Book: The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart - Ruperto Long - Charlotte de Grünberg

The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart

The novel*The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart*, written by Ruperto Long, tells four stories, one of which is about the life of Charlotte, an eight-year-old Belgian girl who flees from her persecutors with her family and goes through a series of adventures.

  •             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g19IYaSDI2o

The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart - By Ruperto LongBook Launch

Author: Ruperto Long

The author met the protagonist, Prof. Charlotte de Grünberg, president of Universidad ORT Uruguay, at a reception held by the university, and they had a brief conversation during which she shared a few details about her life.

This inspired him to create a story that contrasts events from World War II with the present day, inviting readers to reflect and become more aware.

In the book, Charlotte’s life is intertwined with that of Domingo López Delgado, a Uruguayan soldier who had gone to war as a volunteer, as well as with those of other real and fictional characters. At the end, there is a summary that recounts the fates of the real people who appear in the book.

The presentation took place on Thursday, April 7, 2016, in the Delmira Agustini Hall at the Solís Theater, and the keynote speaker was Uruguayan writer Hugo Burel, who explicitly noted that the persecution of Jews continues to this day, citing the example of businessman David Fremd and comparing Hitler to ISIS.

“Another of the play’s merits is that it serves as a ruthless mirror that reflects the past to warn us about the present. Yesterday it was Hitler. Today it is ISIS and its madness, which threatens anyone who thinks differently from its political and religious delusions,” he added.

A book trailer for the novel was shown, and to conclude the event, Alberto Magnone and Lea Ben Sasson performed three songs:“Jerusalén de oro,”“El árbol de eucalipto,” and“Libertango”(the latter featuring a recitation by Horacio Ferrer).

Among those in attendance at the Solís Theater were the Israeli ambassador, Nina Ben-Ami; the rector Universidad ORT Uruguay, Jorge Grünberg (Charlotte’s son); the rector the Catholic University, Eduardo Casarotti; former presidents Luis Alberto Lacalle and Julio María Sanguinetti; Nationalist Party senators Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou and Luis Alberto Heber; the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro; as well as other officials from Universidad ORT Uruguay.

"Stories That Never Lose Their Relevance." Galería de Búsqueda Magazine – April 14, 2016: Pages 36 and 37.

The book has been translated into Italian, Romanian, and Hebrew.

2016 Golden Book Award

In the Domestic Fiction category, presented by the Uruguayan Book Chamber.

  • Premiere - The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart - Solís Theater

    Launch event

    Delmira Agustini Hall, Solís Theater
    Montevideo, Uruguay
    April 7, 2016

    On April 7, 2016, Penguin Random House hosted the book launch for *The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart* by Ruperto Long, in which one of the main characters—the girl of the title—is Professor Charlotte de Grünberg, president of Universidad ORT Uruguay. The book recounts a period of her childhood in Nazi-occupied France. The event took place in the Delmira Agustini Hall at the Solís Theater.

    The writer Hugo Burel reviewed the book, after which the author spoke, discussing the process that led him to write this “nonfiction novel,” and Prof. Grünberg spoke about how those years of barbarism affected so many millions of lives, including her own and those of her family.

    The closing ceremony featured performances by singer Lea Bensasson and musician Alberto Magnone.

Reflections on the book

  • Transcript of the speech by Prof. Charlotte de Grünberg


    I am the girl who watched the trains depart more than 70 years ago.

    In 1947, the French writer, anthropologist, and philosopher Georges Bataille said that “Auschwitz is the work and the sign of man. From now on, the image of man is inseparable from that of a gas chamber.”

    In 1939, an Austrian Jewish teenager who had managed to flee her country found refuge in our home in the city of Liège, Belgium, until the country was invaded.

    From her stories, we already had an idea of what we Jews could expect and of what would soon befall us.

    With Belgium occupied in May 1940, and faced with the need to escape the new established order and its persecutions—particularly of Jews—we sought refuge in the southern part of France occupied by the Italians, which seemed to be the most logical option (due to proximity), the shared language, and the hope of living in an area still free from German occupation.

    It is difficult to imagine what it means to be suddenly sentenced to the loss of belonging to one’s own national territory, the violent rupture with all the customs that usually permeate a “normal life.”

    Civil death.

    Constant fear.

    Becoming a fatally disposable object without a name of one’s own.

    No friends.

    No witnesses to a previous life.

    It is chilling to feel that one has no accessible place on the planet, nor any space to go with the right to stay. A ghetto without walls, one might say, stalked at every moment by raids from the Gestapo, from local collaborators, from denunciations.

    How does a child adapt to the sudden loss of all his points of reference? Having to unexpectedly transform not even into another person, but into an opaque “non-person,” seeking anonymity and invisibility as the only way to protect oneself from evil.

    Our exile lasted for more than 1,000 days and nights, traversing much of France. I watched many trains pass by toward their macabre final destination, while raids occurred at all hours.

    Seventy years ago, the Nuremberg Trials—the first of their kind—investigated the crimes of World War II and the Jewish Holocaust. The war claimed the lives of more than 60 million people, including six million Jews and other minorities, in addition to the devastation of much of Europe.

    The results of the trial were impressive. And its impact on international law was undeniable. Unfortunately, neither the laws of international courts nor those enacted over the years—which form an ever-growing body of law—have succeeded in deterring the use of indiscriminate violence on a global scale.

    Is life not a fundamental value to be defended against the terror that indiscriminately kills and subjugates?

    In light of everything that happens daily, I ask: How is it that we have not yet managed to transform what is happening into an educational reality?

    Have we learned nothing?

Photos from the launch

Book Launch by Ruperto Long - April 2016

Presentations

Invitations to the book presentations

In Montevideo, Maldonado, and other departments

Around the world

Media coverage, testimonials, and conferences

Book trailers

These book trailers, created by students at the Liceo de Punta del Este (Maldonado), are inspired by the book *The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart* by Ruperto Long.