The ambience of France was brought to life thanks to Becky Ford who hosted the book club meeting this month! We enjoyed the beautiful food, music and items that helped us form a glimpse of the culture of the French people. We welcomed our guest Nicole, a French native. She helped prepare the delicious food and brought insight into our discussion of "Sarah's Key".
"Sarah's Key" by Tatiana De Rosnay took our book club on a journey back and forth during the times of WWII and to the present. "Sarah's Key" was mainly set in Paris, France during the Nazi occupation. This fictional story of a young Sarah who happened to be Jewish, brings an unsettling awareness to the reader of the horrors of war and the brutality of the Holocaust.
Our conversations centered around the dark event in history called La Grande Rafle (Main roundup of Jews in France) and in particular the families, many of them small children that were forced into the Vel' d' Hiv'(Velodrome) for many days with no food, water or basic facilities. These French citizens suffered the loss of their property, dignity and loss of life and eventually were sent to their executions. This event was not well known to many of us.
Sarah's admonition to "Never forget" will remain with us all.
"... in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquillity will return again." - Anne Frank
