Publication date – February 13, 2024

Summary

This is the memoir of Colette Brull-Ullman who was studying to become a pediatrician when World War 2 broke out and France was invaded. As a Jewish woman, she found her options suddenly limited and accepted a position at the Rothschild Hospital, which was the only hospital in Paris where Jewish doctors could work and the only hospital where Jewish patients could be treated. The Rothschild soon became the prison hospital for Drancy, the Paris detention center where the Jewish population was held before deportation to the concentration camps. Throughout the war, Colette’s fury at the Germans and their collaborators grew, and she took any available opportunity to thwart them. Perhaps her most daring work was helping to smuggle Jewish children to safety at night through the morgue door that was left unguarded.

My Thoughts

First published in French in 2017, when Brull-Ullman was 97 years old, this is a compelling historical memoir.

While it does contain moments of sweetness and beauty, this book is heart-wrenching. Brull-Ullman doesn’t hold back on the details of the horrors that she and the other doctors see. It is evident that the emotional scars of her experiences run deep. 

Colette was extremely admirable. She was determined as a child and unstoppable as an adult. She presented courage and resistance in the face of evil and hopelessness, and hers is an important story.

I received a free eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.