FIFDH : The Anti-Trans Crusade: From Washington to Warsaw

Emmanuel Rondeau, financier and bank administrator and author of Les frères d’Astier de La Vigerie, Français libres (Tallandier, 2025), combines family memory and historical inquiry. He examines three members of the d’Astier de la Vigerie family — each with divergent public roles yet united in their commitment to the French Resistance — to reveal how personal convictions shaped national destiny. The lecture explores political identity, courage and the moral complexities of resistance, told with close knowledge and narrative panache.

In French.

Pierre Béguin leads monthly discussions on classic literature, linking timeless texts to today’s world through lively, open conversation.

Upcoming themes:

• Fall 2025: Master–servant dynamics in theatre and novels (17th–19th c.)
• Dec 2025: Romantic encounters in 19th-century French fiction
• Spring 2026: Latin American authors (Sábato, Amado, Vargas Llosa)

First session readings:

• Don Juan (Molière)
• The Game of Love and Chance, The Island of Slaves (Marivaux)
• The Marriage of Figaro (Beaumarchais)

Pierre Béguin taught literature for nearly 30 years at Collège Calvin in Geneva. Born in Geneva, he holds a degree in literature and a postgraduate diploma in psycholinguistics. A passionate traveler, he has devoted the past two decades primarily to writing.  He is the author of around ten novels, including Terre de personne (Prix Schiller 2005), Vous ne connaîtrez ni le jour ni l’heure (Prix Chronos selection, 2013), Condamné au bénéfice du doute (Prix Edouard Rod 2016), and La scandaleuse Madame B. (2020).  His most recent novel, Au nom du feu (2022), was shortlisted for the RTS Listeners’ Prize, the Lettres Frontière Prize, and the Rambert Prize.

In French.