Parisian dancer

The Paris Dancer

A true Second World War story of love, courage and humanity at a time when even a simple decision could mean the difference between life and death

Paris, 1939. The City of Light is slowly plunging into darkness. Having fled Poland to escape the pogroms, Marek and Annette have finally found a safe home in Paris with their two children. However, the Nazi occupation turns their lives upside down. Marek sets off to find a way out of the city, but vanishes without a trace. Annette is left alone – and she knows time is desperately running out.

When even staying with friends is no longer safe, she entrusts her children to Helena, their Christian neighbour. An Italian immigrant and dancer at the legendary Folies Bergère cabaret, Helena has a much deeper connection to the family than it might seem.

Helena knows she is risking her own life, yet she decides to hide and protect the children. In a Paris where fear, betrayal and death lurk at every turn, the fight for their survival begins.

Can a single woman save two children from the Nazis and their French collaborators?

The Paris Dancer is a novel inspired by the true story of Marcel Ladenhiem and his brother, who were helped to survive the Holocaust during the Second World War by a brave cabaret dancer.

Doron Darmon is an author, life coach and cyber expert at the Israel National Cyber Directorate. In his debut novel, The Paris Dancer, he brings to life the true story of Marcel Ladenhiem and his brother, who fought for survival during the Nazi occupation of Paris.