Triumph Street, Bucharest
Bucharest, before and during World War II, where Bernard Davidescou lives with his parents and his older brother on Triumph Street, in the middle of a courtyard block inhabited by a dozen Jewish families and two Christian ones. When Romania, under General Ion Antonescu’s dictatorship, allies itself with Hitler and invades the USSR, the Jews in Bucharest face the threat of being sent to the Nazi extermination camps, after having survived the terror of the fascist Iron Guard. However, each Sunday morning, young Bernard, age twelve, passionate about politics and history, amazes the adults in the courtyard, Jews and Christians alike, with his analysis of the political situation in Romania and the development of the war on all fronts.
‘Rue du Triomphe’ is the story of this young boy and his dreams and torments during this dark period of human history, while also chronicling a family in crisis, the discovery of sexuality and first loves, and the distraction offered by the cinema, religious searching and idealistic aspirations for a better world.
Dov Hoenig
Dov Hoenig had a long career in film in Israel, Europe and ultimately in Hollywood. He edited over fifty films including “Thief”, “The Keep”, “Manhunter”, “Last of the Mohicans” and “Heat” directed by Michael Mann and Andrew Davis’ “The Fugitive” for which, along with co-editors, he received an Oscar nomination for best picture editing. Hoenig was born in Romania in 1932 and after WWII, one of the darkest periods in the history of the world and of the large Jewish community of Romania, he left his family to emigrate alone to Palestine. Rue du Triomphe was first published in French and was chosen as one of the 10 best first novels by the jury of the Prix Stanislas.