The Paris Architect
is the story of Lucien Bernard, a French architect living
and surviving in Nazi occupied Paris in 1942. Well into the
second year of occupation, deprivations begin to appear in
Parisian daily life: curfews, lack of food, erratic public
transportation. Far worse, the terror of Gestapo (Nazi secret
police) rule and the Nazi hunt for Jews – especially
wealthy ones – was well underway. Lucien at first accepts
Nazi rule, but realizes he must decide whether to continue
accepting the Nazi occupation or be drawn in by a wealthy
Frenchman, who wants him to design clever secret places in
apartments so Jews can hide and eventually escape from incessant
Gestapo sweeps. He decides to help the Frenchman.
Charles Belfoure is one of several writers – among them
Tatiana Rosnay and J. Robert Janes – who paint a picture
of a Paris conflicted with the Nazi occupation: some Parisians
collaborated with the Nazis and betrayed Jews for economic
and personal gain, while a few brave people defied Nazi rule
and helped Jews to escape. In this novel, Balfoure integrates
real historical characters (mostly Nazi officials) with fictional
characters to create a believable merging of history with
fiction.
I liked the book’s portrayal of life in Paris during
1942, the hardships endured by people and the simple of acts
of courage and bravery that occurred to right a terrible wrong
at great personal risk and sacrifice. Lucien embodies that
conflict between doing the right thing and just getting along
with occupied life. This is a challenge that could apply in
any number of situations and countries today. The horrors
of occupied Paris were not its physical destruction (Paris
escaped serious physical damage), but how Parisians who looked
out “for number one” helped the Nazis rule Paris.
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