“The Marcel Network” by Fred Coleman selected in the United States by the “Book of the Month Club” (1) for January 2013
November 29, 2012
The book on the Marcel network has just been published in the United States by Potomac Books. On this occasion, the famous “Book of the Month Club”(1) selected it for January 2013.
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.
Videos about the book
Introduction of Fred Coleman by Andrew Sobanet (Chair of the French Department, Georgetown University)
Presentation of the book by its author, Fred Coleman
Introduction by Andrew Sobanet of Julien Engel, a child hidden by the network and a witness
Testimony of Julien Engel
Questions and answers
Find this book in the “Bibliography” section and on online bookshops:
(1) The Book of the Month Club (founded in 1926 in the United States) is a mail-order service for literary works, offering its customers a new book each month. The “Book of the Month Club” is known for being very selective in its choice of titles.