A pleasant coastal town about 50km southeast of Marseille whose importance as a refuge for intellectuals and artists fleeing the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s is often overlooked.
Playwright Bertold Brecht, writers Thomas Mann, Egon Erwin Kisch, Ludwig Marcuse, Joseph Roth and Franz Werfel and his wife Alma Mahler, widow of Gustav Mahler. From Wikipedia:
With the declaration of war in 1939, the French government treated these exiles as enemy aliens and interned some of them in camps like the concentration Camp des Milles near Aix-en-Provence, and eventually some were sent to Auschwitz. After the liberation of France, the whole episode went ignored until the 1990s when, perhaps thanks to the increasing number of tourists from Germany, a commemorative plaque was unveiled, and literary itineraries were signposted.
Sanary is known as one of the sunniest towns in France, with just 61 days of rain. Our arrival and quick stay coincided with one of those, along with strong winds. We also enjoyed a nice lunch at Le Bard’ô, along Portissol Beach on the town’s western edge.
Visited 4 November 2023