Friday Noon Study Group September 30 12-1

Last Friday, our group rode a roller coaster with Ernie Levy, examining the ups and downs of his life as portrayed in Chapter 5 and the beginning of Chapter 6 of The Last of the Just: 

• his two-year-long recuperation following his suicide attempt

• his service as a physical protector of his younger brother

• his family’s escape to Montmorency, France when Nazis began burning books/rounding up Jews in Stillenstadt

• his enlistment in the French Army in order to procure certificates that would protect his family from deportation

• his family being deported to French transit camp at Gurs, and, following the surrender of the French Army, their deportation to an extermination camp

• his wanderings throughout Vichy France wherein he imagines himself to be, and behaves like, a dog continuing his self-abasement

• his return to Nazi-occupied Paris where he lodges with members of the Old Zemyock Association and sews on the yellow Jewish star “with pleasure”

• The liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Paris and his efforts to assist, Golda, a lame Jewish girl

This Friday, we will pick up where we left off in Chapter 6, starting with Ernie’s relationship with, and eventual marriage to, Golda (was it love?  pity? a manifestation of Ernie’s potential savior complex?).  We’ll look at the deportation of Golda and her family to Drancy (a transit camp) and Ernie’s insistence that he also be admitted there (where he his tortured).  We’ll then look at the last chapter, “Never Again,” which painfully details Ernie’s experience in a Nazi death camp.  Once again, we’ll take up the question of what compelled Ernie (the last of the just) to risk his life by surrendering himself to Nazi-occupied France, Drancy, and Auschwitz.

Now in its 23^rd year, our informal discussion group meets via Zoom every Friday from 12-1.  Please note this change (we will reconsider resuming in-person meetings in CBI’s small chapel  starting in October).  All are welcome to attend regardless of their level of expertise.   If you have questions, please contact Jay Jacoby at jbjacoby@uncc.edu.