My title is deliberately paradoxical. I read this charming little book sixteen. Holidays following summer, I left for the first time to discover Germany, I went for the first time at the opera (in Munich), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau himself was on stage, I discovered yellow classic small edited by "Reclam" and I brought valuable disk Deutsche Grammophon! One can only be touched by humanism devoid of hate Vercors resistant of the first hour, who wrote in 1941 that delicate story featuring a German artist cultivated and sensitive face old uncle officer and his niece in where he lives under the law of the occupier. Vercors stands bravely German Nazis, alas, hope in 1941 is close to being defeated and the idealist Werner von Ebrennac suddenly realizes that his dream is hardly shared by his comrades. It is the struggle of culture, art and letters against barbarism. And this fight knows no nationality or borders. This is the fight of love and generosity against brute force. From what I see around me today, it's also clearly not over ... Ebrennac door - like many allemands- a name of French origin. Perhaps it is a subtle way of reminding us that France has often been in the history of excluding genius, condemn to exile, the best sons (as Germany, the Netherlands England knew or host) and that totalitarianism is not a monopoly of right reserved only to Nazis, Bolsheviks or other Pol Pot. For the fans: it is easy to find for a few Euros edition (Editions de Minuit) poor war on paper dating from 1945 or 1946 (1941, that's something else). It is still more valuable than a paperback book.
