Outwitting the Gestapo | 
 enlarge | Author: Lucie Aubrac
Creators: Margaret Collins Weitz, Konrad Bieber, Betsy Wing
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 199313
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 241
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0803259239
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5344
EAN: 9780803259232
ASIN: 0803259239
Publication Date: November 1, 1994
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Condition: The text is clean with some moderate exterior wear.
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Product Description
Lucie Aubrac (1912-2007), of Catholic and peasant background, was teaching history in a Lyon girls' school and newly married to Raymond, a Jewish engineer, when World War II broke out and divided France. The couple, living in the Vichy zone, soon joined the Resistance movement in opposition to the Nazis and their collaborators. Outwitting the Gestapo is Lucie's harrowing account of her participation in the Resistance: of the months when, though pregnant, she planned and took part in raids to free comrades—including her husband, under Nazi death sentence—from the prisons of Klaus Barbie, the infamous Butcher of Lyon. Her book is also the basis for the 1997 French movie, Lucie Aubrac, which was released in the United States in 1999.
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| Customer Reviews:
 truth with a sprinkling of fiction...maybe July 15, 2008
This "diary" was written 40 years after the events, so given that memories fade or are embellished, it's a little hard to know what to believe. I was hoping for another "Berlin Diaries" by Marie Vassiltchikov, but alas, it doesn't come close. A good editor was needed here because names are tossed around with little or no explanation, plus though it's in diary form, there are many lengthy flashbacks, making it confusing at times as to what is actually going on. You really don't know who half the people are but if you just forget about that and go with the story, it doesn't really matter. The other reviewers admirably described what Lucie Aubrac accomplished. Even if Raymond was a Nazi informer, as has been intimated, I don't think Lucie could have ever known or believed it. She is remarkable in that she doesn't just accept her husband's death sentence, she thinks up a clever plan to rescue him. She is tenacious and despite setback after setback, she just keeps focused. Unlike the Germans, Austrians, Belgians, etc., the French have had a very good public relations campaign to perpetuate the belief that just about everyone was in the Resistance. Of course now we know that only a small percentage of the populace were actively in the French Resistance. Lucie's book is a little biased--she rarely encounters anyone who doesn't feel the way she does. She takes few precautions and doesn't seem to be afraid of being caught. And sometimes it is hard to believe what she gets away with--you wonder if she really was as fearless as she portrays herself. Still, it's a good story and shows what people are capable of if they refuse to sit on the sidelines.
..a great story but it is just that.. a story April 1, 2003
29 out of 32 found this review helpful
..Set in Lyon after the Germans had invaded the southern 'zone libre' this book purports to be a diary, written during a nine month period of 1943 by one of the most France's most famous resistance 'personalities'. Claude Berri's acclaimed 1995 film 'Lucie Aubrac' was based on the events described. As a number of reviewers have already remarked , many scenes in this account appear to have been directly conjured up from the author's imagination and the Aubracs themselves, subject to media scrutiny as France's resistance history is increasingly put under the microscope have admitted that this book is indeed part novelisation. Translated from the French 'Ils partiront dans l'ivresse' the author revels in her self portrayal as mother, heroine, & machine gun toting guerilla fighter and resistance cell leader. No where does she state that she and her husband were leading lights in a communist resistance grouping and no light is shed at all on what their role might have been in the capture by the Gestapo of De Gaulle's envoy and resistance unifier Jean Moulin in Caluire, a suburb of Lyon during June 1943. One of the main espisodes of the book is Aubrac's attempt to liberate her husband, captured at the same time as Moulin and held by Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie. The facility with which she is able to come and go from Gestapo headquarters in Lyon has led more than one writer to question whether or not the Aubracs were indeed on Barbie's payroll; either that or many elements of Raymond Aubrac's subsequent escape are pure invention. Of course Klaus Barbie muddied the waters somewhat at his trial in the late 80's but the brutal portrayal of him here simply begs the question...how could he possibly have been taken in as Aubrac suggests. Post Liberation, Aubrac's husband oversaw the 'epuration' or cleansing in and around Marseilles and effectively presided over a killing spree as suspected collaborators were ruthlessly hunted out of French society and summarily executed in many cases. Facts that sit uneasily with the rather rose-tinted view of resistance presented here...In France the Aubrac's are still taking to court authors who question the veracity of their accounts...
 One of the best WWII Books I have ever read!!! October 11, 2002
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
Lucie Aubrac captivated me. She writes about facts with the warmth of a woman who is dedicated to the Resistance, to her husband, and to her child. When you read this you are plunged into the French Resistance almost as if you had been there!!!
Very Interesting Account of Resistance Activity April 25, 2001
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Lucie Aubrac's first hand account of her "career" as a key member of the French resistance in the city of Lyon can't help but evoke an emotional connection between the author's gripping story and the reader sitting in comfort at home. I mostly second all that the previous reviewer lauded. The story itself is compelling, and the glimpse that it offers of a woman's struggle to balance the cares of wife, mother, "girlfriend," "fiancee," patriot, etc., provides a much needed balance to our understanding of the total effects of a conflict such as WWII. The personalness of the book is perhaps its greatest strength.The translation is extremely fluid and detracts not at all from the author's tale. Some criticism to keep in the back of the mind: it could simply be the author's purpose, however, I was struck by the seeming lack of concern of being caught -- until the end of the book (I won't spoil it for you). Lucie's life seems to be minimally impacted by her resistance ties. Like I said, maybe she left out those details on purpose, I don't know. The other thing the "bothered" me was the unconvincing account of how she was able to arrange for the purchase of silencers in Switzerland, travel to Switzerland to pick up the silencers, and then recross the border the same day without arousing suspicion. I doubt she was able to pick up the telephone and call a gun dealer to arrange the transaction -- maybe I missed it. Whatever, just something to consider. On the whole, I heartily endorse this book; it is exciting without being Bond-ish, and it is personal without being too proximate. Furthermore, it convincingly demonstrates the various motives of resistance, and it illustrates the fact that even a single person can make a difference in a struggle as vast as a world at war.
A true story of selfless love and generosity! June 27, 2000
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
Outwitting the Gestapo is the real life experience of one woman's determination, at all costs, to save her husband, her true other half, from execution by the infamous Klaus Barbie, "Butcher of Lyon." That is what makes it so compelling. I was drawn to this memoir, written in diary form, from May 14, 1943 through February 12, 1944, because I had seen the French film, * Lucie Aubrac *. A gorgeous film, that follows the same experience as this book, I was left wanting more. I was richly rewarded by reading this intimate revelation of the French Resistance and the couple who are equally committed to each other and the freedom of France. This story is a vivid portrait of devotion and fortitude. Raymond, Lucie Aubrac's husband, and the father of her young son and the child she carries in her womb, is arrested and sentenced to die. Lucie has been involved with the resistance since its beginning, but with the advent of this new ordeal, she masterminds a terrifying attempt to free her beloved husband. With her "buddies" in the resistance, a plan is orchestrated that involves the increasingly expanding Lucie to have almost daily contact with Klaus Barbie. Singlehandedly, she attempts to convince this monster to allow a contact with Raymond, making Barbie believe that she is an unwed mother who must marry Raymond to give her child a name. Constantly changing names and domains, Lucie and the other members of the resistance live with the constant fear of being caught, yet nothing inteferes with their goals. Their unflinching resolve is what makes for true heroism; their dedication to each other redefines friendship for me. The film is indeed beautiful, but it is in many ways short-sighted. There is so much more to this story than is presented on celluloid. Lucie Aubrac tells her remarkable story while enveloping her comrades into her heart, and presents the reader with the depth of her love for Raymond and France. This book gives a more complete picture of France and the Resistance, and of course, the love that many people would want to die for. Outwitting the Gestapo gave me a deep feeling of satisfaction.
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