With “Le Nageur”, Pierre Assouline delves into the dark zones of the Occupation

Even in Auschwitz, he swam. In this camp where, upon their arrival in January 1944, his wife and their 2-year-old daughter had been gassed, Alfred Nakache, world champion in the 200 meter butterfly stroke and number 172763, dived into the water retention tank, thick, stagnant water, into which the SS threw objects, ordering him, like a dog: Go get it, Artem! Come on, the great swimmer, bring back! Transferred in January 1945 to Buchenwald, Artem (his nickname, which means fish in Hebrew) survived. Coming out of the ” fall “, he had lost his weight and his muscles as an Olympic athlete, without yet knowing that he had above all lost his wife and his daughter.