Julie VauxVilla Air Bel
April 4th 2008 00:34
Villa Air Bel
Rosemary Sullivan 2006
This deceptively plain title conceals an splendid history book! The cover doesn't do it justice either! This is a book that is not only about a house in southern France during world war 2 but about the people who worked and lived in it and their lives before and after. It tells of the efforts and lives of Varian Fry and his staff, American and French and their efforts to help refugees escape from the Nazis and the allies the very nasty Vichy regime.
Varian Fry was sent to France with a list of prominent artists scholars and intellectuals whose political beliefs or ethnicity meant they was at risk of deportment to a death camp.
That list included nearly all of the French Surrealists and many anti-Stalinist Russian emigres.
Varian had a list of 200 people but ended up saving nearly two thousand helping them get out of France via Spain or by sea to the Caribbean and Mexico and other places.
the Villa Air Bel was the house in the suburbs of Marseilles that Varian and CAS lived along along with many of the refugees such as Max Breton, and their helpers Danny and Theo Benedite.
You've find interesting stories and information about the following in this book:
French Surrealists, WW2, the Vichy regime, Marseilles, refugees in France, the invasion of France, escape routes from France and much more!
This is a superb book but it needs a cover and title that better suggest the complexities and delights that are within! Enjoy!
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