Simone Duvalier imperious bearing, Haitians referred to her as "Mama Doc". She was, like her husband, reported to be a Vodou expert. She cultivated the image of a benefactor; dispensing charity to inhabitants of "Cite Simone", a planned settlement named for her that is known today as Cité Soleil, one of the most miserable slums in Latin America. Simone Duvalier's influence reached its peak after the death of her husband on 21 April 1971, when her nineteen-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier succeeded his father as Haiti's "President for Life". Simone Duvalier retained the title of First Lady, and relished the power it conferred.
Jean-Claude Grumberg Jean-Claude Grumberg Jean-Claude Grumberg (born 1939) is a French writer of children's books and a playwright. Before becoming a playwright, Jean-Claude Grumberg held several jobs including working as a tailor, he takes to the middle part of his play "L'Atelier". He discovered drama being an actor in the company. He became a writer in 1968 with "Demain, une fenêtre sur rue", and short texts like "Rixe" which played at the Comédie-Française. He writes about what haunts him since childhood: the death of his father in the Nazi death camps: "Maman revient pauvre orphelin", "Dreyfus" (1974), "L'Atelier" (1979) and "Zone libre"