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Review
| An American Heroine in the French Resistance—The Diary and Memoir of Virginia d'Albert-Lake, edited by Judy Barrett Litoff. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006. 320 pages. $29.95, cloth.
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| This skillfully edited treatment of Virginia d'Albert-Lake's wartime diary and postwar memoir depicts the individualistic struggles of noncombatants in wartime. What sets this work apart is the manner in which d'Albert-Lake's writings transcend mere narrative and delve into the emotional conflicts one faces in times of immense personal crisis. There is most certainly much to consider and analyze in the American expatriate's writings, but what stands out most is the manner in which her involvement in the French Resistance's Comet Escape Line and eventual imprisonment by the Gestapo forced her to reconcile personal beliefs in order to remain alive. The work begins with an introductory essay that serves to place d'Albert-Lake's work in its proper historical and historiographical perspective. Written shortly after the end of the war, this memoir is particularly unique for "its nearly contemporaneous perspective" (p. xiv). |
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While the diary does cover the period up to her capture, it is the depiction of the war's initial stages and conquest of France that are particularly strong. The memoir begins in 1943 and details the manner in which d'Albert-Lake became involved in the French Resistance. Although brief, one does gain insight into the machinations of the Comet Escape Line and its efforts to smuggle Allied pilots to Spain so they might fight again. The bulk of the memoir covers the period following d'Albert-Lake's arrest and eventual imprisonment by the Gestapo. Certainly adding to its importance and value are the book's appendices of documents ranging from dialogue between d'Albert-Lake's mother and the American War Department to letters of gratitude written by pilots whose lives were no doubt spared by the efforts of Virginia and Philippe d'Albert-Lake. |
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Looking beyond the narrative, the significance of d'Albert-Lake's diary and memoir lies in its depiction of the emotional and ideological conflicts one faces in time of war and imprisonment. For d'Albert-Lake, the war represented a conflict of conscience, a struggle to reconcile her pacifism with a desire to witness the destruction of Nazism. At the war's beginning, d'Albert-Lake was thinking along nationalistic anti-warlines, yet the aggressive actions of Germany compelled her to call for action against the Nazis. Her imprisonment by the Germans in the days following the Allies' invasion of Normandy forced introspection as she began viewing the struggle as that of individual survival. Recalling her time in Ravensbrück Prison, d'Albert-Lake wrote, "The laws of self-preservation and of the survival of the fittest became something real, no longer only titles in a psychology text" (p. 176). That the war was transformed from an international crisis into something more personal is perhaps the greatest lesson from this book—that is to say the dehumanization one goes through in time of war. |
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Woven throughout the narrative of d'Albert-Lake's diary and memoir are Litoff's inclusion of clear and unobtrusive explanatory footnotes. Such an effort makes this work a viable tool for educators at both the high school and collegiate level. Combined with d'Albert-Lake's clear and accessible prose, Litoff's footnotes provide valuable insight for high school students into the personal choices and sacrifices made by individuals in time of war. For the college student, the work delves into the complex nature of resistance movements as well as the workings of prisoner of war camps, thus adding a level of complexity to the study of the Second World War. Those interested in the period immediately following the cessation of hostilities may be left unsatisfied, for the memoir quickly jumps from d'Albert-Lake's liberation from Liebenau Prison on 1 April to an epilogue recounting the reuniting of husband and wife many weeks later. While it is not known if this represents a gap in the actual source material, or was the work of the editor, a narrative of this period would have proven a valuable resource in understanding the postwar redistribution of displaced persons. Such is but a minor complaint that only comes from wanting a story to continue after it has ended. |
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| Marquette University |
Kenneth Shonk |
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