Under the Red Cross banner
Translation: Martin Ecott
The winter of 1871 on the eastern front of the Franco-Prussian War. In the wake of its defeat, General Bourbaki’s army of over 87 000 soldiers crosses the border into Switzerland, famished, exhausted and suffering from the extreme cold. One of them is Eugène Bellanger, a fierce and battle-hardened volunteer soldier, haunted by his inner demons. Over in Switzerland, Flora Matthey, a determined and idealistic young woman, comes to the aid of the refugees, despite societal pressures. Part rite of passage, part family drama, the encounter of these two young adults is also the meeting of two worlds that are polar opposites. From Les Verrières to Lausanne, via Lucerne, Basel and Neuchâtel, can their meeting, despite the war and exile, forge a bond stronger than violence, and pave the way for a brighter future?
The Bourbakis’ Swiss saga sheds new light on a forgotten conflict, marked by the unprecedented violence of the early days of industrial warfare and the emergence of International Humanitarian Law, which was developed in a bid to curb its excesses. As a land of asylum, Switzerland as a whole throws itself with energy and solidarity behind the cause, just like Flora, who moves heaven and earth in an attempt to make good what the war has torn apart…
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Under the Red Cross banner
Translation: Martin Ecott