by Bodie Thoene
Mac’s film footage of the rescue and then of Trevor’s reunion with his sister, Annie, and his father, was viewed in a private afternoon screening for the royal family and members of the War Cabinet at Buckingham Palace.
Afterward, as Elisa and Murphy slipped away to be alone, Mac and Eva strolled along the Embankment overlooking the Thames. Barrage ballons, like giant silver kites, drifted above barges on the river. Ahead, Big Ben and Parliament were silhouetted against the twilight sky.
Mac held Eva’s hand. It seemed natural to have her beside him. “Your letters . . .” He groped for the right words, faltered, and fell silent.
“Will you stay in London now? Or go back to Paris?” she asked.
“Paris. A few days here, then . . . Paris again.”
“When will you come home again?”
He inhaled. “Home. You mean . . .”
“I mean here . . . back to me. Home.”
Yes. Being with Eva was like a homecoming for Mac. “I don’t know. I don’t. This thing, the war . . . is . . . it’s just beginning. When the weather warms up again, when it’s spring again, we’re going to see guys like Trevor Galway who have been through enough for a lifetime back in the navy, back on their battleships, and it will happen all over again. I knew that when I saw those British prisoners come out of the hold of the Altmark. Yes. The true horror is just beginning.”
“I will wait for you, Mac.”
He squeezed her fingers. “I know. I know, Eva. And I wish I could somehow . . . sorry. I wish . . . I mean . . . being here with you, Eva, well, it’s all I want.” He stopped and pulled her to him, cupping her face in his hands. “You’re all I want. But how can I make any promises? I have the feeling this is going to last a long time and . . . how could I ask you to . . . you know?”
“Just ask.”
“All right, then. Would you? Marry me? When I finish this assignment. When I come back from Paris. Would you?”
She sighed. “Mac. Mac . . . you know the answer.” She lowered her eyes in acceptance as he kissed her.
“Then, Eva, I’ll live and die a happy man.” He held her close against him.
“Just live, Mac. Live . . . please.”
Digging Deeper into Paris Encore
“Time levels all men. Good and evil alike. A century will pass in the blink of an eye, and who will sort the particles of dust? ‘God will know you!’ I look in the mirror each morning and say to myself, ‘Andre, one day everything you think you believe about yourself will be put to the test! Then there will be no more empty talk over the dinner table. Honor? Love? Faith? Courage? They will become suddenly tangible truths that stand before you and require you to make a choice.”
—Andre Chardon (p. 158)
When you hear the word hero or heroine, what character quality first comes to mind?
Most would say, “Courage.” Why? Because without courage, there can be no such thing as a hero or heroine.
In the fall of 1939, England and France have finally declared war against Germany, yet Hitler’s evil continues to sweep across Europe, destroying everything and everyone in its wake. Will England and France be able to stop the great tide of evil that now threatens to wash over the sleeping neutral countries of Belgium and Holland? Who will awake in time to see the danger—and have the courage to make a difference?
In Paris Encore, there are many heroes and heroines who exhibit courage—both publicly and behind the scenes:
Winston Churchill continues to fight evil the only way he can—by resuming his position as First Lord of the Admiralty for England so he can counter the cowardly Neville Chamberlain’s inaction.
Journalist John Murphy pens and publishes the truth . . . but longs to do even more to open the eyes of Americans to what’s happening in Europe.
Photographer Mac McGrath risks his life on the front lines for rare footage. . . and then has to fight the censors who refuse to release his films.
Horst von Bockman agonizes over his conflicting loyalties to duty and the Fatherland, his love for and need to protect his family, and his compulsion to help Father Kopecky save “even one” of the Jews from Nazi-occupied Warsaw.
Horst’s wife, Katrina, risks her reputation, property, and very life to save the Polish Jew Brezinski, his family, and the numerous Jewish children and nuns in her stable.
It is a time when few people can be trusted. As Old Brezinski says, “The only honest men left in Germany are in concentration camps. Holy places, those prisons. Full of saints and martyrs” (p. 131). And yet this humble Jewish man is himself a hero. Why? Because he has every reason to hate Nazis, yet he is able to act with courage and see with long-range perspective.
When Katrina becomes disillusioned with Horst, Brezinski offers this wisdom: “Not every man in the Wehrmacht is evil. . . .You know the Nazi law. If one family member commits a crime, all are punished. . . . Love sometimes calls for a peculiar kind of duty. . . . You are doing all you can. You have put yourself at risk for all of us. So be smart. But you must have mercy also on your husband. They hold a gun to your head, and he loves you. Believe that he will do what he can, but also what he must” (p. 131, 132).
And that takes us to you, dear reader. Do you struggle with conflicting loyalties—doing what you can, but also what you must? Are you being put to the test, as Andre talked about? Are you in the midst of an agonizing decision?
We know how complicated life becomes, so we prayed for you as we wrote this book. And we continue to pray as we receive your letters and hear your soul cries. Following are some questions designed to take you deeper into the answers to these questions. You may wish to delve into them on your own or share them with a friend or a discussion group.
We hope Paris Encore will encourage you in your search for answers to your daily dilemmas and life situations. But most of all, we pray that you will “discover the Truth through fiction.” For we are convinced that if you seek diligently, you will find the One who holds all the answers to the universe (1 Chronicles 28:9).
Bodie & Brock Thoene
Seek . . .
PART I
Chapters 1–2
1. Winston Churchill was appointed to Chamberlain’s War Cabinet so he could no longer criticize the British government (p. 3). Have you ever been put in a position because you’ve been critical of the way things have been done? If so, did anything change in you, the job, or the organization as a result?
2. Even in death, the Nazis wronged Pastor Karl Ibsen. They claimed he’d committed suicide, when he actually died as a martyr (p. 4). Have you (or someone you know) been wronged by slander against your reputation? What was the situation, and how have you handled it?
3. If someone you love died in a “horrible way” ( p. 4), would you want to know? Why or why not?
4. Should we fight in wars that are “supposed to be none of our business” ( p. 11)? Explain your view.
5. Have you ever been intrigued by a person you’ve seen or met in passing, as Josie was intrigued by Andre (pp. 17, 18) and Annie was “burned into” David’s mind (p. 37)? What interested you most about that person? Have you seen that person since?
Chapters 3–5
6. Have you ever experienced any “miracle in the storm” (p. 21) that has helped pinpoint your “larger purpose”? If so, what was it? How has that experience impacted your life?
7. If you had to flee your home and could take only forty kilos (88 pounds) of personal effects with you, what would you take? Why?
8. When others tease you, how do you respond? Good-naturedly (like David Meyer did when called Tinman— p. 29)? In anger? Or in some other way? How has your response affected the other person’s response?
Chapters 6–7
9. Jerome and Marie’s papa has a realization that his life isn’t what he has dreamed it would be when he visits his sick brother (see p. 47). Have you had a similar realization? When? Has it led you to change your life in any way? If so, how?
10. Have you ever felt lonely, as An
nie, Josie, and Andre did (see pp.59, 64, 75)? When? What do you do in those lonely times?
11. When Mac McGrath’s front-line footage is confiscated by the French censors (p. 63), he is understandably angry. But who do you agree with—the censors or Mac? With all the media available today, do you think wartime footage should be censored in any way? What “rules” would you establish?
12. Frank Blake, the Paris Associated Press chief, claims, “The English fight for tea, crumpets, and mother. The French fight for sex, a good table in a restaurant, and the right to a pension” (p. 65). What would you fight for?
Chapters 8–9
13. Have you ever had to choose between loving two different people (see p. 71, where Mac is torn between Josie and Eva)? How did you make that choice? Would you change that choice now? Why or why not?
14. Do you tend to be “a rescuer” (p. 71) for those in distress? Give an example. How has this worked in your favor? against you?
15. Andre Chardon says that his greatest fault is that he has a daughter and he has never met her (see p. 75). If someone you really trusted asked you, “What is your greatest fault?” what would you say? (If you couldn’t say it aloud, what would you write in your journal?)
16. “Only one thing mattered. The rucksack containing his film was gone. And his DeVry camera was smashed. It lay in pieces on the floor” (p. 78).
What is the one thing you would hate losing the most? Why?
17. Trevor Galway risked punishment to give the dying Frankie Thomas fresh air and paid with painful consequences:
The German captain shouted the order to have Trevor dragged out of the hold for public flogging to precede the burial at sea of young Frankie Thomas (p. 81).
What qualities make someone a hero or heroine in your eyes? What “real-life” person do you consider to be a hero or a heroine? Explain.
PART II
Chapters 10–11
18. There is panic in Belgium because of the “hearsay that the Germans will soon attack through Belgium and Holland” (p. 88). All of a sudden, any “outsider” is looked upon as a potential spy. If you heard a rumor that another country was soon going to attack yours, how would you respond? What—if any—preparations would you make?
19. Have you ever fallen for someone “like a ton of bricks” (p. 98) as David fell for Annie Galway? What happened in your relationship? Did you see that person for who he/she really is, or were your eyes covered by “rose-colored glasses” at any point? Explain.
20. Has anyone stood up for you (whether you did right or wrong) as Madame Rose stood up for Jerome when he attempted to steal the sausage (p. 103)? Explain the situation. How did that person’s kindness impact your view of yourself? your future?
Chapters 12–13
21. “When the occasion demands it, we will put aside our differences, to be resumed at a more convenient moment” (Irene, p. 109).
When have you worked with someone who would normally be on the opposite side of an issue? How did you put aside your differences to work together? In the process, did you learn anything about the other person? about yourself?
22. How would you respond to someone who says, “As long as an individual is left alone to live day by day, one set of principles is as good as another, isn’t it?” (see p. 109).
23. “‘No!’” Delfina shot back hotly. ‘Politics and war are not the same. It is war that ultimately decides politics, religion, and what your life will be like day to day! Not the other way around. Right and wrong survive every battle. But only the victor has the privilege to choose between the two. The Nazis have known that from the beginning. Hitler . . . Stalin . . . they are all the same. They enslave their own people by giving them something that politics and religion can no longer provide. They give them meaning to their existence that is beyond narrow self-interest. Give them a sacred war to fight! A reason to sacrifice! Some unity in a bloody cause! The real degradation begins when people realize they are in league with the devil. But they feel the devil is preferable to the emptiness of life that lacks larger significance. The Cause becomes their god. Right or wrong? What is that? The Cause is everything’” (p. 110).
Reflect on your life and priorities. Is any “Cause” (whether work, a political issue, a social issue, a past event that has left you bitter, etc.) becoming “everything” over your time and thoughts? Why is this “Cause” so important to you? Is your life missing a “larger significance,” as Delfina mentions?
24. Have you ever taken a “detour” into your past, as Andre does when he goes to visit Luxembourg City ( p. 113)? If so, what did you find there?
Chapter 14
25. Paul Chardon is feeling sorry for himself because he has gotten into trouble by speaking so frankly with his brother and with General Gamelin (see p. 125). There is so much more Paul wants out of life, and now he wonders if he’ll ever have the chance.
Have you ever felt sorry for yourself? Or wondered if life had more “out there” for you and you were missing it? Describe the events. What has changed since that time? (Or, if happening presently, what step can you take to begin turning the tide of events?)
26. Through an unusual source (Brezinski, a Polish Jew—one of the very people the Nazis, including Horst, are fighting to exterminate) Katrina gains a new and startling perspective on her husband:
“Your husband is a Wehrmacht hero, Katrina. His loyalty is unquestioned. Though the Nazis do not have his heart, they have his oath as a soldier. And as long as he continues to fight for the Fatherland? Well then, we might remain relatively safe” (p. 130).
Think back to a time when you’ve been in conflict with another person. What—if anything—changed your perspective regarding that person or your conflict?
27.“Here was the question I put to myself: A man comes up to me on the street and puts a gun to the head of my wife. He tells me he will blow her brains out if I do not break into the house of my neighbor and steal his gold. What will I do? . . . In Poland now the Nazis have made Jews to be policemen to arrest their fellow Jews. Good men are made to be traitors to their own friends. Their wives and children are hostages” (Brezinski to Katrina, re: Horst, pp. 131, 132).
If you had to betray your neighbor, whom you’ve known for years, in order to save your family, would you? Why or why not?
Chapter 15
28. Josie Marlow suffered through a lot of teasing during her growing-up years because she was poor, she had an accent, and she was ordinary and too tall. Andre notices that “her gaze held the knowledge of sorrow too great for her years” (see p. 135). But these same circumstances also gave her a heartfelt compassion for the evacuated children from Alsace.
Think back to your childhood. What two or three events made the most impact on you? How do they continue to affect your decisions and the way you live your life? Would people say that you have “a nobility of spirit and a strength untainted by bitterness” (p. 135)? Why or why not?
29. “I promised myself after I lost Danny that I would not get involved. . . . So common sense prevails over love, and he’s gone” (Josie, p. 136).
When Josie wouldn’t allow herself to love Mac McGrath and when Andre chose not to marry Elaine Snow, the mother of his child, common sense prevailed over love.
Has common sense ever prevailed over love in your life (whether in a romantic relationship, with a family member, or with a friend)? What happened as a result?
30. Horst von Bockman cannot shake the woman Sophia from his mind (see p. 136).
When you lie awake at night, what images replay through your mind? Is there something you can do (for example, Andre phoned Abraham Snow and took his mother’s doll to the daughter he’d never met) to take a step toward healing?
If you are struggling with a heavy burden of guilt, as Horst is, let Father Kopecky’s words encourage you:
“The condition of your soul is between you and the Almighty. No one else. Not the church. Not a priest. The only hope for any of us is that God alone is good and mercifu
l. It gives Him joy to forgive us freely. Even the angels rejoice at the turning of one sinner’s heart toward heaven. So says the Scripture. But then we must be willing to live as if we are forgiven. Showing mercy to others” (p. 149).
Chapters 16–17
31. Have you ever given a gift to ease your guilt (see p. 150, when Abraham Snow accuses Andre of doing this)? When? Have you ever received a gift that eased someone else’s guilt? How did it feel to be on the receiving end?
32. When Andre took Josie to see Louvemont, how did her perspective change on Andre? the war? (See pp. 156-159.)
33. “I look in the mirror each morning and say to myself, ‘Andre, one day everything you think you believe about yourself will be put to the test! . . . You will live out your Truth even to the death, or Truth will die inside you even if you survive” (Andre Chardon, pp. 158).
Have you ever been “put to the test” to see who you really are inside? In what situation? What ultimate “Truth” do you believe in?
34.“There are no righteous wars. There is only, regrettably, sometimes the necessity to fight” (Andre Chardon, p. 158).
Do you agree with Andre? Why or why not?
35. “I have already made so many wrong choices. Hurt so many. Thrown away so much. Everything important, wasted on my own selfishness. Now I may lose my life, when living is precious to me at last. But for the first time in a long time, I think I have found something—someone—to live for” (Andre, p. 159).