World Jewish News

French Jewish author wins one of France's top literary prizes

French Jewish author Olivier Guez won the Renaudot award, one of France's top literary prizes, for his book "The Disappearance of Josef Mengele".

The journalist who writes for various French and international publications spent years retracing the secret post-Holocaust life of the SS doctor, notorious as the "Angel of Death" at the Auschwitz concentration camp for his often lethal experiments on prisoners.

Mengele managed to escape to Argentina and even got a West German passport in his own name in the 1950s so he could return for a holiday in his hometown.

"I wanted to understand what is left of a person after they have done that kind of evil," Guez, 43, said after winning the prize.

"I wanted to know what Mengele's life was like afterwards, whether he had been punished or not. I think in Europe today (with the rise of the far-right) we need to understand the extraordinary mediocrity of evil," he added.

One of Guez previous books, "The impossible return, a history of Jews in Germany since 1945,’’ won the Prize of best book of Jewish history and research in 2007.

Another book about the Nazis by French Eric Vuillard won this year's top Prix Goncourt. ‘’L’Ordre du Jour’’ (in English The Agenda) recounts the story of how German industry and finance backed Adolf Hitler.

EJP