Anne Weber

What a life! Born in 1923 in Brittany, raised in humble circumstances, already as a teenager a member of the communist resistance, rescuer of two Jewish youths – for which she will later receive the honorary title “Righteous Among the Nations” from Yad Vashem -, after the war a neurophysiologist in Marseille, sentenced in 1959 to ten years in prison for her involvement on the side of the Algerian independence movement…and still today in schools a living example of the importance of disobedience.

Anne Weber recounts the unlikely life of Anne Beaumanoir in a brilliant biographical heroine epic. The scenes, depicted with great power of language, raise many questions: What drives someone into the resistance? What does he sacrifice for it? How far can he go? What can he achieve? Annette, a Heroine’s Epic tells of a true heroine who concerns us.

“The power of Anne Weber’s narrative rivals that of her heroine: It is breathtaking how fresh the old form of the epic sounds here, and the ease with which Weber condenses the life story of French resistance fighter Anne Beaumanoir into a novel about courage, resilience, and the struggle for freedom. Annette, ein Heldinnenepos is a story full of hardships, but Weber tells it with sovereign unobtrusiveness and fine irony. At stake is nothing less than Franco-German history as one of the foundations of our Europe today. We are grateful that Anne Weber has discovered Annette for us and tells us about her.” (Jury statement German Book Prize 2020)

The event will take place at the DAI and additionally online in a free livestream.
Subscribe toour DAI Newsletter to never miss an event!