Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Interpreter
The Interpreter
The Interpreter
Ebook337 pages3 hours

The Interpreter

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

No story of World War II is more triumphant than the liberation of France, made famous in countless photos of Parisians waving American flags and kissing GIs, as columns of troops paraded down the Champs Élysées. Yet liberation is a messy, complex affair, in which cultural understanding can be as elusive as the search for justice by both the liberators and the liberated. Occupying powers import their own injustices, and often even magnify them, away from the prying eyes of home.
One of the least-known stories of the American liberation of France, from 1944 to 1946, is also one of the ugliest and least understood chapters in the history of Jim Crow. The first man to grapple with this failure of justice was an eyewitness: the interpreter Louis Guilloux. Now, in The Interpreter, prize-winning author Alice Kaplan combines extraordinary research and brilliant writing to recover the story both as Guilloux first saw it, and as it still haunts us today.
When the Americans helped to free Brittany in the summer of 1944, they were determined to treat the French differently than had the Nazi occupiers of the previous four years. Crimes committed against the locals were not to be tolerated. General Patton issued an order that any accused criminals would be tried by court-martial and that severe sentences, including the death penalty, would be imposed for the crime of rape. Mostly represented among service troops, African Americans made up a small fraction of the Army. Yet they were tried for the majority of capital cases, and they were found guilty with devastating frequency: 55 of 70 men executed by the Army in Europe were African American -- or 79 percent, in an Army that was only 8.5 percent black.
Alice Kaplan's towering achievement in The Interpreter is to recall this outrage through a single, very human story. Louis Guilloux was one of France's most prominent novelists even before he was asked to act as an interpreter at a few courts-martial. Through his eyes, Kaplan narrates two mirror-image trials and introduces us to the men and women in the courtrooms. James Hendricks fired a shot through a door, after many drinks, and killed a man. George Whittington shot and killed a man in an open courtyard, after an argument and many drinks. Hendricks was black. Whittington was white. Both were court-martialed by the Army VIII Corps and tried in the same room, with some of the same officers participating. Yet the outcomes could not have been more different.
Guilloux instinctively liked the Americans with whom he worked, but he could not get over seeing African Americans condemned to hang, Hendricks among them, while whites went free. He wrote about what he had observed in his diary, and years later in a novel. Other witnesses have survived to talk to Kaplan in person.
In Kaplan's hands, the two crimes and trials are searing events. The lawyers, judges, and accused are all sympathetic, their actions understandable. Yet despite their best intentions, heartbreak and injustice result. In an epilogue, Kaplan introduces us to the family of James Hendricks, who were never informed of his fate, and who still hope that his remains will be transferred back home. James Hendricks rests, with 95 other men, in a U.S. military cemetery in France, filled with anonymous graves.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherFree Press
Release dateSep 12, 2005
ISBN9780743274814
The Interpreter
Author

Alice Kaplan

Alice Kaplan is professor of romance languages and literature at Duke University. She is a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Kaplan splits her time between North Carolina and Paris, France.

Read more from Alice Kaplan

Related to The Interpreter

Related ebooks

History For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Interpreter

Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
4/5

5 ratings1 review

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Author Kaplan’s first focus was Louis Guillaux, a noted French author who was the interpreter for a court-martial involving an African-American soldier. Her writing is at her best when she is dealing with the subject, James Hendricks, a native of North Carolina. Her careful research using census and military records, visiting his grave at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery east of Paris (there are 96 executed WWII soldiers buried outside the walls of this WWI cemetery) and even contacting his adoptive family who had always wondered what happened to him – all of this provides an excellent look at the prejudices and racism within the U. S. Army in WWII. James Hendricks, of the 3326th Quartermaster Truck Co., murders a French farmer during a drunken stupor (he shoots through a closed door killing the man, mistaking the house as one where he could purchase a prostitute for the night). He is hung for this crime on November 24, 1944. Per Kaplan, 55 of the 70 men executed by the Army in WWII were black. This book gives one much to ponder over such as consider this: George Whittington, a white soldier and also drunk, deliberately kills a French Resistance soldier, Francis Morand, August 22, 1944. He was also court-martialed but acquitted. See? Much to think about.

Book preview

The Interpreter - Alice Kaplan

.abook_preview_excerpt.html|ےƒT쇹DhI-m[ݲ@FMO/z&bKZU D8d6 2W|UЬ>ys<9{~j=xsrn,g뫵3CUEhmڧ\V69芾1aiއk;b!1hkchSsb޺:vrIߜK_ÿz,}\;3gM1߻؜ܸwÔOj|ɹۚB{=3?{/fպ3Ossؙ|k7mYU i]t+g7U_f%0mPHllסL[ ٙehaQ#PEfalLնL@o?ǎc< s>EL~wfI ?Xr04sٴ>))?83cua6j'7Ǽケyvg{r?ǽ'?Ć{;9όE:lD/_ЮOɒdoL U]qbp q87>vt[5]s9Ui-.s\y8|h|JsᛓKhD/͡}#uᦐ2]<+.Eoot~|27zR?̛{':ss}W?/;?#?tӓ}#l?ֿ'OgΏ=xj|W]ygv.8tiwq^,&pB͝[ ݙF 33K*Mh;t3#Yq?v Eb6>*\9l9vͻgՇ7f➀ %йV_?w~uz~EWڻX9{jޜ=;}ru< t\T}mRwN+~%wu/h 7ZPo8w,􅹼::4ߝp w6ߜŗϞ{y׸_PצGz>w8c#&vv@?k3jB͕hw^5N7vR确D, >mJkK_tT~K\\W޿)y}vuuvtq7N-NwkиnYؽGСųjRTNv;x~iލC=5.޽G@r¼=}ˏw=‘-ϹOd,}iƿ/)D=8{Շ;LJ ]Jx (߽G|{|Qqi_.yy뢓 ʕ.ݎbӟ'Pobw}qC[}c7o=wtv7&Nf&l㔲ϢOA]`)/ֿޔat ?=e[Vpk˛Cb r %#iTȅzhGqD(<ʚ@~ [i0:%cqtl 1*vx.'Ša 1\Ql,hgq`C [T`"x&_ ׹Sfa,3VmK1DZ, ,Jfu3{9o=@jEo*L|k}_x@lC d;hCîat@ qSZWa' ET ]C _jP(Yw\ƴ*M}6F[ƴp}\Mߺf!Xߪa]{  Xʈ2 l6CWk[#I8DX~0 fQ59m+jsMHlߔ-Ųؑ""^ۚƜMQS-6f10' `@ <+@Ĭpa+O]P=/b|(I܌E5Dq-Kµ%Ɲ`/8oP͆/ٓHm!;{MCߤO1.I9qo1lD'5p49aǬ Gn(5" B̫NbȌl6`,99%AG* stJ-py"nP`>B]9{Q;?"mwjie08 .͉B^kOĂu-77/;&᧌1)m?37*er1abL x$hj A5 C86Ӓ䢤?qWt>ǹ\w։7-.P ܰmB)z=o'$ }  o9Ejtm^%U5tBC*Ҽiz#HFG8 Ҿ&x&m+T@~J\pQ5r N>2ABiAb!+nO~u maf6,$ neVcfTh=d>n]c4FtdQC.}mV𼝚cnmqM+hg}'mˌyنsLW ?Q1/gQU`'vĵnfr35d^(Ӡ'w'dv.>;$(4F8 -g>/!on 9ee7Bh7j&Zѫe2A]1WjT&s;X(@t#kV0R:'R (WN/)_Lmۻ#p<+ 4^KT*BYHb6Dy.XS]3tG,kS OdaFH C)*KtHJWt 0U/-h&V] $ZaY4z/H-hdz¾>wDؘ /3D:ǘ ~HC;sTy*fcX8G !1"L^[tT ͑g!'槂$ZN"N_&QRݚEѭZ;V~MS \;]L|m4qNy)3ؑ|DļԛL@nx Uu& :N7E g!иRz*A#JA"oP-M&Pu<"Hj" ܦlG& ^/npYHȰT [kJtZJ5+M@X+ªw:!+\b U!1e܃ 6+1:6* Jt+2[pLdlI#щ(oL׿L ?~}[TsKQvʲw8{[4VS"j1'>Fzv u aBXJb}sţ@$JKexEѷP1-;f_Fimz0g澔y;# 0ɈyŤ!MwuFf8AEZ uBL[|@uEtlE޹,)cЌ^sϵӴ!Qa as9E%/ *t37Ѧڗ1Զmß)iڤ`$l}#fZwɈ OL,% z'D0yP"; Tp>3X&?UA![aeLޢyfEvPwm R(Uyv8z웦E:ouQb1I`SEgMJir|:ss:Jji\zۍIhSPW|*ihmT<1.M5'ȝw{U26eqjXPR&<|vsC(L FMWތ[f*;Pn(h:Ȍfָ4|?`6my\jm~EeJ!nI&(^Mjk``'QW ?OŤ:T!!R묯AH}ą($6j, # Qʤ2MÝXbÇ6լ{^ΰ!] $֒8l>5UvA@%%p2?PBu؅˾djA<Ð^X4 wk'KKg^n$D:uJlKt J$_YUa z-{6f4e֫" ? ]\٤iK.ȪdpIʱT^@_ʝ˛Q%+Wbz 61O̵Ip]>MO܁K$hP\?+B߀o0_k5ffkAޫ7>k#;tD蛾꜔7R=K~AH}rP$6H[dej Wf ?XSH663w[c"|BRT/or֭g~uij?zBeH"*?.UduTND#B j\a!d ]]dOӍMKk7nrW}rgrG-"&ض]N !f9wΔ0Yx\ke: IioGYDCf_9b7ņ4iH'% HV@"iz/'D[XTM q]cbk33 ڦH0SM@*h6j92e**uAILJ$8o43லii`m] ?v6P-9j x3:]̨֯yR*zq¼2ɣ@yL(luR*k-3٨" 'xХR*8k:bT ؟pパ); ʸ( 4 *S 1Dm+ID:u㍎l5\%0CG4P2 g~teb+B \tr(nc=-uO*jSq щe7I%&KYXlQU*I*[+$=4v:^S@)XʖNi+3lsaMЎyd[+o:ZU>~.cNv3B& XZiبi0MI3䂉*S)=%:iqRtwn6|<|z\q3mFUd2ͶjPtt.W@DE‰6qR:JQ:be.(^W}`s0  w_s(.Wq^t/"ZȜpzsH{7is41l䓃u 36F@XS 8Yۗrrę \_W¢t=>Z6MY~N ,ܱDQr4KheST%eFd’ h7Xuс(6IO*qX0 IzvZyH}h^`hOpG:dۺer.&٣ UX1|@}ѡh0Ӽ]W5(vB!1B+Ϛ\jԂ3Zդm-j/ ,ĵd)[7챯{/^0pﺑWgWˋM*Ƃk9͏ aj^T=cdx97'R CGCAv@'IǩarP/Ì%HW^w|6)eNX9 33 -ʉj't;W^kSg8^Θ4O| G2="z˪IC24#uTm ;J1-a>C= Duc(OB~ߚYHޜx-HL19mEpI[M,C•W#%B-ۆ:etXCʴ%Uke2%D?LIٚi@Kh9b{¦ fSuڭoqo#t\p@G\`Eƪ>vFk*h\ ;6-n$=i^=1j>\c$ }'Me[JO鈶3@N &RKSק;ۤ!3oMfIsޙ)Zy$Od#3'[>J{.l . &3Bґ2TeiCq-eON_hO"V̏k$V֤&wS<]NOiF=A&' _.m'QaI4v0| hG}5 ,&)Y)xYcا4Z94w ?ҶA_P f9) dcv)ښGhI#uY=tݾ:ɾc F*raRPOJ*0FNxKl[00lԮN&myǏj>iO4iz@ġ2d4vloHA 琤Ш軙τ1DԹU3-[,IEIi+ͪאE-:AY6,;[ǡ#[=)t>z_3nyYqmt!ecGoy$CW'g46mk3r2:*1qru:\F"X]Ldxu#}UF;G5}UJbO^{ s`LB"="@9Ր:K'Koa9S'=#|bSVgf23u\s20xbݒ ٕByc55"EOhܲ6ؖ{&r~9Z<^!59HW}u5yRoH,nkivpF޸] S m]eSr#^ FU 4kIr ]\PI=3(|ثn@I!7qTx(ם"}izBbY^MԂ~^T Gm_yx<ۗ/3rvC]΀/񢔵ϗrzaD3nʱlMO' )G`{*o$ٟixH+1e _МضUIG%#C$[Uʪ4ʜ%}hHLx|+,ӯ߸m ۰N>} CZ~¦̡jSJ 11u 3!,m$_CjښQ x1a$+jݥjmJMXڕ+b;>ݏ1ة9K%WN(ŐJTi5[3zK6@ Ўt͉ɻJ2J_=r_*JjF2~p?mdG٧9ήv9e(ă 9I1 !9c8dxFoѤ6R+кm<#=k")z6YRd2ɺ[jWCݪZݿ7;0nllT㇍ 幆1:˗<#EIw IOM]'b},ٵ$ &h7F}CwpYs$TqP~ MS#5 6 *c/mѬe5Rc&ȱIenP,ձd l-4"eSnaoLK"9f冸roκwQ#nd/n*e8k{YftaSh Bz~G9|sv-}97$!IT5xXvF2-`;tlrW(%)-Q )=m][
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1