Lévitan: A Furniture Store Turned Nazi Work Camp
Book Feature: "Last Twilight in Paris" by Pam Jenoff
World War II is a heavily covered topic—and rightfully so—creating rare circumstances when lesser-known information is transmitted to a broader audience. This is one such case.
In the historical fiction book, "Last Twilight in Paris," author Pam Jenoff writes about a Parisian department store, Lévitan, which was used as a Nazi prison. Although fictionalized in the novel, the story is rooted in the true-life furniture store Lévitan, which did in fact function as a work camp for nearly 800 Jewish prisoners. Many prisoners were extracted from the Drancy concentration camp and chosen to be “employed” at the store where they would intake, stage, and sell stolen Jewish belongings and valuables.1
Jenoff brings this work camp to the forefront of her novel, focusing on the store’s past and exposing this slightly obscure piece of Holocaust history. Additionally, she uses the Red Cross’s wartime involvement as a major storyline in the novel. Once again, fictionalized, however, this is another component based on factual events.
It is widely documented that the Red Cross, although credited with providing many with much-needed aid, was witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust and failed to publicize their knowledge to the world, even using language to soften the occurrence of these war crimes.2 Jenoff skillfully weaves the Red Cross’s complicated—and complicit—WWII efforts into the novel, bringing to life an often overlooked piece of history.
Jenoff’s extensive research is evident, bringing Lévitan and the Red Cross to the pages of her novel, "Last Twilight in Paris."
"Last Twilight in Paris" grips the reader with a HEART-breaking mystery, unfolding across decades, borders, and narratives.
From the cobblestones of postwar London to the Nazi-occupied streets of Paris, this story draws a powerful line between love, resilience, truth, and the pursuit of justice. When Louise stumbles upon a necklace tucked in a secondhand box in 1953 London, she’s jolted back to her Red Cross days and the wartime death of her friend, Franny. Her journey to uncover the truth leads her to Paris, a haunted department store, and Helaine—a Jewish woman imprisoned by the Nazis. Through alternating timelines and intertwined fates, the novel explores the buried secrets of survival and the enduring strength of women underestimated by most, including themselves.
And the characters! Helaine was raised to believe she was weak, having to defy every limitation placed on her proving that strength often hides in the quietest corners. Louise was a risk-taker when she was younger but finds herself living a much smaller life and allowing her self-esteem and ambition to shrink. Both Helaine and Louise are underestimated in different ways, but each woman leans into what she can do, showing that courage is often born in the absence of choices. The novel also reminds us that silence doesn’t protect anyone. The truth—especially Franny’s truth—deserves a voice, no matter how long it takes to be heard.
With a dual timeline that crescendos into a heartbreaking yet hopeful ending, "Last Twilight in Paris" is a beautifully constructed, historically grounded mystery that urges us not to forget—and not to stop digging.
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Ishak, N. (2020, November 4). Inside Lévitan, the Nazi department store in Paris. All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/levitan
How the Red Cross Failed Europe’s Jews & American POW’s. (n.d.). Copyright 2025. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/how-the-red-cross-failed-europe-s-jews-and-american-pow-s