A true story tenderly recounted in a new memoir based on letters and conversations from friends and family Star Crossed brings to mind Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, a journey of unrequited love and a life unfulfilled.
The time is 1940. Paris is under German occupation. The Café de Flore is crowded with the regular circle of “Forists,” artists, poets, filmmakers, and philosophers, the “intellectual elite,” schmoozing over a cup of ersatz coffee debating the best way to fight fascism, or the merits of Surrealist over Dada art. Here, at the Flore, you can find celebrities gossiping over the latest scandal, giggling over Zazou (punk) fashions that have sprung up overnight. Regulars like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, sit on the red leather seats next to Picasso or filmmaker Jean Rauch and mingle with students from the nearby Academy des beaux Arts, the most famous art school in all of France who gather round the luminaries. And it’s here twenty-year-old Jewish art student Annette Zelman meets Jean Jausion a handsome Catholic poet. Part of the “in crowd” Jausion was known for his romantic liaisons but Annette was too proud to be one among Jausion’s conquests.
Free-spirited, seemingly invincible Annette was one of five Zelman kids. Their parents Maurice and Kaila moved from “the provinces” to Paris to become more anonymous in times that restrictive laws focused on Jews. Not bound by strict religious conventions, the Zelman’s were nevertheless traditional in their religious observance. They hoped all their five kids would marry Jews and worried that their son Guy was dating Nicole, a beautiful “shicksa.” Annette kept secret her lover Jean Jausion. But not for long.
Financially comfortable, Zelman’s clothing business supplied the family with all creature comforts. All except their security. Paris became a dangerous place for Jews. New antisemitic legislation ramped up Nazi propaganda machine. The Zelman family fled Paris for Limoges. Much to her parents' disapproval, Annette disclosed her intent to remain with Jean. Her father declared “I forbid it”. Euphoric with joy, Annette felt untouchable by the scourge around her. Her parents relented. She moved into Jean’s studio. They filed marriage banns and set the wedding date for May 24th, 1942. But the course of true love never did run smooth. Certainly not with Annette and Jausion.
Arrested in the middle of the night Annette was taken to the Depot, a temporary holding place for “political prisoners” charged with the crime of attempting to “marry a gentile”. Who betrayed her? And why did Jean accept the condition under which Annette was transferred from the Depot.
A shocking revelation, Star Crossed is a powerful reminder of what was lost and whom to hold accountable.
