The Paris Architect, Charles Belfoure’s first novel about a French architect in occupied Paris in 1943 – 1944 who is persuaded to use his talents to create extraordinary hiding places for Jews. The book is not a conventional Holocaust novel. First, it takes place entirely in Paris, after the round-up and barely references the trains or camps. None of the major characters in the story are Jewish.
An overriding theme of the book discussion was the importance of empathy and the recognition of shared human interests despite differences. Belfoure’s architect, Lucien, begins the novel totally self-absorbed and driven by his desires to design and make money. Only after several clandestine projects is he willing to acknowledge the humanity of the Jews he has been tasked to hide. The Nazis Lucien must deal with are also not uni-dimensional. They range from completely sadistic, to amoral to delicately walking a fine line between self-serving and turning a blind eye to Lucien’s activities.
Watching the demonstrations in Paris and public and governmental reactions worldwide, the counterpoint of the legitimate outrage seen now and the silence in the 1930’s and 40’s is astounding. The murdered writers of Charlie Hebdo and the victims of the kosher market attack were cast as citizens beyond Paris. The reaction to such events is encouraging. The hatred and terrorism that spawned it is not.
And the takeaway for today? I like to think it’s not just the 24/7 media frenzy that has resulted in outrage at acts of hatred and violence against others be it for racial, religious, political or ethnic reasons whether in France, the U.S., Mexico or Nigeria. The terrorism of Boko Haram in Nigeria is not reported less for a lack of concern for the victims but rather because of more difficult communications and imminent danger to anyone trying to get the information out. The victims of the Holocaust in Europe and the Japanese in China during WWII, regardless of the reason they were selected, died in part because of silence and apathy and the unwillingness of those who knew what was going on to do something.
Seventy years ago, on January 17, 1945, Raoul Wallenberg was taken into custody by the Russian army, never to be seen in public again. As a Swedish diplomat, Wallenberg issued passports and transit documents to Jews to save them from the Nazis. Wallenberg remains the face of standing up to injustice in the final days of WWII. While we have learned of many other righteous men and women who put their lives at risk to help Jews and others facing almost certain death, it is the fundamental lesson of their acts we should remember – it is the obligation of each of us to fight back against any person, group or government that seeks to harm others for their beliefs.
And as I look at this historical trajectory, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. must be mentioned as well. He walked the bridge, both real and metaphorical, that has taken us on this path. And he died carrying the message forward.
May their memory continue to be a blessing and a lesson to the world.
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