history
'My parents didn’t talk about the past': how director Caroline Huppert recovered her family’s wartime secrets
Memoir tells how the Jewish and Catholic parents of actor Isabelle and Caroline Huppert fell in love amid the rise of the Nazis. She explains why she wanted her ‘children’s children’ to know the story
TL;DR
- Caroline Huppert's memoir, Une Histoire Cachée, explores her parents' love story during World War II.
- The book is based on interviews with her father and newly discovered letters from her mother.
- Her parents, Raymond (Jewish) and Annick (Catholic), faced opposition to their marriage and fled Paris during the Nazi occupation.
- Huppert highlights the daily antisemitism in France and the implementation of discriminatory laws.
- The memoir also details the struggles of daily life during wartime, including finding food and coping with freezing conditions.
- Huppert acknowledges a recent surge in French media about the Vichy era but focuses on historical origins rather than contemporary resonances.
- She expresses detachment regarding her own Jewish roots and dislikes generalizations about 'the Jewish people'.
- The book is praised by her sister, actress Isabelle Huppert, for its portrait of a woman and historical documentation.
- Huppert remains haunted by the unknown fate of a young refugee named Françine mentioned in her mother's letters.