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    And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II
    And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II
    And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II
    Audiobook4 hours

    And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II

    Written by Jacques Lusseyran

    Narrated by Andre Gregory

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    When Jacques Lusseyran was an eight-year-old Parisian schoolboy, he was blinded in an accident. He finished his schooling determined to participate in the world around him. In 1941, when he was seventeen, that world was Nazi-occupied France. Lusseyran formed a resistance group with fifty-two boys and used his heightened senses to recruit the best. Eventually, Lusseyran was arrested and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp in a transport of two thousand resistance fighters. He was one of only thirty from the transport to survive. His gripping story is one of the most powerful and insightful descriptions of living and thriving with blindness, or indeed any challenge, ever published. (This digital audiobook was created from the only remaining analog source and contains a slight tape hiss.)
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNew World Library
    Release dateFeb 1, 2014
    ISBN9781608682881
    Author

    Jacques Lusseyran

    Jacques Lusseyran (1924–1971) was blinded at age seven, formed a Resistance group at age seventeen, and endured fifteen months at Buchenwald. He went on to teach at Case Western University in the United States and died in a car accident during a visit to France.

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    Reviews for And There Was Light

    4.5/5

    101 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Understanding the way a blind person sees opens up the possibility of access to other forms of perception which are hidden from most people by the habitual emphasis on sight. His attitudes regarding survival under conditions of adversity inform the idea and experience of the value of living in the moment with attention. He speaks at length about his inner practice. This is not just another self help book filled with hackneyed advice.
    • 4/5
      Amazing story, this man endured the horrors of a nazi prison/concentration camp being blind. His love for his country and friends carried him through this terrible ordeal.
      A special kind of hero.
    • 3/5
      Background noise akin to a vinyl record being played after twenty years of usage
    • 5/5
      Would like to know if his parents survived the war
    • 5/5
      A poignant, tragic but inspiring story of shining brightly when faced with extraordinary adversity.
    • 5/5
      A gripping story of a man who survived wwII. And all the perils that it threw against him.
    • 1/5
      Sorry but this book is horribly BORING. Don't bother with it!!
    • 5/5
      In the last few days, I read the stories of two incredible men, Steven Biko and Jacques Lusseyran. Most of us spend our days whining, and during the pandemic, we have whined louder. Yet, there are incredible people who have walked the face of the earth. Jacques Lusseyran is one of them. He became blind when he was eight yet did not let that depress him. He was blessed to have enlightened parents. In 1938, World War II broke out, and France capitulated. Jacques Lusseyran became the leader of one of the main wings of the Resistance, and he was a young teenager! Then, in 1943, when someone betrayed him, he was marched off to prison and then the concentration camps in Buchwald. There, he became an inspiration to many prisoners. Again, when he was not yet out of his teens.He was one of the thirty who survived the concentration camps. When you read the book, you understand how he refused to let his spirit die. At one point he says, I didn't have physical strength, but I had my head and was determined to use it. He recommends how we must approach life in prison, and in the camps. Apply this to your life, and it will transform into something magical.This book is inspiring. Read it.
    • 4/5
      Der Autor erblindet als Achtjähriger. In seinem Buch schildert er diesen tragischen Unfall als den Beginn eines Lebens, in dem er das Licht in sich findet. Dieses innere Licht hilft ihm während des zweiten Weltkriegs, in dem er, noch kaum erwachsen, eine Widerstandsgruppe von Jungen gründet. Er kommt ins KZ Buchenwald und überlebt die lange Zeit, die er dort verbringt. Das Buch ist wirklich interessant und lesenswert. Der Stil war mir mitunter zu pathetisch, aber inhaltlich ist das Buch absolut fesselnd. Vor allem seine Berichte über das Leben in Buchenwald und wie er dort zurecht kam beeindruckten mich.
    • 4/5
      One of the first books I ever fell in love with; story of a blind leader of the French resistence--it prepared me to marry a man with less than 3 % of his vision (my husband of 38 years).