The Children of Freedom - Marc Levy

[bookgazing]

‘The Children of Freedom’ highlights yet another of the seemingly endless, lesser known acts of heroism that took place during WWII. Just when I think I’ve read about every type of unsung activist from this conflict Marc Levy shows me just how much more I have to learn about what really went on in WWII. His chosen focus is the Jewish and foreign teenagers who form the Brigade 35, a French resistance group who operate in an extremely active way, compared with official resistance groups who apparently concerned themselves with stockpiling weapons for the promised Allied invasion of France.

The story is told by a Jewish boy called Jeannot, who escapes being arrested by Nazi’s and takes his brother Claude to find the Resistance. The narrative is conversational and reads like Jeannot reading back a diary that was written in the period, which means that Jeannot’s words read with that particular inflection that fills French people’s speech when they talk in English. I have to say as a reader I didn’t form a particularly close relationship with Jeannot, or any of the characters he talks about. While I was drawn to the events he described I didn’t feel like I was able to get close to his thoughts. This is understandable, he goes through some terrible things throughout the course of the novel and the distance created may be Levy’s way of realistically representing someone who survives treatment at the hands of the Nazis, but for me it left me feeling a little adrift from the characters.

Over the years Jeannot and the Brigade 35 work hard to undermine the Nazi’s operations by sabotaging munitions deliveries and exploding sites where Nazi’s gather. These missions were probably my favourite parts of the book, because while they’re actively fighting the Nazis the activists are hopeful and despite the seriousness of their missions there’s a tone of childlike adventure about everything they do. As Jeannot says, when they began their actions they treated it almost as a children’s game and there are a lot of descriptions of kids pedalling on bicycles and missions that sound like adventurous schemes Enid Blyton protagonists might have come up with, had they been involved in the war. There’s a juxtaposition between the destruction that their actions create and the rather do it yourself approach to war that groups like the Resistance were forced to use and this creates a light atmosphere that emphasises how running missions became ordinary, daily tasks while still remaining immensely dangerous.

Eventually the brigade is uncovered by the authorities. Jeannot and many of his friends are arrested. This part of the book contained historical facts that were new to me, as the group are betrayed by the established Resistance, who know that the authorities are about to arrest the group, but do nothing to save them. It is considered best that when France is liberated French people are seen as the heroes and as the 35th brigade contains many foreigners, the Resistance leave them to get captured despite the risks they have taken to regain freedom. Levy makes a point of reminding people that after the war many French collaborators and Resistance leaders were given respectable positions in charge, while the majority of the brigade dies in prison, or in concentration camps. However Jeannot also tells several stories about ordinary French people who help the brigade, in small ways, for example looking the other way when they suspect the teenagers are involved in resistance activities. The novel is about those who Levy feels were genuinely dispossessed, who suffered the consequences of war after it was all over, rather than those he feels used the war to their own advantage. He makes damning judgements about the humanity of the people in power in France and there are no sympathetic shades of grey provided here, but considering what happens to the brigade members and those they meet in prison I imagine few readers will disagree with characters being treated in this way, while they are caught up reading the book.

When the Allied forces arrive in France Jeannot and his friends are shuttled onto trains and the German officers try to transport them into Germany as war hostages and slaves. The men and women spend days crammed into overheated goods cars with little water, air, or space to sit down. I saw an Amazon reviewer mention that they felt distanced from the characters in the book, possibly because of the translation. As I’ve mentioned I felt distanced from the characters and in the earlier parts of the book I think Levy deliberately distances the reader from the violent scenes so readers don’t empathise with any pain the Nazis feel, but during the train journey this distance seems to be removed. Personally I found everything the prisoners experienced on the train present and painful, even though their experiences aren’t described in overly graphic detail. The three instances that stand out for me are when a prisoner who tries to escape, gets shot, but keeps on running, the day the train is hit by Allied gunfire and Jeannot’s terrifying leap from the train, where he risks being mangled by the wheels. All these episodes are described pretty simply, people die and the way they die is described with little embellishment (how much description does the image of a man being cut to pieces under a train really need?) and for that reason these episodes reach inside you and squeeze until it hurts.

If you enjoyed ‘The Children of Freedom’ I have to recommend ‘The Visible World’ by Mark Slouka, who uses a much more fantastically, folklorish writing style, but has created an image of Czech resistance during world war two that is equally as powerful as Marc Levy’s novel (I will take any opportunity to recommend this book to people). As for Levy’s work does anyone recommend anything else by him? I see ‘If Only it Were True’ has some great reviews, should I believe the hype?

If you have reviewed this book please leave me link to your review in the comments and I’ll add it at the end of this post.