You must fight the Germans. After all they have done to the Jewish people, not to mention your own family, you feel compelled to take an active role in their defeat. To do less would be to put your own safety above the rescue of your brothers and sisters, and you cannot allow yourself to do that.
You are assigned to a resistance unit near Lyon, a unit
composed of mostly Jewish young people. Together with Anny
Letour and Jean-Pierre Levy, you attack German communications
and transportation. It gives you special pleasure to rescue Jews from
convoys before they can be deported to concentration camps. The
Organization Juive de Combat
(Jewish Fighting Organization) helps
get some of these rescued Jews into Switzerland and Spain. You feel
that you are doing something intensely important each time you save
a Jewish life — as though you saved the entire world.
Later, as it becomes clear that the Allied armies will land on the
beaches of northern France, you and other members of the resistance
move north and attack German installations near Calais. These
diversions help convince Hitler that the landing will come there.
When it actually occurs at Normandy as a surprise to the Germans,
you feel that all the dangers you endured were worthwhile. Later,
General Charles de Gaulle decorates you with the Medaille
Militaire.
You settle in the town of Caen as a shopkeeper where you
are respected by your neighbors and satisfied with yourself. What
more could anyone ask?
END