First published 2018
Charles Palant sits with five contemporary writers, sharing the words that have driven him for decades: "I believe in the morning." As a survivor of the Nazi death camps, Palant has spent his life speaking against the forces that led to Auschwitz. Now, seventy years later, he meets with authors Élisabeth Brami, Noëlle Châtelet, Alexandre Jardin, Mazarine Pingeot, and Alice Zeniter to explore what remains when historical analysis and politics fail to stop barbarism. Together they examine questions of childhood, transmission, hope, and humanity in a world where the last witnesses to Nazi horrors are disappearing. Their conversations reveal how literature might preserve what political discourse cannot protect. Palant's testimony becomes a bridge between memory and future generations, carried forward by writers who refuse to let his voice fade into silence.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Auschwitz
Period: 1940s, 2010s
160 pages · Paperback · CALMANN-LEVY
Content warnings: death