The Promise (revised edition): A Tale of Two Families Betrayed by France and Saved by the French

Fulfilling a promise made to his mother when he was a child and she was losing her battle against cancer, Jacques Besnainou tells her story as a hidden child in France during World War II. He chronicles the struggles and survival of two families: his mother’s and his mother-in-law’s. Both lived through a terrifying ordeal provoked by the willful blindness of a government gone mad. And both were rescued thanks to the miraculous intervention of courageous people who listened to their conscience and challenged the established order, often at the expense of their own lives. In 1940, about 330,000 Jews lived in France, and three-quarters survived thanks to the exemplary altruism of ordinary French people. This book pays homage to them. Every story and location, as well as most of the dates and names, are true. Some details have been slightly romanticized to add texture and readability to this novelized history.