“Towards and in spite of us” at the heart of the Second World War

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• Today, "Towards and despite us" by Laurent Koessler published on May 25, 2022 by Éditions Jourdan.

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by Laurent Koessler, published on May 25, 2022 by Éditions Jourdan.

His favorite quote:

Why this book?

• Because it's a family story in history:

  Discovering that he had a grandfather in Nazi uniform had been a real shock for Etienne and he couldn't bear it.

  However, he goes to Moselle, in the footsteps of his grandfather, Louis, ready to read a notebook he left for his attention after his death.

  Étienne thinks he will find testimony there, a confession of what he already knows.

• Because reading this notebook will call everything into question

  for Étienne.

  He discovers a man and a family of which he was unaware of so many things.

  He discovers the daily life of the Mosellens heckled from one war to another, fear, forced exile, the German presence and the war.

  What if he had judged his grandfather far too quickly?

  If all these certainties were shattered, bringing regrets and guilt?

• Because it is a sublime testimony to the story

  of a "Despite Us" in the Second World War.

  If you don't know anything about this subject, read this book, which offers a nice overview in a fictionalized way on this drama which affected the Moselle and Alsace.

  Just imagine that many men were forcibly conscripted into the German army.

  And those who wanted to desert risked condemning their family to serious reprimands.

The essentials in 2 minutes

The plot.

Summer 2000, Étienne left Lyon for the Moselle.

There, he thinks he will find answers to his questions.

A trip like a last promise to his grandfather Louis, a man he left behind several years ago, discovering that he had been in the Nazi army.

Characters.

Etienne Kremer, the grandson.

Louis Kremer, the grandfather.

The Thiel spouses, who welcomed Étienne in Moselle.

Places.

East Moselle (Hellimer, Freyming, Sarreguemines) The German front.

The Tambov camp in Russia.

The time.

2000 for Etienne.

from 1922 to 1944 for Louis' notebook.

The author.

Author from Lorraine, Laurent Koessler began a collaboration with the Parisian editions Affordables, from which was born his first feel good novel, Les

in 2018. Two thrillers followed.

In 2022, he signs his first historical novel.

This book was read with

surprise.

I'm not a big reader of historical novels, I was afraid of having in my hands a book that was too documented, which might bore me.

And yet, I was won over by this story, and by Laurent Koessler's writing.

His story is very rhythmic.

It is very successful.

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• Book sheet 20 Minutes

• Books

• Novel

• Story

• Second World War

• Nazism

• Great East

• Lorraine