Star Crossed by Heather Dune Macadam and Simon Worrall
A new memoir based on letters and conversations from friends and family, Star Crossed, by authors Heather Dune Macadam and Simon Worrall, brings to mind Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, the heartbreaking story of unrequited love and life unfulfilled.
It’s 1940. Paris is under German occupation. The Café de Flore is nevertheless crowded with “Florists," artists, poets, filmmakers, philosophers, and the “intellectual elite.” Schmoozing over a cup of ersatz coffee, some passionately debate how best to fight fascism, others the merits of Surrealist over Dada art. Here, at the Flore, you can always find celebrities gossiping over the latest scandal, giggling over the Zazou (punk) fashions that have sprung up overnight.
Regulars, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, sit on the red leather seats next to Picasso or Jean Rauch and mingle with students from the nearby Academy des Beaux Arts, the most prestigious art school in France. It’s at the Café Flore that twenty-year-old Jewish art student, Annette Zelman, meets Jean Jausion, a handsome poet. Already a part of the “in crowd,” Jausion’s equally well-known for his romantic liaisons. But Annette is too proud to be one among Jausion’s many conquests.
Free spirited the seemingly invincible, Annette was one of five Zelman kids. Their parents, Maurice and Kaila, moved from the tranquil “provinces” to the densely populated Paris where they could become anonymous in times that restrictive new laws focused on Jews. Not bound by religious convention, the Zelman’s were, nevertheless, traditional in their religious observance. They hoped all their kids would marry Jews, troubled that son, Guy, was dating Nicole, a beautiful “shicksa.” Out of respect for her parents, Annette kept secret her relationship with Catholic lover Jean Jausion. But not for long.
New antisemitic legislation ramped up the Nazi propaganda machine. Paris became a dangerous place for Jews, forcing the Zelman family to move again. This time without Annette. Filled with euphoric joy over a marriage proposal she disclosed to her parents her intent to remain in Paris with Jausion. The couple filled out papers and set the wedding date for May 24th, 1942. “But the course of true love never did run smooth.” Certainly not for Annette and Jausion.
Betrayed by a Nazi collaborator, arrested in the middle of the night, Annette was taken to the “Depot,” a holding place for “political prisoners” charged with the crime of attempting to “marry a gentile." Who betrayed her? Her family would find out only years after the war.
Star Crossed, is an immersive story that intersects art and love with corrosive power of hate.