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A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis Kindle Edition

by Francoise Frenkel (Author), Patrick Modiano (Preface) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 963 ratings
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A PEOPLE BOOK OF THE WEEK
WINNER OF THE JQ–WINGATE LITERARY PRIZE

“A haunting tribute to survivors and those lost forever—and a reminder, in our own troubled era, never to forget.” —People

An “exceptional” (TheWall Street Journal) and “poignant” (TheNew York Times) book in the tradition of rediscovered works like SuiteFrançaise and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, the powerful memoir of a fearless Jewish bookseller on a harrowing fight for survival across Nazi-occupied Europe.

In 1921, Françoise Frenkel—a Jewish woman from Poland—fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin’s first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city. In 1935, the scene continues to darken. First come the new bureaucratic hurdles, followed by frequent police visits and book confiscations.

Françoise’s dream finally shatters on Kristallnacht in November 1938, as hundreds of Jewish shops and businesses are destroyed. La Maison du Livre is miraculously spared, but fear of persecution eventually forces Françoise on a desperate, lonely flight to Paris. When the city is bombed, she seeks refuge across southern France, witnessing countless horrors: children torn from their parents, mothers throwing themselves under buses. Secreted away from one safe house to the next, Françoise survives at the heroic hands of strangers risking their lives to protect her.

Published quietly in 1945, then rediscovered nearly sixty years later in an attic, A Bookshop in Berlin is a remarkable story of survival and resilience, of human cruelty and human spirit. In the tradition of Suite Française and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, this book is the tale of a fearless woman whose lust for life and literature refuses to leave her, even in her darkest hours.
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  1. Print length
    287 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Atria Books
  5. Publication date
    December 3, 2019
  6. File size
    12918 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Detailed, emotional, and careful. . . . A compelling account of crushing oppression, those who sought to flee it, and those who, at great risk, offered help.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Insightful, sympathetic, suspenseful, and eventually triumphant, this memoir is a worthy addition to the WWII canon.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Riveting. . . . Frenkel, who died in 1975, writes that it is ‘the duty of those who have survived to bear witness to ensure the dead are not forgotten.’ Frenkel’s remarkable story of resilience and survival does just that, and will truly resonate with readers.” —Publishers Weekly

“Like a bookstore, Frenkel’s memoir contains not one story, but many. There is, of course, her own odyssey to safety—but there’s also the heroic tale of M. and Mme. Marius, Frenkel’s friends and saviors; the comedy of the glamourous refugee who hoodwinked the Germans into saving her son; the tragedy of the young man accused of murdering his wife; the melodrama of hardened prison guards; and ultimately, a story of liberation and redemption.”—BookPage

Select Praise from the UK

“An astonishing memoir . . . as gripping as any thriller.” —The Sunday Times

"A beautiful and important book...shocking yet delicate prose, cruelty and beauty combined in just over 250 pages." —The Independent

"[Frenkel] spins, almost out of nothingness, a crucial moment in time that ought to suspend itself over the consciences of her readers, her fellow men, vitally, critically and irrevocably. We are given only hints of a past, nothing of a future, a highly selective panorama of a present. Yet what we hold in our hands, as we hold this little volume, can be said to be pure gold."—Bookanista

“I cried and still couldn’t put it down.” —Lisa Appignanesi, award-winning author of Losing the Dead and Mad, Bad, and Sad

“A lost classic . . . Frenkel’s tale and prose is utterly compelling, at once painful and exquisite.” —Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

“Remarkable . . . A French equivalent to the anonymous A Woman in Berlin, and a non-fiction counterpoint to Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise. . . [A book that] everyone should hold in their hands." —Daily Telegraph (five stars)

“The book is not only a moving memoir but also an intriguing historical document, thanks not least to Frenkel's emphasis on the often unsolicited help she received from ordinary French people.” —Natasha Lehrer, The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Françoise Frenkel was born in Poland in 1889. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, she opened the first French-language bookshop in Berlin with her husband. In the summer of 1939, with war looming, Frenkel fled to Paris. She sought refuge across occupied France for the next several years until finally escaping across the border to Switzerland, where she wrote a memoir documenting her refugee experience. Her memoir, originally published in 1945 as Rien où poser sa tête (No Place to Lay One’s Head), was rediscovered in an attic in southern France in 2010 and republished in the original French as well as in a dozen other languages. This is its first publication in the United States. Frenkel died in Nice in 1975.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07W67T2VH
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria Books; Illustrated edition (December 3, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 3, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 12918 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 287 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 963 ratings

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Francoise Frenkel

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
963 global ratings
Heartbreaking
3 Stars
Heartbreaking
"In 1921, Françoise Frenkel--a Jewish woman from Poland--fulfills a dream. She opens La Maison du Livre, Berlin's first French bookshop, attracting artists and diplomats, celebrities and poets. The shop becomes a haven for intellectual exchange as Nazi ideology begins to poison the culturally rich city." Françoise Frenkel's first hand account of what it meant to be hunted by the Nazi's is heartbreaking and terrifying. The title is a little misleading as this isn't a story about a bookshop but about its owner's harrowing ordeal during WW2. The book, first published in 1945 was rediscovered in an attic in 2010 and given another life. I always prefer to listen to non-fiction books but I would recommend reading the physical copy as the audiobook narration made it very difficult to focus. A good read for anyone who loves history.
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Top reviews from the United States

P. Blevins
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2024
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Francoise Frenkel wrote her memoirs in 1945; but it went out of print for years in between then and now. Finally, it was rediscovered and reprinted so we can now read her story as she attempted to just live and then to escape to Switzerland. All the time worrying about her family and being able to hear nothing from them. She was extremely lucky to have many friends and former customers from her bookstore. This enabled her to hide from the Germans and hide in relative comfort while waiting.
Her book tells very little about her childhood and even less of her marriage. It does tell of her actions to opening and running a bookstore in Berlin leading up to the was. It tells of her traveling all over France following the almost indiscernible path to those who were able to help her. It also describes many instances of help from total strangers as she passes through.
Her writing is very descriptive and yet very easy to follow. Through her writing, one can feel her anger and terror as she waits for help to leave. It is an excellent book
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Hande Z
4.0 out of 5 stars An adult Ann Frank
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2020
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This is an adult version of Ann Frank’s Diary. Francoise Frenkel fulfilled her childhood dream of opening a bookshop. She chose Berlin to start her business selling French literature, and was well-supported by French publishers and the diplomatic corps that were stationed in Berlin. The problem, for her, was that she’s Jewish. Having survived the First World War as a child, she now found herself in the centre of a graver danger – Nazis.

She was harassed in Berlin until she felt that it was for her own safety to flee to France, with the intention of returning to Poland from there; but events quickly overtook her, and she found herself moving from city to city in France as the Germans advanced.

Her recollection of life on the run is thrilling and full of suspense. She was describing events as they unfold and affect her personally. The courage and nobility of her French friends who risked their lives to shelter her, especially the French couple Monsieur and Madame Marius, were truly admirable and may bring tears to one’s eyes. But there was also greed and betrayal.

Frenkel’s husband, Simon Raichenstein, died in Auschwitz on 19 August 1942. Unfortunately, the fate of the Mariuses is not known. Frenkel lived the rest of the war in Switzerland where she escaped to avoid the Germans. She returned to Nice after the war, and there she lived till her death on 18 January 1975. This book, originally published in 1995 under the French title, ‘No Place to Rest One’s Head’, was lost in obscurity until a copy was discovered in 2005.
12 people found this helpful
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Serenity...
5.0 out of 5 stars ~~An Arduous Journey...~~
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2019
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This book definitely captures an arduous journey by Francois Frenkel from Berlin to Switzerland ...and finally freedom and safety. Originally from Poland, she had opened a bookstore in Berlin where there was peace until 1935.

The climate was changing drastically and even newspapers were blacklisted. Even worse were the events in late 1938 when fires were started and windows were smashed and contents of buildings were strewn about on the streets. One scene that affected me was when the Synagogue was set ablaze and an elderly man was picking up pieces of the Torah scroll and placing them into a basket.... She fled Berlin and her beloved bookstore leaving the books behind. And, her journey begins towards true freedom.

This is the story of what I term her flight to freedom and what an arduous trek it became. Into hiding many times, waiting for trains that never seemed to arrive and the never-ending standing in queues for some piece of paper for a new requirement. And, those things are only the beginning of her problems...So much more within the pages.

I appreciated the fact that the author included details such as the post office finally being open again in Vichy. A place for conversation while waiting for mail...which more often than not never arrived. It is here that she met a lady that also offered a glimpse into that era. The term 'shell shocked' came into the book with a powerful impact.

As the farmer in the field said to her 'Courage'! And, off she went nearly into the unknown...

The translation done by Stephanie Smee was excellent, I thought. At the conclusion of the book there are photos included which explain the contents of the book.

I reflected on what I had read for an hour or so before I wrote my review. And, I realized that there are details in this one that are important to the historical aspect which did in fact increase my knowledge of that time... including the people, their perspectives on the events and the soldiers as they returned from battles. So, five stars for me...

Most highly recommended.
64 people found this helpful
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Christian Schlect
3.0 out of 5 stars A Fragile Vase
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2019
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The memoir of an educated Polish woman who, as a Jew, faced extreme difficulties first in Berlin while running a literary book store and then in France dodging Nazis and their French collaborators. Eventually, in 1943, the author makes it to safety in Switzerland.

Written in a factual, straight forward style it is a compelling book. However, I don't think it rises to the level of great literature. And, as a personal story of one who survived without going to the murderous camps, it can not substitute for the more broadly focused histories of the Holocaust.
24 people found this helpful
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Jeffrey J. Ward
5.0 out of 5 stars A Rediscovered Memoir of a Refugee in Occupied France
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2020
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This beautifully written memoir of a Polish Jewish Refugee in occupied France was published in 1945 and rediscovered many decades later in an attic and has only recently been published in an English translation. The memoir begins in Berlin where the author runs the only French bookstore in Berlin. It moves to Paris in 1939 where she flees to evade the Nazis where she lives briefly until the German army approaches Paris. She flees again to the south of France. The hardships this woman sufferred would have been unendurable were it not for the kindness displayed by so many fine and compassionate French men and women she befriended who enabled her to avoid deportation to the Nazi death camps. This book is terrifying, but at the same time, heartwarming. This is a story of courage, character and ultimately survival.
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Julie
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2023
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I can’t say it was enjoyable, due to the subject matter, but it was an interesting read and gives another glimpse of life in occupied Countries during WWII and how people behaved during this time.
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Theresa
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and captivating. One of my favorite war memoirs!
Reviewed in Canada on April 15, 2020
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This memoir flows smoothly keeping the readers atteñtion. It is different from most memoires because she is not sent to a camp. After numerous attempts to gain entry into Switzerland she finally succeeds. An update on the people who helped her would have been nice.
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