Suite Française

by Irene Nemirovsky

  The Field Commandant.

  Irène Némirovsky to Robert Esménard 9 September 1941

  I have finally rented the house I wanted here, which is comfortable and has a lovely garden. I am moving in on 11 November if these Gentlemen don’t get there first for we are once again expecting them.

  Irène Némirovsky to Robert Esménard 13 October 1941

  I was happy to receive your letter this morning, not just because it confirms my hope that you will do everything possible to help me, but also because it reassures me that someone is thinking about me, which is a great comfort.

  As you can imagine, life here is very sad, and if it weren’t for my work . . . Even the work becomes painful when the future is so uncertain . . .

  Irène Némirovsky to André Sabatier*9 14 October 1941

  My dear friend, I was very touched by your kind letter. Please do not think that I underestimate either your friendship or M. Esménard’s; on the other hand, I perfectly understand the difficulties of the situation. Up until now, I have shown as much patience and courage as I could possibly muster. But, what can you do, there are moments which are very difficult. These are the facts: impossible to work and must be responsible for four people’s lives. Added to that are stupid humiliations—I cannot go to Paris; I cannot have even the most basic necessities sent here, such as blankets, beds for the children etc., my books. A general and absolute prohibition has been declared regarding the apartments inhabited by people like me. I’m not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me, but to explain to you why my thoughts can only be dark [. . .]

  Robert Esménard to Irène Némirovsky 27 October 1941

  I have explained your situation to my father-in-law and have also shown him the letters you recently sent me.

  As I have told you, A. Michel only wishes to be of service to you in any way possible and he has asked me to offer you a monthly payment of 3,000 francs for the year 1942 which is the same amount he was sending you when it was still possible to publish your works and sell them regularly. Please be so kind as to confirm your agreement.

  However, I must point out to you that in accordance with very precise instructions we received from the Syndicat des Éditeurs (Publishers’ Union) regarding the interpretation of directives included in the German Decree of 26 April, article 5, we find ourselves in the position of being required to send all royalties received from the sale of Jewish authors’ works to their “blocked account.” According to this principle, it is stated that “publishers must pay royalties to Jewish authors by sending them to their bank account after receiving confirmation from the bank that the account is blocked.”

  In addition, I am returning the letter you received from GIBE Films (a copy of which I have kept). According to information I received from a reliable source, a project of this type can only be undertaken if the author of the book to be adapted to the screen is of Aryan origin, both in this zone and the other.*10 I can therefore only be involved in such a project when the author whose work is to be made into a film provides me with the most formal guarantee on this point.

  Irène Némirovsky to Robert Esménard 30 October 1941

  I have just received your letter offering me a monthly payment of 3,000 francs for the year 1942. I greatly appreciate Monsieur Michel’s attitude towards me. I am truly most grateful both to him and to you; the faithful friendship you both have shown me is as precious to me as the material support you wish to give me by doing this. However, you know that if this money must be held in a blocked bank account, it would be of no use to me whatsoever.

  I wonder if under the circumstances, it would not be simpler to send the monthly payments to my friend, Mlle Dumot,*11 who lives with me and is the author of a novel entitled Les Biens de ce Monde*12 whose manuscript is with Monsieur Sabatier. [. . .]

  Mlle Dumot is definitely Aryan and can give you any proof of this you may require. I have known her since I was a child and if she could come to an agreement with you about the monthly payments, she would look after my interests. [. . .]

  Telegram from Michel Epstein to R. Esménard and A. Sabatier 13 July 1942

  Irène suddenly taken today destination Pithiviers*13 (Loiret)—hope you can intercede urgently—trying to telephone no success.

  Michel Epstein.

  Telegram from R. Esménard and A. Sabatier to Michel Epstein July 1942

  Just received your telegram. Immediately making joint effort by Morand, Grasset, Albin Michel. Yours.

  Irène Némirovsky’s final two letters:*14

  Toulon S/Arrox 13 July 1942—5 o’clock [written in pencil and legible]

  My dearest love, for the moment I am at the police station where I ate some blackcurrants and redcurrants while waiting for them to come and get me. It is most important to stay calm, I believe it won’t be for very long. I thought we could also ask Caillaux and Father Dimnet for help. What do you think?

  I shower my darling daughters with kisses, tell Denise to be good and sensible . . . You are in my heart, as well as Babet, may the good Lord protect you. As for me, I feel calm and strong.

  If you can send me anything, I think my second pair of glasses are in the other suitcase (in the wallet). Books please, and also if possible a bit of salted butter. Goodbye my love!

  Thursday morning—July 1942 Pithiviers [written in pencil and legible]

  My dearest love, my cherished children, I think we are leaving today. Courage and hope. You are in my heart, my loved ones. May God help us all.

  Michel Epstein to André Sabatier 14 July 1942

  I tried to reach you by telephone yesterday without success. I have sent both you and Monsieur Esménard a telegram. The police took my wife away yesterday. It appears she is going to the concentration camp in Pithiviers (Loiret).

  Reason: general order against stateless Jews between the ages of sixteen and forty-five. My wife is Catholic and our children are French. Can anything be done to help her?

  André Sabatier’s reply

  In any case will need several days. Yours Sabatier.

  André Sabatier to J. Benoist-Méchin, 15 July 1942

  Secretary of State to the Vice President of the Council of Ministers

  Our author and friend I. Némirovsky has just been taken to Pithiviers from Issy-l’Évêque where she was living. Her husband has just informed me of this. A white Russian (Jewish as you know), never been involved in any political activities, a novelist of very great talent, having always paid the greatest tribute to her adopted country, mother of two little girls aged five and ten. I beg you to do everything you can. Thank you in advance and yours very truly.

  Telegram from Michel Epstein to R. Esménard and A. Sabatier 16 July 1942

  My wife must be at Pithiviers by now—Think useful to intercede at the regional police headquarters in Dijon—Sous-Préfet Autun and authorities Pithiviers. Michel Epstein.

  Telegram from Michel Epstein to Robert Esménard 16 July 1942

  Thank you dear friend—I put my hope in you. Michel Epstein.

  Telegram from Michel Epstein to André Sabatier 17 July 1942

  Counting on you to send telegram with news good or bad. Thank you dear friend.

  Lebrun*15 to Michel Epstein—Telegram 17 July 1942

  Pointless sending package as haven’t seen your wife.

  Telegram from Michel Epstein to André Sabatier 18 July 1942

  No news of my wife—Don’t know where she is—Try to find out and tell me truth by telegram—with advance notice can phone me day or night. ISSY-L’ÉVÊQUE.

  Telegram from Abraham Kalmanok*16 to Michel Epstein 20 July 1942

  Did you send Irène’s medical certificate—must do so immediately. Send telegram.

  Michel Epstein to André Sabatier 22 July 1942

  I have received a letter from my wife, from the Pithiviers camp, dated last Thursday, telling me she would probably be leaving for an unknown destination, which I assume is far away. I have sent a telegram, and prepaid reply, to the commanda
nt of the camp, but I have not heard from him. Would your friend possibly have more success, perhaps he could obtain the information they are refusing to give me? Thank you for everything you are doing. Keep me informed, I beg you, even if it’s bad news. Yours truly.

  Reply

  Have personally seen my friend.*17 Will do everything possible.

  André Sabatier to Michel Epstein Saturday 24 July 1942

  If I haven’t written to you it is because I have nothing precise to tell you at present and I can only bring myself to tell you the kind of things that might lessen your suffering. Everything necessary has been done. I saw my friend again who told me that all we can do now is wait. I pointed out, after receiving your first letter, that your children are French citizens, and after receiving the second letter, of [Irène’s] possible departure from the Loiret camp. I am waiting and this waiting, please believe me, is very painful to me as a friend . . . I say this to assure you that I am putting myself in your place! Let us hope that very soon I will have some definite good news to tell you. My heart goes out to you.

  Michel Epstein to André Sabatier 26 July 1942

  Perhaps we should point out that in my wife’s case they are dealing with a White Russian who never wanted to accept Soviet citizenship, who fled Russia after a great deal of persecution, with her parents whose entire fortune was confiscated. I myself am also in the same position and I am not exaggerating when I calculate that about one hundred million pre-war francs were taken from my wife and myself in Russia. My father was President of the Syndicat des Banques Russes (Union of Russian Banks) and Executive Director of the Bank of Commerce of Azov-Don. The authorities concerned can therefore be assured that we haven’t the slightest sympathy for the current Russian regime. My younger brother, Paul, was a personal friend of the Grand Duke Dimitri of Russia and the Imperial Family living in France was often received by my father-in-law, in particular, Grand Duke Alexander and Grand Duke Boris. Moreover, I would point out to you, if I have not already done so, that the German non-commissioned officers who spent several months living with us, in Issy, left me the following document when they left:

  O.U. den I, VII, 41

  Kameraden. Wir haben längere Zeit mit der Familie Epstein zusammengelebt und diese sehr anständige und zuvorkommende Familie kennengelernt. Wir bitten Euch daher, sie damitsprechend zu behandeln. Heil Hitler!

  Hammberger, Feldw, 23599 A.*18

  I still don’t know where my wife is. The children are in good health, as for me, I am still standing.

  Thank you for everything, my dear friend. Perhaps it would be helpful if you could discuss all this with the Count de Chambrun*19 and Morand. Best wishes, Michel.

  ? to Michel Epstein 27 July 1942

  Are there in your wife’s works, apart from the scene in Vin de Solitude, passages from novels, short stories or articles that could be pointed out as clearly anti-Soviet?

  Michel Epstein to André Sabatier 27 July 1942

  I received your letter of Saturday today. Thank you so very much for all your efforts. I know that you are doing and will do everything you can to help me. I have patience and courage. I just pray that my wife has the physical strength necessary to bear this blow! What is very difficult is that she must be horribly worried about the children and me, and I have no way of communicating with her since I don’t even know where she is.

  Please find enclosed a letter which I insist be sent to the German ambassador as a matter of URGENCY. If you could find anyone who could approach him personally and give it to him (Count de Chambrun perhaps, who, I believe, is prepared to take an interest in my wife), that would be perfect. But if you cannot find anyone able to do it QUICKLY, would you be so kind as to take it to the embassy or just post it. Thank you in advance. Of course, if this letter will upset the steps already taken, then tear it up, otherwise, I really wish it to be sent.

  I fear the same thing might happen to me. In order to avoid material concerns, could you send Mlle Dumot an advance on her monthly payments for ’43? I am afraid for the children.

  Michel Epstein to the German ambassador, Otto Abetz 27 July 1942

  I know that I am taking a great liberty in writing to you personally. Nevertheless, I am taking this step because I believe that you alone can save my wife, my only hope lies with you.

  Allow me therefore to explain to you the following: before leaving Issy, the German soldiers who were occupying the village gave me, in gratitude for the way we treated them, a letter which reads:

  O.U. den I, VII, 41

  Kameraden. Wir haben längere Zeit mit der Familie Epstein zusammengelebt und diese sehr anständige und zuvorkommende Familie kennengelernt. Wir bitten Euch daher, sie damitsprechend zu behandeln. Heil Hitler!

  Hammberger, Feldw. 23599 A.*20

  And yet, on the 13 July my wife was arrested. She was taken to the concentration camp at Pithiviers (Loiret) and, from there, sent somewhere else, but I do not know where. This arrest, I was told, was a result of general instructions given by the occupying authorities regarding the Jews.

  My wife, Madame M. Epstein, is a very famous novelist, I. Némirovsky. Her books have been translated in a great many countries and two of them at least—David Golder and Le Bal—in Germany. My wife was born in Kiev (Russia) on 11 February 1903. Her father was an important banker. My father was President of the Syndicat des Banques Russes (Union of Russian Banks) and Executive Director of the Bank of Commerce of Azov-Don. Both our families lost considerable fortunes in Russia; my own father was arrested by the Bolsheviks and imprisoned in the Saint-Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. We had the greatest of difficulty in finally managing to flee Russia in 1919 and we then took refuge in France, where we have lived ever since. All this must satisfy you that we feel nothing but hatred for the Bolshevik regime.

  In France, not a single member of our family has ever been involved in politics. I was a bank manager and as for my wife, she became a highly esteemed novelist. In none of her books (which moreover have not been banned by the occupying authorities) will you find a single word against Germany and, even though my wife is of Jewish descent, she does not speak of the Jews with any affection whatsover in her works. My wife’s grandparents, as well as my own, were Jewish; our parents practised no religion; as for us, we are Catholic and so are our children who were born in Paris and are French.

  If I may also take the liberty of pointing out to you that my wife has always avoided belonging to any political party, that she has never received special treatment from any government either left-wing or right-wing, and that the newspaper she contributed to as a novelist, Gringoire, whose director is H. de Carbuccia, has certainly never been well-disposed towards either the Jews or the Communists.

  Finally, for many years my wife has been suffering from chronic asthma (her doctor, Professor Vallery-Radot, can attest to this) and internment in a concentration camp would be fatal for her.

  I know, Ambassador, that you are one of the most eminent men in your country’s government. I am convinced you are also a just man. And it seems to me both unjust and illogical that the Germans should imprison a woman who, despite being of Jewish descent, has no sympathy whatsoever—all her books prove this—either for Judaism or the Bolshevik regime.

  André Sabatier to Count de Chambrun 28 July 1942

  I have received this very moment a letter from the husband of the author of David Golder, a copy of which I have taken the liberty of enclosing for you. This letter contains details which might prove useful. Let us hope that they will allow you to bring this matter to a positive conclusion. I thank you in advance for everything you are trying to do for our friend.

  André Sabatier to Mme Paul Morand*21 28 July 1942

  I wrote to Monsieur Epstein yesterday saying what we had agreed, thinking it would be better to write than to send a telegram. This morning I received his letter in the post. It clearly contains some interesting details.

  Michel Epstein to André Sabatier 28 July 1942
<
br />   I hope you received the letter I wrote yesterday and that the one intended for the ambassador has been given to him, either by Chambrun or by someone else, or directly by you. Thank you in advance.

  In reply to your note of yesterday: I think that in David Golder, the chapter where David does a deal with the Bolsheviks to buy oil rights cannot be seen as very kindly towards them, but I don’t have a copy of D. Golder here, could you check? You have a copy of the manuscript of Les Échelles du Levant,*22 which appeared in Gringoire, and which is more savage towards the hero, a charlatan doctor who comes from the Levantine, but I can’t remember whether my wife specifically made him Jewish. I think so.

  I see in chapter XXV of her biography of Chekhov, the following sentence: “The short story ‘Ward 6’ contributed greatly to Chekhov’s fame in Russia; because of it, the USSR claimed him as their own and stated that, had he lived, he would have joined the Marxists. The posthumous fame of a writer is filled with such surprises . . .” Unfortunately, I can’t find anything else and this is very little.

  Is there really no way at all to find out from the French authorities whether or not my wife is still in the camp at Pithiviers? Ten days ago, I sent a telegram, with a prepaid reply, to the commandant of the camp and have had no reply. Is it possible that just knowing where she is would be forbidden?

  I was told that my brother Paul is in Drancy,*23 why am I not allowed to know where my wife is? Alas . . .

  Goodbye, dear friend. I don’t know why I have faith in my letter to the ambassador. Michel.

  André Sabatier to Mme Paul Morand 29 July 1942

  Here is the letter I told you about on the telephone. I think you are better placed than anyone to decide if it is best to send this letter to the person its author wants to have it. On the content, I can hardly comment, as for the details, it seems to me there are certain sentences which are rather unfortunate.