Here is the novel of Alsace in the first half of the 20th century, embodied by two women: a German and a Frenchwoman, who, without knowing each other, take turns in friendship an inspiring and bucolic site. A site which will become the witness of the worst atrocities of the History by sheltering the concentration camp of Struthof. Gretel is a musician. She is a modern, free and committed woman. On the site of Struthof, which was then a charming winter sports resort, in 1912 she bought land overgrown with broom to build a villa there. Her dream having barely taken shape, she must, as a German, the day after the Armistice of 1918, leave Alsace, leaving behind all her possessions and her dear house. A few years later, Julia moved there with her husband. The villa of Les Genêts d’or helped him gradually regain a taste for life. And it is again the story of a forced and hasty abandonment, in 1940, due to the annexation of Alsace by the Nazis. The villa and the novel suddenly change tone. The house has become the residence of the commandant of the Struthof camp and is transformed into a witness to the worst atrocities.
Here is a moving novel that recounts, on an intimate scale, the horror and perversion of the concentration camp system, the violence of wars and exiles, and the destiny of a small country plagued by changes of nationality.
La villa des Genêts d’or by Frédérique Neau-Dufour, published by La Nuée Bleue.
Frédérique Neau-Dufour is an associate professor and doctor of history, specializing in the Second World War. She has published many books related to the de Gaulle family, including biographies of Yvonne and Geneviève de Gaulle. She was curator of the European Center of the deported resistant, on the site of Natzweiler-Struthof. With “La villa des Genêts d’or”, she signs her first novel.
France Bleu Elsass offers you La villa des Genêts d’or
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