In the autobiographical work, La Promesse de l'aube, Romain Gary tells us … about the factors that have determined his personal position and his humanitarian philosophy. First of all, this book is a moving tribute to his Jewish mother, a Russian woman, eccentric and mad in the eyes of her new French compatriots, who molds her son in her fashion and prepares him for an extraordinary career.

And he has … fulfilled the promise tacitly made to that mother to accomplish everything she expected from him in the sphere of heroism and self-realization. Rarely has filial piety expressed itself with greater affection, sensitivity, insight, gratitude. (p. 279)

There is no reference to the father where "Tartar and Jewish ancestors" are mentioned without indicating whether they are on the father's or the mother's side. But without having known his father and without having felt his direct influence, Romain Gary feels that he...