Defeat, Resist and Rescue

Book excerpt: The year is 1940. The place is France immediately after the German invasion of WWII. Thousands of Jews and antifascists flee to unoccupied Marseilles hoping to escape the clutches of the Gestapo. Among the desperate refugees is a Jewish girl, Danielle, and a young soldier. Jean, who meet on the road heading south. In Marseilles they find a savior and employer, Varian Fry, who directs an American relief center. His workers risk prison or death as they forge documents for their clients or guide them over the Pyrenees into neutral Spain. They all become involved in Resistance activities for Free French or American Intelligence agencies. When the Vichy police shut down the center and Fry is ordered to leave France, Danielle, Jean and their colleagues go underground and continue their dangerous work from the forested mountains of Provence.