By Catherine Austin Fitts
In The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure, Lucien Bernard is an architect struggling to make his way in Nazi-occupied Paris. A wealthy industrialist offers him a large sum of money and significant commissions to devise secret hiding places for Jews. By day Lucien builds factories to produce German weapons and by night he risks his life to save Jews.
This is the story of a man who tries to stay in the middle of the road and is forced by events and his association with the courageous to choose sides. While written about a time long ago, The Paris Architect has lessons for us all.
- First, our passion and ambition to pursue a profession can hook us into working for the wrong people and supporting a system that is doing harm. We want to be in the flow – even when the flow is doing harm.
- Second, when governments use violence, divide and conquer tactics and force to get their way, betrayal and risk flow into our most intimate relationships and human trust breaks down.
- Third, wisdom and bravery are infectious. It pays to hang out with the courageous.
If you want a fictional primer on managing life in a centrally controlled state where psychopaths reign, here it is.