The Marcel Network published in the United States
The book on the Marcel network will be published in the United States in October 2012 by Potomac Books and will be available in France on Amazon.
The book tells how the Marcel network was created and run, how 527 children were saved and how they were reunited with their families after the war, where possible. It is the story of Moussa and Odette Abadi, how they nearly lost their lives, and how they managed to overcome impossible odds in their daily battles. It is also the story of the difficulties the children themselves had to face, and of the roles played by Bishop Rémond, Pastors Evrard and Gagnier, Georges Garel and Maurice Brener.
The author, Fred Coleman, was Newsweek bureau chief in Moscow and Paris. In Russia he became friends with Andrei Sakharov and other Soviet dissidents. His interest in their struggles for human rights led him to the Abadis’ similar struggle against Nazi atrocities. In “The Marcel Network”, Coleman presents the Abadis as an example of what two people of good will can achieve in the face of crimes against humanity, and shows how their story is a lesson for all time.
The book relates in detail the personal experiences of six children saved by the Abadis – Jeannette Wolgust, Françoise Bram, Marthe Kuperminc, Julien Engel, Armand Morgensztern and Max Poch.
It draws on interviews with them and also with:
Other hidden children – Andrée Poch-Karsenti, Lisette Levy and George Engel.
Friends of the Abadis – Jacqueline Denechère, Catherine Breton, Catherine Journoud, Annick Alzoubi, Olga Fink, Marie Gatard, Betty Kalusky-Saville, Violette Jacquet-Silberstein, Margareta Haïm, Régine Zimmerman, Martine Zacher, Victor Kuperminc, Georges Isserlis, Georges Loinger, Victor Haïm, Robert Pouderou, Guy Foissy, Jo Saville, Théo Klein, René Sicart, Marcel Dallo and Rabbi Daniel Farhi.
Historians – Lucien Lazare of Yad Vashem for the files on Bishop Rémond and Pastor Evrard, Annette Wieviorka on the Abadis, Frida Wattenberg on Maurice Brener and Katy Hazan (archivist at the OSE) on Georges Garel.
Sons – Thierry Brener about his father, Maurice, and Jean-Marc Gagnier about his father, Pastor Gagnier
The Catholic Diocese of Nice – Monseigneur Guy Terrancle, Father Léon Repetto, Father Antonin Blanchi and Gilles Bouis, the archivist.
The author would welcome support in approaching French publishers. You can contact Fred Coleman at fcoleman@noos.fr.