Germaine Shames

Germaine Shames

Germaine Shames scours the globe in search of compelling stories. Shames is author of Between Two Deserts (set in Jerusalem), two earlier nonfiction books, and three feature screenplays. A former foreign correspondent and contributor to Hemispheres, More, and National Geographic Traveler, she has lived and worked in such diverse locations as the Australian outback, Swiss Alps, interior of Bulgaria, coast of Colombia, Fiji Islands, and Gaza Strip. With You, Fascinating You the author returns to her roots in the performing arts to reveal a hidden story painstakingly researched across three countries over the course of five years.

Visit Germaine's website: germainewrites.com

Blog Posts

"You Fascinating You" by Germaine Shames

The Indomitable Jewish Ballerina Who Inspired a Timeless Love Song

Germaine Shames

In 1944, at the height of the worst carnage the world has known, a mother in Budapest, Hungary, put her only son, then seven years old, out on the street with a pillow, a last morsel of bread, and the boy’s baptismal certificate. The mother was Jewish, the son Catholic.

Fifty years later the son, Cesare Frustaci—by that time an American citizen with a family of his own—contributed a video-taped oral history to Yale University and then sent the tape to author Germaine Shames. It told the story of his mother, ballerina Margit Wolf, who was banished from the stage by Mussolini only to inspire a timeless love song and then fade from history without a trace.

Topics: Holocaust, Music, Dance

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. " Germaine Shames ." (Viewed on June 4, 2023) <https://jwa.org/blog/author/germaine-shames>.