When I started reading Tatiana de Rosnay’s book Sarah’s Key, it brought back so many memories of the time when I was working on Steven Spielberg’s, The Shoah Project. Back in the mid-nineties I was fortunate enough to be a part of a film crew in Paris that video-taped testimonies of Holocaust victims who recounted their horrifying memories spent in concentration camps. For many, it was the first time that these survivors had ever told their stories. Events so horrendous that even many of their husbands, wives, or children had never heard what their loved ones had gone through.
The story of Sarah’s Key
On July 16 & 17, 1942 French police gathered over 13,000 Jewish men, women and children of all ages. Over 4000 were children twelve years-old and under, many of them were born in France. For several days in the stenching heat of summer these people were without food, water, bathroom facilities or medical attention. (Think of the Superdome in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina and it gives you an idea of the situation.) Unlike Katrina’s victims, however, these people were then deported to Auschwitz.
Tatiana de Rosnay brings this event to life in a parallel story between Julia, a young American journalist living her “American in Paris” dream in 2002 while married to a pompous Frenchman, and Sarah, a young Jewish girl ten years-old who is taken along with her family in the roundup in 1942.
Julia begins researching the Vél d’Hiv for an 
article she has to write commemorating the 60th anniversary; simultaneously we live the events through the eyes of ten year-old Sarah. The drama begins immediately when Sarah’s little brother, Michel, four years-old hides in their secret hiding place in the wall. Sarah locks him in so the police won’t find him as she and her family are taken away.
The young girl is seperated from her mother and father along with the other children when they are sent to a camp outside of Beaune-la-Rolande. Those who managed to endure the suffering and to survive, did so in vain as they were all later shipped in cattle cars and exterminated in Auschwitz. Sarah, because of her determination and concern for her little brother hidden away and waiting for her return, manages to escape. She must get to him at all cost or else he’ll die a slow excrutiating death with no food, no water and little air.
As the book progresses, the stories of Julia and Sarah 
begin to merge. The author captures the dangers of the time so poignantly and you feel the fear that this child is facing alone in a hostile world; hiding from the Nazis and the French police, not knowing which French citizens will lend her a hand and which ones will be more than willing to turn her over to the Gestapo.
The more Julia learns about Sarah’s plight she realizes that her husband’s family knows more than they’re willing to say, afterall the apartment she’s living in with her husband is the same apartment where Sarah lived with her younger brother Michel and their parents before they were taken away.
I much prefer de Rosnay’s writing of Sarah’s character. We identify with the Jewish child in a hostile Nazi world. Julia’s, on the other hand, is more stilted, although the author did make an authentic American with many of the American in Paris Syndromes (TAPS) to boot! Julia’s husband, however, lacks any depth to his character. We know we’re not suppose to like him, but rather than develop that emotion, the author gives us overkill.
Maya Muses: No spoiler here! I’ll let you read the book to find out what happens to Sarah’s brother Michel. In any case, it’s a great read and the first book that Tatiana de Rosnay has written in English. The book has now been translated into 22 languages and published in 30 countries. Film rights have been bought, but if you’re like me - the book is always so much better than the film!
Photo Credits: Google Images
24 responses so far ↓
1 Michelle // Mar 24, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I agree, the book is always better.
I imagine that must have been a very difficult role, recording those testimonies. I have read a lot for research and teaching purposes, and often had to walk away as it was too much to deal with. To actually be listening to the survivors of those horrific events would be beyond me, I suspect.
2 Lynn // Mar 24, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Yes, it was very difficult, but although all the stories were heart wrenching, they were also inspiring to what extent the human spirit will go and what it will endure to survive.
We filmed each person for a period of four hours and after each session, these survivors would hug us and thank us for letting them tell their story, but we were the ones who were extremely grateful to them for telling such a difficult part of their lives. (There were many tears from survivors and crew alike.)
One story I never forgot (because it was so rare) was about a young boy who was taken with his parents and his sister from the Warsaw Ghetto to Auschwitz. He and his father were seperated from his mother and his sister.
They spent years in the concentration camp and when they were finally rescued by the Russian Army in 1945 they didn’t know what to do. So he and his father made their way back home and sat outside the building where they use to live.
Who should come walking down the street, but his mother and sister who were also liberated and made their way back! Incredible that all four of them survived for so long!
3 Deena // Mar 24, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Incredible story, Lynn! Thanks for sharing.
4 Lynn // Mar 24, 2009 at 11:28 pm
It was one among many, Deena, but I loved that story because all four of them survived, which for most of the families who were sent to concentration camps, unfortunately, that was not the case.
5 Michelle // Mar 25, 2009 at 2:02 am
Wow, that is certainly one of those stranger than fiction stories.
6 Lynn // Mar 25, 2009 at 3:20 am
I know, when he told it I thought it should be made into a film. There were so many poignant moments, like when he turned 13, under normal circumstances he would have had his bar mitzvah, ….during the day his father passed him in the camp and he managed to put some bread* in his hand and smiled at him, and he knew that his father had remembered his birthday.
*I want to say an apple for some reason, but this was in 1995 when he told this story and my memory fails me…..
7 Michelle // Mar 25, 2009 at 11:14 am
That is amazing. I’m surprised this hasn’t been picked up by a film maker.
8 Billy // Mar 25, 2009 at 10:39 pm
There are many bad episodes in French history. There is no doubt that The “Rafle du Vel d’Hiv” is one of the most shameful ones.
As you rightly wrote, Lynn, this event was not widely taught at school until recently. Most people knew, but they preferred not to think about it. Incredibly enough France denied any responsibility in the deportation of French Jews for decades (”It was the Fascist State, not the French Republic”, Mitterrand would say), until Pdt Jacques Chirac officially acknowledged it at the end of the century.
It must have been very difficult to hear such stories, Lynn. Thank you for sharing. Have you ever been to Auschwitz? It is a very moving experience. In my opinion, every young European should have a visit to the concentration camp organized by their highschool in “première” (US 11th grade).
9 Lynn // Mar 25, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Michelle, I think if Steven Spielberg had heard his story, he probably would have considered making a film about it, but at the time it was one of thousands of interviews that were being recorded all over the world in I don’t know how many languages. The gentleman I was speaking about told his story in French. Then again, Spielberg had just finished
Schindler’s List
two years earlier, which I consider a masterpiece.10 Lynn // Mar 25, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Billy, as you say, it was the speech that former President Jacques Chirac gave in 1995 and talked about the role that the French government played that has brought more of an awareness to a younger generation.
I agree that all European students should visit Auschwitz, so that future generations don’t fall prey to the idea that the Holocaust never existed as some would like the world to believe!
I’ve never been there, but I believe, as you say, it must be an incredibly moving experience! One of my exes (!) his uncle was killed in Auschwitz because he was with the French Resistance and was captured and taken to Auschwitz. He was only 19. (Many people may not realize that among the millions who died in concentration camps were resistance fighters, gypsies, homosexuals, ethnic Poles, etc.)
11 Valérie // Mar 26, 2009 at 5:55 am
Lynn,
“Many people may not realize that among the millions who died in concentration camps were resistance fighters, gypsies, homosexuals, ethnic Poles, etc”
And communists and catholic priests also.
12 Lynn // Mar 26, 2009 at 6:44 am
Valérie, thank you for mentioning communists and catholic priests, rather than just writing etc., I should have also included political prisoners, Jehovah’s Witnesses and more.
13 Janine // Feb 1, 2010 at 3:00 am
Sarah’s Key will place you in the hearts and souls of the Jews. The pain is felt so deeply. Just imagine….Every survivor has there own story, if told; you would feel the pain.
14 Lynn // Feb 1, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Janine, I couldn’t agree more, that’s why the Shoah Project that Steven Spielberg put together to record every survivor’s story and to hear it directly from the person who experienced it was crucial for the history of mankind. I was just glad to be a small part of it.
15 nancy mcdowell // Mar 11, 2010 at 11:39 pm
I have just finished the audio version of the book. Your writing is wonderful. The facts have drained me emotionally and I consider myself enriched by having met Sarah thru you. My soul reaches for answers.
16 Lynn // Mar 12, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Thanks so much for your kind words, Nancy!
Anything to do with the Holocaust (and similar circumstances such as the genocide in Darfur) is emotionally draining and would bring about many questions pertaining to spirituality, so I understand what you mean.
I’m curious, as I’ve never listened to an audio version of any book, I wonder, is it just as poignant as reading the book, or is it in a way even more so?
17 john mcmullan // May 11, 2010 at 6:31 pm
i just finished Sarah’s Key and was so moved - i had no idea about this part of WWII and Frances involvement in such horrors.
I wonder Lynn, can you tell me what happened to the family that all survived and made it back to their own home in Paris - did they get it back? After the war, i would hope sanity would have come back to town. If they didnt, then double shame on those Parisians who stole their family home. It makes me so mad!!
Were reparations ever paid to survivors?
Why are we so cruel? I dont expect an answer to the last question - but it does make me weep.
18 Lynn // May 12, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Hi John, maybe I wasn’t too clear in my comments. The family of four who survived in the concentration camps and returned home only to find people living in their apartment happened in Poland. Since they had nothing, they decided to immigrate to France after the war. I will say that this gentleman (the young boy) telling us his story became a successful businessman with a beautiful apartment in Paris near the Eiffel Tower! If my memory doesn’t fail me, I believe his sister was still alive at that time as well, but both his parents had already passed on when we interviewed him.
As for your last question, John, I ask that same question all the time, especially when I watch the news on tv!
19 Annemijn // Oct 3, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Hi, Thanks for sharing this!
I’m writing a bookreport about the Dutch version; ‘Haar naam was Sarah’ (free translated; ‘Her name was Sarah’)
It will help me to write my report, (if you don’t mind) I won’t copy it exacly, because I live in Holland, and I’ll have to write it in Dutch (my mother language, so no problem)
Anyway, I can read, write and speak English good so I can use this for my report. (Please give me premission to do that)
I hope that there are no spelling mistakes in this comment, otherwise I’ll hear;-)
Greetings from Holland
Anne
20 Jessica // Oct 7, 2010 at 7:14 pm
I am reading the book right now and absolutely LOVE it. Holocaust stories have always captured my heart. Just curious- are the testimonies and interviews from the Shoah Project available to the public? Are there any documentaries with them or anything?
21 Lynn // Oct 9, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Hi Anne, yes you have permission to use what I wrote as long as (as you say) you don’t copy it exactly.
I use to live in Amsterdam back in the early 70’s and have many fond memories of my time there, so greetings to you as well and good luck on your book report!
22 Lynn // Oct 9, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Hi Jessica, I loved the book as well! Here’s a link where you can see portions of different testimonies and you can find out where you may have access to the archives.
http://college.usc.edu/vhi/
23 Madeline Dray // Sep 4, 2011 at 1:07 pm
What is the last line of the book and movie??
24 Lynn // Sep 5, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Madeline, if I just gave you the last lines, they wouldn’t make much sense, so I’m giving you part of the last scene in the movie:
(Julia talking about her daughter to William.)
Julia: I want her to be able to see her dad when she wants.
William: Oh she’s adorable. Adorable your little Lucy
Julia: No Lucy’s the giraffe.
William: Oh so what’s her name then?
Julia: Sarah.
William: Oh Sarah, (begins to cry) oh I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
Julia: No, it’s me, I’m sorry.
William: No thank you.
And the last paragraph of the book:
We sat there for a long time, till the crowd around us thinned, till the sun shifted and the light changed. Till we felt our eyes could meet again, without the tears.
(The book is always so much better than the film, don’t you think?)
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