Hidden Treasures

During the Second World War, France was occupied by German troops between 1940 and 1944. Approximately 75,000 of the Jews living in France were sent to concentration camps, this represented almost one quarter of the French Jewish population. Iréne Némirovsky was one of those sent to one of the Nazi’s camps. She was targeted because she was a visionary well known for her pieces of writing prior to the invasion.  The German Nazi’s desired to eliminate all literature written by Jews as part of the ethnic cleansing campaign. Although Nemirovsky did not openly embrace or endorse her Jewish descent, nor was it present in her works, the Germans would have seen her gifts as a threat arising merely from her impure Jewish ancestry. As a result, she was targeted for elimination from society.

Némirovsky had finished two of the planned five parts for her novel Suite Française when the Germans sent her to the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp. The Germans took her from her home, along with husband Michel Epstein and their two daughters. It is a miracle that Némirovsky’s manuscripts never fell into the hands of German Troops, who would have surely destroyed them. The Nazi’s sought to burn all unapproved books so as to control what knowledge their citizens obtained to prevent an uprising against their immoral rule. Even after Michel himself was sent to the gas chambers, the manuscripts remained hidden in a notebook in the possession of one of their daughters, whom did not even realize the masterpiece occupying the pages for fifty years.

Némirovsky is not the only creator whose works went undiscovered by the Germans. Roger Schall, a renowned photographer, hid negatives of his pictures of the German occupation of France so as to protect this history. The artistic works that survived the Holocaust allow us to gain authentic and uncensored insight on the tragedies of the war. They allow the real history to be learned. These treasures provide our best lens to examine the past, to ensure it is not repeated.