A Bag of Marbles

In 1941, in Paris, two brothers are playing happily at marbles—the game they love. By that very evening, it will turn out that the ten-year-old Joseph and the twelve-year-old Maurice will have to run across the entire country on their own to reach their older brothers, in a zone free from German occupation. This autobiographical novel became a classic of French literature, was translated into 18 languages, and served as the basis for the film “A Bag of Marbles.” The book contains a heartbreaking yet simultaneously inspiring story about what a small Jewish boy had to face in a country occupied by the Nazis. On this difficult journey the brothers will encounter human cruelty, the horrors of the Holocaust and World War II. However, even in such a situation children remain children—and they find bright moments and unexpected support.