Charlotte

“This is my entire life” – it is with these words, that in 1942, Charlotte Salomon handed over a suitcase full of paintings to a trusted acquaintance. They show the story of the girl, alone after the death of her mother, an absent father. Later, the family replaced with Einstein, Mendelsohn, Schweitzer. In the 1930s, an escape from Berlin to exile in France, where Charlotte begins to paint. Aged 26, she dies in Auschwitz and it is only her paintings which survive. Many years later, David Foenkinos discovers the artist in an exhibition, “love at first sight”, he says.

David Foenkinos, born in 1974, lives in Paris where he works as an author and scriptwriter. His books are translated into approximately 40 different languages. For, “Charlotte”, Foenkinos has been awarded the Prix Renaudot and the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens.

Moderation: Anne-Marie Schirmer
Translation, reading of German texts: Thomas Städtler
Language: French/German

As part of the French Week Heidelberg-Mannheim

In cooperation with