The Forgotten Soldier

[fsbofk]

That sounds more Germanic, which is befitting his service in the Wehrmacht, although it would not necessarily have to be - "Marseille" is one example. And, yes, you are right about about "parler" (and the other "er" verbs, as they were called in our French language education - I think there must be more to that oversimplified rule, perhaps it applies to nouns). I've also heard contradictory information whether Sajer is living or not - anyone know? Thanks again !

[CJE]

He might have been French as well, since Alsace (and Lorraine) was integrated into the Reich in 1940 and Alsacians considered as German citizens.
Many were forced to serve in the Wehrmacht (and Luftwaffe too). They called themselves the "malgré nous" (despite of us).

[jeanba]

Originally Posted by fsbofk

That sounds more Germanic, which is befitting his service in the Wehrmacht, although it would not necessarily have to be - "Marseille" is one example. And, yes, you are right about about "parler" (and the other "er" verbs, as they were called in our French language education - I think there must be more to that oversimplified rule, perhaps it applies to nouns). I've also heard contradictory information whether Sajer is living or not - anyone know? Thanks again !

From what I know, he is still alive : he has become a famous comics writer (at least in France) under the name of "Dimitri".
He mainly made humoristic comics (the adventure of Eugene Krampon, also known as "Le Goulag").but he also talked about wwII in the East ("Kursk Tourmente d'Acier", which can be translated by "Kursk, steel turmoil").

It should be noticed that his father is from the center of France, that only his mother is alsacian (Sajer, I think is the name of his mother, the name of his father is Mounimoux accorind to wikipedia).
This is quite important because most of the other "malgré nous" do not consider him as such.

[CJE]

His publisher (Laffont) wrote that his mother was German (Saxen) and that he volunteered at 17.

http://www.je-dis-non.com/article.php3?id_article=5

[Dénes Bernád]

Quote from his biography, taken from the site you just listed:
"Le jeune Guy, franco-allemand, n’avait a priori aucune raison de choisir l’un ou l’autre des deux belligérants."

I am wondering, how can one be French and German in the same time? Shouldn't he/she be either French, or German?

[CJE]

Must be an inheritance hard to live with. You have to choose your camp, not an easy decision in those troubled times.
Do you know that over 200,000 babies were born from a French woman and a German soldier during the war? They were called "fils de Boche" and had some hard times when they were young. But that's kind of OT.