As a prologue to this fresco leading its protagonist from Lódz, in Poland, to Port-au-Prince, the author recalls the vote by the Haitian State in 1939 of a decree-law of naturalization in absentia, which authorized Its consulates to issue passports and safe-conducts to hundreds of Jews, thus enabling them to escape Nazism. Before arriving in Port-au-Prince, in the early autumn of 1939, Dr. Ruben Schwarzberg, born in 1913 in a Polish Jewish family, passed through many trials. Becoming a renowned doctor and the patriarch of three generations of Haitians, he gradually pulled a line on his past. But, When Haiti was struck by the earthquake of January 2010 and the granddaughter of her late Aunt Ruth - who had moved to Palestine before the Second World War - rushed among doctors and rescuers from around the world, Her family history. For a whole night, set up under the veranda of his house in the heights of the capital, the old man unfolds for the young woman the account of the adventures that brought him to Port-au-Prince. In the distant sound of the drums of voodoo, he recounts his birth in Poland, his childhood and his years of studies in Berlin, where his father Nehemiah had moved his furrier's workshop on the night of pogrom of November 9, 1938, during which He and his father were saved by the Haitian ambassador. His internment at Buchenwald; His release thanks to a former professor of medicine; His embarkation on the Saint Louis, a ship chartered to transport to Cuba a thousand asylum seekers and finally driven back to Europe; His arrival by chance in the Paris of the late 1930s, where he is welcomed by the Haitian community and finally his departure to his new life, with a Haitian passport: Dr. Schwarzberg recounts them without pathos, With the calm, the distance, and the sense of derision, which doubtless permitted him, in the catastrophe, to seize the outstretched hands. A fascinating journey, Louis-Philippe Dalembert's novel also pays tribute to his native land, where many victims of history found a second homeland A ship chartered to transport to Cuba a thousand asylum seekers and eventually returned to Europe; His arrival by chance in the Paris of the late 1930s, where he is welcomed by the Haitian community and finally his departure to his new life, with a Haitian passport: Dr. Schwarzberg recounts them without pathos, With the calm, the distance, and the sense of derision, which doubtless permitted him, in the catastrophe, to seize the outstretched hands. A fascinating journey, Louis-Philippe Dalembert's novel also pays tribute to his native land, where many victims of history found a second homeland A ship chartered to transport to Cuba a thousand asylum seekers and eventually returned to Europe; His arrival by chance in the Paris of the late 1930s, where he is welcomed by the Haitian community and finally his departure to his new life, with a Haitian passport: Dr. Schwarzberg recounts them without pathos, With the calm, the distance, and the sense of derision, which doubtless permitted him, in the catastrophe, to seize the outstretched hands. A fascinating journey, Louis-Philippe Dalembert's novel also pays tribute to his native land, where many victims of history found a second homeland Where he is welcomed by the Haitian community and finally his departure to his new life, with a Haitian passport: Dr. Schwarzberg recounts them without pathos, with the calm, distance and sense of derision that allowed him Doubt, in the catastrophe, to grasp with outstretched hands. A fascinating journey, Louis-Philippe Dalembert's novel also pays tribute to his native land, where many victims of history found a second homeland Where he is welcomed by the Haitian community and finally his departure to his new life, with a Haitian passport: Dr. Schwarzberg recounts them without pathos, with the calm, distance and sense of derision that allowed him Doubt, in the catastrophe, to grasp with outstretched hands. A fascinating journey, Louis-Philippe Dalembert's novel also pays tribute to his native land, where many victims of history found a second homeland--translation of page 4 of cover by Babelio. "Avant que les ombres s'effacent. Dans le prologue de cette saga conduisant son protagoniste de la Pologne à Port-au-Prince, l'auteur rappelle le vote par l'État haïtien, en 1939, d'un décret-loi autorisant ses consulats à délivrer passeports et sauf-conduits à tous les Juifs qui en formuleraient la demande. Avant son arrivée à Port-au-Prince à la faveur de ce décret, le docteur Ruben Schwarzberg fut de ceux dont le nazisme brisa la trajectoire. Devenu un médecin réputé et le patriarche de trois générations d'Haïtiens, il a tiré un trait sur son passé. Mais, quand Haïti est frappé par le séisme de janvier 2010 et que sa petite-cousine Deborah accourt d'Israël parmi les médecins du monde entier, il accepte de revenir sur son histoire. Pendant toute une nuit, sous la véranda de sa maison dans les hauteurs de la capitale, le vieil homme déroule pour la jeune femme le récit des péripéties qui l'ont amené là. Au son lointain des tambours du vaudou, il raconte sa naissance à t6cli en 1913, son enfance et ses études à Berlin où était désormais installé l'atelier de fourrure familial, la nuit de pogrom du 9 novembre 1938 et l'intervention providentielle de l'ambassadeur d'Haïti. Son internement à Buchenwald ; son embarquement sur le Saint Louis, un navire affrété pour transporter vers Cuba un millier de demandeurs d'asile, mais refoulé vers l'Europe ; son séjour enchanteur dans le Paris de la fin des années trente, où il est recueilli par la poétesse haïtienne Ida Faubert, et, finalement, son départ vers sa nouvelle vie : le docteur Schwarzberg les relate sans pathos, avec le calme, la distance et le sens de la dérision qui lui permirent sans doute, dans la catastrophe, de saisir les mains tendues. Avec cette fascinante évocation d'une destinée tragique dont le cours fut heureusement infléchi, Louis-Philippe Dalembert rend un hommage tendre et plein d'humour à sa terre natale, où nombre de victimes de l'histoire trouvèrent une seconde patrie."--Page 4 of cover.