Ms Roseline Sultana has published a book called Ecce Homo, une Vie marquée par la Guerre. This is her story:
The book Ecce Homo, une Vie marquée par la Guerre is the product of protagonists from three generations. First there is my grandfather, now deceased, who lived through two world wars, both of which scarred him deeply. Then there is my mother, his only daughter, a history teacher who wished to document important historical events before they were lost. Above all, she wanted to preserve and honour the memory of a man who was a role model for her, doing so by drawing on his war diary and letters to his wife from the German prison camps in Pomerania. Finally, the third protagonist is myself, working closely with my mother to put together childhood memories, while shepherding the book through the production process.
The title Ecce Homo brings to mind the figure of the suffering Christ … which finds an echo in the suffering of humanity in the throes of global conflict. It is however also a tangible object created by my grandfather, Victor Frangville, while he was interned in an offlag – a prisoner-of-war camp. Learning, in 1942, that his refugee daughter was about to celebrate her First Holy Communion in France, he carved a figure of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns, and mailed it to her in the hope that it would reach her in time. Against all odds, it did.
This book, full of personal narratives, is about my family, but it is also more than that: it honours the life of a kind man who, despite hardships, personal loss, prison, and separation from loved ones, managed to maintain his dignity and his love for others. It reminds us that that which is most beautiful in humanity can survive – and overcome – that which is most dreadful.