Michel del Castillo, a Franco-Spanish writer renowned for his poignant account of childhood in World War II concentration camps, passed away on December 17 in Sens, a town in northern Burgundy. He was 91 years old.
His death has been reported widely in the French news media, though further details have not been disclosed.
Del Castillo published numerous novels, essays, and autobiographical works over four decades, beginning with his debut novel “Tanguy” in 1957. An English translation titled “Child of Our Time” followed in the U.S. and England the next year. He received several prestigious French literary awards throughout his career.
However, it was his first book, released when he was just 24, that left a lasting impact. In a 1958 review in The New York Times, Holocaust scholar Richard Plant noted that it “begins where Anne Frank’s diary ended,” highlighting its graphic portrayal of suffering and death in concentration camps, and warned it was “not meant for the squeamish.”
“Tanguy” presented a lightly fictionalized narrative that shocked audiences as it depicted the harrowing experiences of a young boy abandoned by his parents amidst the horrors of mid-20th-century Europe.
By the late 1950s, other accounts existed regarding life in concentration camps during Vichy France and Nazi Germany, but del Castillo's perspective as a young boy made his story unique. Émile Henriot of the Académie Française described the book in Le Monde as “a singular novelty: a painting of hell by a child whose physical and moral survival through these tortures is already miraculous.”
The narrative drew directly from del Castillo’s own life. His father abandoned the family when they fled from Spain to France in 1939, following General Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War. He later recounted the sounds of bombs during his early years in besieged Madrid.
In France, del Castillo's father denounced his journalist mother to the authorities, leading to their internment in Rieucros, a harsh concentration camp for political refugees.
Del Castillo recalled that around 2,000 women and children were confined in Rieucros, where he experienced extreme cold, hunger, and isolation. He described his upbringing as marked by deprivation, stating, “I was hungry my whole childhood.”
In “Tanguy,” he recounted how his ill mother escaped the camp in the summer of 1942, leaving him in the care of smugglers. He later reflected on the ensuing years spent in solitary uncertainty and deprivation, stating, “The next five or six years, I have the impression of having been among the living dead.”
After the war, del Castillo returned to Spain, where he was again imprisoned in a reform school, labeled as the “son of a Communist.” He escaped in 1949 and was subsequently sent to a Jesuit high school, which he credited for his liberation. He discovered literature during this time, particularly the works of Dostoyevsky.
Del Castillo's literary career flourished in the 1950s, culminating in international recognition by 1959. Notable figures like François Mauriac acknowledged his profound insight into the nature of evil as portrayed in his work.
Born on August 2, 1933, in Madrid, del Castillo was the son of a banker and a journalist. After the war, he earned a degree in literature from the Sorbonne and published several novels, including “La Guitare” and “Le Colleur d’Affiches,” although none achieved the same acclaim as his debut.
In 1981, he won the Prix Renaudot for “La Nuit du Décret,” a police thriller praised for its compelling plot. He also authored well-regarded biographical studies of Francisco Franco and writer Colette.
Del Castillo never married, and information regarding any survivors is currently unavailable. His philosophy, as expressed in “Tanguy,” emphasized a rejection of hatred and a deep love for life, as quoted by Henriot in his review.