And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Jacques Lusseyran, translated by Elizabeth R. Cameron. New World Library (ISBN: 9781608682690) 2014 (first published in 1963).
Summary: A memoir of a blind hero of the French resistance and Buchenwald survivor.
Jacques Lusseyran lived the life of a normal, active French boy until age 8, when he became blind, due to an accident. Yet, all did not go dark for him. He writes,
“Immediately, the substance of the universe drew together, redefined and peopled itself anew. I was aware of a radiance emanating from a place which might as well have been outside me as within. But radiance was there, or to put it more precisely, light. It was a fact, for light was there” (pp. 16-17).
In this memoir, Lusseyran recounts the years between that experience and his liberation from Buchenwald by the Allies at the end of World War 2. The first part of the book recounts his adjustment to being blind, from learning Braille to enjoying the assistance of friends to live a more or less normal life. Among those was Jean, who becomes his closest friend and protector. They went through school for seven years and were deeply bound together. They were friends in heart and mind.
He became aware of the rising German threat, and learned German so that he could listen to German broadcasts. He tells the story of young men with all the hopes of advanced school students under the looming cloud that broke upon France in 1940. The following year, at age 17, he organized a resistance group, the Volunteers of Liberty, which later merged with another group, Defense de la France. He recounts the care they took to avoid betrayal. Lusseyran had an ability, by listening to determine whether someone could be trust. Sadly, in the end one of whom he had doubts betrayed them. He coordinated publication of an underground paper, eventually circulating 100,000 copies an issue. They also coordinated efforts with other groups to get downed fliers out of France. Until his arrest in 1943.
After six months at Fresnes, he was taken to Buchenwald. He avoided the hard labor of most due to his blindness and the tip of another prisoner to play up his ability to translate. Nevertheless he nearly died and recounts how the light came to him at deaths door. He spoke a song within with the words “Providence, the Guardian Angel, Jesus Christ, God.” He survived, but only to watch Jean die. Yet joy and light sustained him. He describes the decision to remain at Buchenwald when the Germans offered to take them away. Those who left were shot…and he was liberated.
Lusseyran ends the story here, although he went on to teach in the United States and receive several awards from the French government for his work in the resistance. The publisher indicates that this story was part of the inspiration for Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. In some ways, while I think Doerr writes more beautifully, this may be a more powerful story. While not preachy, it is a story of “life, light and joy by the grace of God.” Indeed, there is a luminosity that radiates from this work, even in the darkest hours of Vichy France and over a year and a half in transports and prisons. One senses Lusseyran knows that his life is not his own in a way that frees him from anxiety and despair.
