Written in diary format, Lucie Aubrac describes the turbulent events leading up to the escape of her family from occupied France —May 14, 1943 to February 12, 1944. Outwitting the Gestapo describes the underground activities of resistance fighters from all walks of life and the strong bonds that are formed between people who are fighting in the name of freedom. She helps the reader understand how the French survived the occupation, how the rural farms helped feed the urban dwellers, and how complete strangers helped each other survive. There is political discussion throughout her stories that show how the Vichy government under Pétain collaborated with the German occupiers by relocating persons of Jewish descent and by supporting German edicts. A wife and mother, Lucie explains why she and her husband would risk their lives in their fight for the freedom and liberty of her beloved France. ( )

It's too bad Ms.Aubrac didn't engage some professional help...this is one fantastic story, ready made for a movie...that came across just to light and humorous for me. The dangers and intrigues and close calls and failures, if handled rightly would have been a nail-biter of a book--and a cliff-hanger of a movie. Aubrac appears to be having a ball tricking the nazis and is obviously downplaying the dangers she experienced. This is one of those true stories that still hasn't been told. ( )

This is the third book I have read on the French Resistance, which I am finding to be a fascinating subject. The first book was fiction, the second more of a personal although very educational journal. This third book is written in journal form but is giving me much more history about the formation of the Resistance. It is giving me a big picture of the breadth of the Resistance, both inside and outside of France, as well as in both occupied France and free France. More forms of resistance are described way beyond propagandizing, education, and recruitment and on into freeing prisoners, and other military operations. In other words, forming an active and national army of resistance. Attention is given to the large number of groups with different perspectives and goals. The difficulties uniting the units into a common one working together is especially interesting to me. Can you imagine when one group with no weapons is in a better position strategically to carry out an operation, getting a better armed group to give them their weapons? It came to mind last night when I was listening to Obama on Charlie Rose, explaining the difficulty of understanding things that were happening if you did not have ALL of the information available to him and others, indeed if you had "not sat in that room" with all of the briefings. This intelligence gathering, information sharing, and policy making was of course also greatly hampered not only by the political disagreements, but by the circumstances of war and occupation. Even when communication systems were developed, there were constant arrests which meant everything had to be developed all over again with different sources, resources and people recruited.

Remember the old saying that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred did only backwards and in high heels? Well Lucie Aubrac did it all pregnant while caring for a small son. Altho, as I sit reading about Aubrac's plan to liberate her husband from the Nazis, I look across at my husband and think poor thing, he would have been doomed. I don't think I have that kind of courage. I think I might have the courage to fight in the moment of capture, to hit and kick and shoot even if I had a gun, but the courage to plan a sneak attack involving me crossing borders and bribing Nazis? Not so much. Especially when said Nazi is Klaus Barbie.

This book has excellent footnoting relating journal entries to facts of history and events of the time. It is very helpful for me as I have no knowledge of French history. Wish there had not been so many cute guys in my one world history class to distract me. As for the history class Aubrac is teaching during the Resistance, she is addressing ancient history and her Jewish students light up when they hear the names Mesopotamia, Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Abraham, Moses, etc. and the Catholic students find interest in the tablets of law. "My young students recognize each other as equals in the identity of a faith that originated with the nomad shepherds of the desert." Then on to studying metal industries of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. and the students realize "industrial power is on the side of the Allies."

This book just kept getting better and better. I was a nervous wreck for the last one third or so as the action increased. It's been a very long time since a book made me so physically tense.

The main thing that happened for me in reading this, is turning my grade school education about history and especially war, especially war of one country against another country, into a much more realistic picture of the intricacies and number of groups, alignments, complicated politics, etc. involved. Not everyone in France supported the fight against the Nazis of course, just as every German did not support the Nazis. Some people think the Aubracs were heroes, some think they were traitors. It reminds me once again of the foolishness of becoming involved in the politics of other countries where one cannot possibly understand all of these intricacies. I don't know the truth of these stories but this was one good book. Five stars. ( )