Marseille 1940

Uwe Wittstock is a journalist, critic and author who lives in Germany. He was awarded the prestigious Theodor Wolff prize for journalism in 1989.

"An account of life under the threat of detention, torture, and death, of the decency and courage of ordinary people willing to help, and of one man's desperate fight against fascist cruelty and American callousness to save the lives of those whose last hope he has become – gripping, frightening, encouraging." Bernhard Schlink, author of The Reader"Uwe Wittstock's Marseille 1940 reads like a novel but tells a tale that is all too true. Narrated in the present tense and with a vivid cast of characters – at the centre of which is the obstinate, admirable Varian Fry – it rescues the rescuers, highlighting the crucial role that a small group of culture-lovers played in helping Jewish intellectuals and artists flee Germany. A compelling account of one of the most dramatic periods in the history of European culture."Ben Hutchinson, University of Kent"A harrowing account of anti-Nazi writers' and artists' efforts to escape France after its 1940 defeat ... Wittstock tells an irresistible story."Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"... as addictive as it is nerve-racking ... a story well worth retelling."Magdalena Miecznicka, Financial Times"What makes Wittstock's lively book both topical and depressing is how little things have changed. Today, refugees, driven to flee through persecution, racism and fear of death, are treated with the same lack of international generosity as in Fry's time."Literary Review"In 300 pages, the German scholar Uwe Wittstock maps out the fall of France through the country's escape routes from its last 'free' zone in Marseille by land and sea. It combines the essential elements of a rigorous history of a year, with the derring-do and excitement of a fast-moving thriller, narrated in a breathless present tense. It's a riveting book."The Jewish Chronicle"The narrative is thrilling and hauntingly resonant … Readers will be engrossed."Publishers Weekly"Chilling … Wittstock, a German journalist, has done extensive research in the latest available archives and explains in his book how chaos replaced order in what had previously been a confident nation."The Wall Street Journal"Engrossing... Marseille 1940 helps set the record straight of a man who saved thousands when the United States was turning away those huddled masses yearning for freedom. In these reactionary times, when millions of refugees are at risk all across the world, Wittstock's book ought to shame us all into action."Morten Høi Jensen, Los Angeles Review of Books"A marvel of narrative art... it's the very best book I've read in quite a while."Sara Dowse, Inside Story"In Marseille 1940: The Flight of Literature, the German literary critic Uwe Wittstock traces the anguished itineraries of more than a dozen refugee writers and artists and the efforts by a group of courageous Americans—along with many anonymous but no less courageous French people—to rescue them... Marseille 1940 makes another timely intervention: as governments once again shut borders and attempt to turn us against the foreigners in our midst, it helps us understand the plight of those fleeing dangerous or difficult circumstances as well as our responsibility to help them."Maurice Samuels, New York Review of Books

• Prologue BackstoriesTwo Days in July 1935Le DésastreMay 1940June 1940July 1940Over the MountainsAugust 1940September 1940October 1940The Villa, Waiting, and DeathNovember 1940 to February 1941Spring in FranceFebruary to June 1941The Long GoodbyeJune to November 1941What Happened AfterwardEpilogueAcknowledgements List of Illustrations Bibliography