The Holocaust in France

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Holocaust in France THE HOLOCAUST IN FRANCE France’s liberal refugee policy had traditionally provided a safe haven for those fleeing harsh political conditions, among them many East European Jews. However, in 1939, the government restricted Jewish immigration and set up internment camps for refugees. Still, in June 1940, when France was defeated by Germany, of the approximately 350,000 Jews living there, more than half of them refugees from Nazi Germany. The armistice with Germany divided France in three. Northern France was placed under German occupation. The eastern Alsace and Lorraine were absorbed into the Reich. Southern France was allowed to retain autonomy under a new government headed by Marshal Henri Philippe Petain and a new capital in Vichy. Although officially neutral, the Vichy government collaborated actively with Germany. It enacted the Statut des Juifs (Jewish Law), which defined Jews by race, excluded them from public life, dismissed them from the civil service, the army, commerce, and industry, and barred them from participation in the professions. It confiscated Jewish property, leaving many Jews destitute. It also established numerous internment camps for foreign Jews in southern France (most notably Gurs and Rivesaltes, where many died), and aided in their deportation to the death camps. Starting in July 1942, after the German occupation of Vichy France, and ending in August 1944, two months after the Allied landings in Normandy, Jews from all over the country were deported. The French police facilitated this by rounding them up, loading them onto cattle cars and sending them to the Drancy transit camp northeast of Paris, from where they were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Of the 77,000 Jews deported from France who were murdered, one-third were French citizens and over 8,000 were children under the age of 13. Still, more than 75% of the Jews living in France in 1940 managed to survive. This was due to several factors, including dispersal of Jews in many localities, a minimal German police presence, and assistance from some non-Jews. The Holocaust in France Appendix C – Midwest Center for Holocaust Education - 1 .
Recommended publications
  • Vichy France and the Jews
    VICHY FRANCE AND THE JEWS MICHAEL R. MARRUS AND ROBERT 0. PAXTON Originally published as Vichy et les juifs by Calmann-Levy 1981 Basic Books, Inc., Publishers New York Contents Introduction Chapter 1 / First Steps Chapter 2 / The Roots o f Vichy Antisemitism Traditional Images of the Jews 27 Second Wave: The Crises of the 1930s and the Revival of Antisemitism 34 The Reach of Antisemitism: How Influential Was It? 45 The Administrative Response 54 The Refugee Crisis, 1938-41 58 Chapter 3 / The Strategy o f Xavier Vallat, i 9 4 !-4 2 The Beginnings of German Pressure 77 Vichy Defines the Jewish Issue, 1941 83 Vallat: An Activist at Work 96 The Emigration Deadlock 112 Vallat’s Fall 115 Chapter 4 / The System at Work, 1040-42 The CGQJ and Other State Agencies: Rivalries and Border Disputes 128 Business as Usual 144 Aryanization 152 Emigration 161 The Camps 165 Chapter 5 / Public Opinion, 1040-42 The Climax of Popular Antisemitism 181 The DistriBution of Popular Antisemitism 186 A Special Case: Algeria 191 The Churches and the Jews 197 X C ontents The Opposition 203 An Indifferent Majority 209 Chapter 6 / The Turning Point: Summer 1Q42 215 New Men, New Measures 218 The Final Solution 220 Laval and the Final Solution 228 The Effort to Segregate: The Jewish Star 234 Preparing the Deportation 241 The Vel d’Hiv Roundup 250 Drancy 252 Roundups in the Unoccupied Zone 255 The Massacre of the Innocents 263 The Turn in PuBlic Opinion 270 Chapter 7 / The Darquier Period, 1942-44 281 Darquier’s CGQJ and Its Place in the Regime 286 Darquier’s CGQJ in Action 294 Total Occupation and the Resumption of Deportations 302 Vichy, the ABBé Catry, and the Massada Zionists 310 The Italian Interlude 315 Denaturalization, August 1943: Laval’s Refusal 321 Last Days 329 Chapter 8 / Conclusions: The Holocaust in France .
    [Show full text]
  • The Holocaust in French Film : Nuit Et Brouillard (1955) and Shoah (1986)
    San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research 2008 The Holocaust in French film : Nuit et brouillard (1955) and Shoah (1986) Erin Brandon San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Brandon, Erin, "The Holocaust in French film : Nuit et brouillard (1955) and Shoah (1986)" (2008). Master's Theses. 3586. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.y3vc-6k7d https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/3586 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE HOLOCAUST IN FRENCH FILM: NUITETBROUILLARD (1955) and SHOAH (1986) A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History San Jose State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Erin Brandon August 2008 UMI Number: 1459690 Copyright 2008 by Brandon, Erin All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 1459690 Copyright 2008 by ProQuest LLC.
    [Show full text]
  • [email protected] Vichy, Crimes Against Humanity
    Henry Rousso Institut d’histoire du temps présent (CNRS, Paris) [email protected] Vichy, Crimes against Humanity, and the Trials for Memory Department of French-Italian, Department of History The University of Texas at Austin Lecture given at 9/11/2003 I would like to begin this talk about the way France coped with its past by making some general statements. Why it may be interesting to study the Vichy legacy, except of course if you are impassionned by French History? Why the history of the memory of the “Dark Years”, the years of the Nazi Occupation, may have some interest for other periods or other situations, in contemporary history? Why to study preciseley how the representations of the past or the behaviour towards the past has evolved from 1944, the Liberation, to the present days, may have a universal meaning ? We can propose several answers : - We may learn a lot in studying the “Dark years” because it’s a period in which a great power, the second world power at that time in terms of political and economic influence, collapsed in six weeks, after a brutal and unexpected agression against its territory. The panic of the defeat, the disarray coming from the vanishing of the State and of other authorities, led to a strong support for a dictatorship, the Vichy Regime, which abolished most of the political rights. The new regime, using the fear of most of the population, declared that France was no more a Republic, and that she had a lot of ennemies : not the Nazi Occupiers, but the Jews, the Foreigners, the Free- Masons, all kind of opponents: in short, for Vichy, one of the result of the defeat, ennemies were at home.
    [Show full text]
  • This Cannot Happen Here Studies of the Niod Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
    This Cannot Happen Here studies of the niod institute for war, holocaust and genocide studies This niod series covers peer reviewed studies on war, holocaust and genocide in twentieth century societies, covering a broad range of historical approaches including social, economic, political, diplomatic, intellectual and cultural, and focusing on war, mass violence, anti- Semitism, fascism, colonialism, racism, transitional regimes and the legacy and memory of war and crises. board of editors: Madelon de Keizer Conny Kristel Peter Romijn i Ralf Futselaar — Lard, Lice and Longevity. The standard of living in occupied Denmark and the Netherlands 1940-1945 isbn 978 90 5260 253 0 2 Martijn Eickhoff (translated by Peter Mason) — In the Name of Science? P.J.W. Debye and his career in Nazi Germany isbn 978 90 5260 327 8 3 Johan den Hertog & Samuël Kruizinga (eds.) — Caught in the Middle. Neutrals, neutrality, and the First World War isbn 978 90 5260 370 4 4 Jolande Withuis, Annet Mooij (eds.) — The Politics of War Trauma. The aftermath of World War ii in eleven European countries isbn 978 90 5260 371 1 5 Peter Romijn, Giles Scott-Smith, Joes Segal (eds.) — Divided Dreamworlds? The Cultural Cold War in East and West isbn 978 90 8964 436 7 6 Ben Braber — This Cannot Happen Here. Integration and Jewish Resistance in the Netherlands, 1940-1945 isbn 978 90 8964 483 8 This Cannot Happen Here Integration and Jewish Resistance in the Netherlands, 1940-1945 Ben Braber Amsterdam University Press 2013 This book is published in print and online through the online oapen library (www.oapen.org) oapen (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) is a collaborative initiative to develop and implement a sustainable Open Access publication model for academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
    [Show full text]
  • Genocide, Memory and History
    AFTERMATH GENOCIDE, MEMORY AND HISTORY EDITED BY KAREN AUERBACH AFTERMATH AFTERMATH GENOCIDE, MEMORY AND HISTORY EDITED BY KAREN AUERBACH Aftermath: Genocide, Memory and History © Copyright 2015 Copyright of the individual chapters is held by the chapter’s author/s. Copyright of this edited collection is held by Karen Auerbach. All rights reserved. Apart from any uses permitted by Australia’s Copyright Act 1968, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the copyright owners. Inquiries should be directed to the publisher. Monash University Publishing Matheson Library and Information Services Building 40 Exhibition Walk Monash University Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia www.publishing.monash.edu Monash University Publishing brings to the world publications which advance the best traditions of humane and enlightened thought. Monash University Publishing titles pass through a rigorous process of independent peer review. www.publishing.monash.edu/books/agmh-9781922235633.html Design: Les Thomas ISBN: 978-1-922235-63-3 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-922235-64-0 (PDF) ISBN: 978-1-876924-84-3 (epub) National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Title: Aftermath : genocide, memory and history / editor Karen Auerbach ISBN 9781922235633 (paperback) Series: History Subjects: Genocide. Genocide--Political aspects. Collective memory--Political aspects. Memorialization--Political aspects. Other Creators/Contributors: Auerbach, Karen, editor. Dewey Number: 304.663 CONTENTS Introduction ...............................................
    [Show full text]
  • Downloads/.Last Accessed: 9
    Tracing and Documenting Nazi Victims Past and Present Arolsen Research Series Edited by the Arolsen Archives – International Center on Nazi Persecution Volume 1 Tracing and Documenting Nazi Victims Past and Present Edited by Henning Borggräfe, Christian Höschler and Isabel Panek On behalf of the Arolsen Archives. The Arolsen Archives are funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). ISBN 978-3-11-066160-6 eBook (PDF) ISBN 978-3-11-066537-6 eBook (EPUB) ISBN 978-3-11-066165-1 ISSN 2699-7312 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licens-es/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020932561 Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 by the Arolsen Archives, Henning Borggräfe, Christian Höschler, and Isabel Panek, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Jan-Eric Stephan Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Preface Tracing and documenting the victims of National Socialist persecution is atopic that has receivedlittle attention from historicalresearch so far.Inorder to take stock of existing knowledge and provide impetus for historicalresearch on this issue, the Arolsen Archives (formerlyknown as the International Tracing Service) organized an international conferenceonTracing and Documenting Victimsof Nazi Persecution: Historyofthe International Tracing Service (ITS) in Context. Held on October 8and 92018 in BadArolsen,Germany, this event also marked the seventieth anniversary of search bureaus from various European statesmeet- ing with the recentlyestablished International Tracing Service (ITS) in Arolsen, Germany, in the autumn of 1948.
    [Show full text]
  • The Holocaust in France
    The Holocaust in France After the 1789 Revolution, France was the first European country to emancipate Jews. Despite periodic resurgences of anti-Semitism, France was one of the most attractive countries for European Jews fleeing persecution. By 1939, about half of the 330,000 Jews who lived in France were recent refugees from elsewhere in Europe. France was invaded by German troops in the spring of 1940. After a few weeks of fighting, an armistice was signed on June 22. According to the treaty, Germany annexed Alsace and Moselle, and occupied the north of France. The south, which remained unoccupied, was administered by a new French government headed by Marshal Pétain, who established an authoritarian regime and collaborated with Germany. The decision to work with the invader created the opportunity for Pétain’s government, commonly referred to as the Vichy government, to create a ‘new’ France in the unoccupied zone. In the fall of 1940, as an effort to ‘purify’ French society, the Vichy government established anti-Jewish legislation nearly identical to that put in place in German-occupied France. Jews were excluded from public life, administration and the army, and could no longer practice liberal professions or work in commerce and industry. In July 1941, the government also put in place a vast “aryanization” program by which all Jewish goods became property of the French state. On May 29, 1942, the German authorities made it compulsory for Jews to wear a yellow star within the occupied zone. Deportations to concentration and death camps started shortly thereafter. During the summer of 1942, the Germans and the French police began rounding up and arresting Jews in the occupied and unoccupied zones.
    [Show full text]
  • Making a Difference
    Making A Difference Your donations support Holocaust Survivors & Friends Education Center programs: • Holocaust Survivors Talks for Students Programs • Twinning Program • 2011-2012 Teacher Education Programs • “Timeless Justice, The Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals” with Eli Rosenbaum October 27th • 73rd Annual Kristallnacht Community Interfaith Commemoration: Premiere of film “Inside Hana’s Suitcase” November 9th • Witness to History Video Testimonies Archives • Holocaust Research Center & Library • Holocaust Documentation Publications & Distribution of Beate Klarsfeld Foundation Publications Remembering Georgy : Letters from the House of Izieu by Serge Klarsfeld with Special Teacher’s materials Return: Holocaust Survivors & Dutch Anti-Semitism Truth Prevails: Demolishing Holocaust Denial On the Brink of Nowhere JUSTICE Journal Sarah’s Key unlocks the history of a Jewish child, Sarah Starzynski, who was arrested in the Vel D’Hiv roundups, the largest roundup of French Jews in Paris carried out by the French police. 12,884 people including 4,051 children were arrested and put into the Vel D’Hiv, the bicycle stadium in the middle of, Paris, For more information about anti-prejudice programs, or to arrange on July 16 and 17, 1942. They were left without food, water or medical care for days before being deported twinning for bar/bat mitzvahs or confirmations, contact: to concentration camps. Holocaust Survivors & Friends Education Center The Rosner Holocaust-Shoah Center at The Golub Center The story helps us look at the once-closed chapter of the Holocaust in France. The anti-Jewish legislation and 184 Washington Ave. Ext. • Albany, NY 12203 policies, which were passed beginning in the autumn of 1940, followed by the arrest and internments of thousands of French Jews in camps, and the June 7, 1942 law requiring all Jews over the age of 6 to wear the Phone: (518) 694-9984 • FAX (518) 694-9940 yellow star, are the backdrop of the story depicted in Sarah’s Key.
    [Show full text]
  • Racial Motivations for French Collaboration During The
    Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2008 Racial Motivations for French Collaboration during the Second World War: Uncovering the Memory through Film and Memoirs Daniela Greene Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Greene, Daniela, "Racial Motivations for French Collaboration during the Second World War: Uncovering the Memory through Film and Memoirs" (2008). All Theses. 383. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/383 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RACIAL MOTIVATIONS FOR FRENCH COLLABORATION DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR: UNCOVERING THE MEMORY THROUGH FILM AND MEMOIRS _________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University _________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts History _________________________________________ by Daniela Greene August 2008 _________________________________________ Accepted by: Dr. Alan Grubb, Committee Chair Dr. Roger Grant Dr. Donald McKale Abstract After France was defeated by the Germans in June 1940, several politicians of the Third Republic formed a new government under Marshal Philippe Pétain in Vichy. The men in the new regime immediately began to make social and political changes which, in their mind, were long overdue. They believed that they could negotiate with the occupation officials in the North and maintain France‟s sovereignty, at least in the “free” Southern zone. They also believed, as did a large part of the French people, that the inadequacies of the republican system had lost France the war.
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust Memory in France
    Spring 2020 Professeur Gayle Zachmann Tues 7th (And 0101) / Thurs 7-8th (Turl 2349) [email protected] Office hours: 12-1:50 pm Office : Turlington 1120F Holocaust Memory in France Crosslisted: FRT 3004 (7A49); JST 3930 (sect 0787); EUS 3930 (sect 9EUS) (T: 7th ; R 7-8th) An inquiry into the history and memory of the Holocaust in France, this course traces the ways in which the past and the memory of the Holocaust have been represented decade by decade in the aftermath of World War II. Exploring how Holocaust memory is mediated and performed in history, literature, film, exhibitions, commemorations and memorials, we will query how and when French Jewish memory runs parallel, diverges, or collides with majority (national) discourse. Particular attention will be paid to post-war imaginings of Jewish history, trauma, practice, and identity in French literature and culture, as well as to how and why cultural production might engage the Holocaust at key moments of post-war history. Class systematically introduces various kinds of primary archives each week, situating them in their esthetic movements and moments: literature, film, historical and journalistic texts, as well as less traditional materials, including footage and interviews filmed for the course in France and Israel. Some authors and filmmakers included: Vercors, Triolet, Cahun, Delbo, Goldberg, Goldman, Jay, Joffo, Renais, Ophuls, Lanzmann, Goldman, Raczymow, Finkielkraut, Cixous. This course is taught in English. Class meets requirements for the Certificate in Holocaust Studies and the Certificate in European Jewish Studies. Preparation, Attendance, Assignments: Attendance and demonstration of preparation at each class session are required.
    [Show full text]
  • Darkness in the City of Light: the Great Roundup of 1942 & France's Role in the Shoah
    Salve Regina University Digital Commons @ Salve Regina Pell Scholars and Senior Theses Salve's Dissertations and Theses Summer 8-2012 Darkness in the City of Light: The Great Roundup of 1942 & France’s Role in the Shoah. Benjamin T.C. Mead Salve Regina University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/pell_theses Part of the European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Military History Commons, and the Other History Commons Mead, Benjamin T.C., "Darkness in the City of Light: The Great Roundup of 1942 & France’s Role in the Shoah." (2012). Pell Scholars and Senior Theses. 86. https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/pell_theses/86 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Salve's Dissertations and Theses at Digital Commons @ Salve Regina. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pell Scholars and Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Salve Regina. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Darkness in the City of Light: The Great Roundup of 1942 & France’s Role in the Shoah Benjamin T. C. Mead Salve Regina University Department of History Senior Thesis Dr. Neary December 2, 2011 1 Dedication Page This thesis is dedicated to the following: Katherine Lawber, Ph.D, Professor of Modern and Classical Languages at Salve Regina University, for her help in translating Lettres de Drancy, and for making me fall in love with the French language. To the people of Paris, who truly welcomed me to their city and were eager to share its history. To my wonderful French family, whose warmth, generosity, and hospitality will stay with me.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shoah Memorial: a History Retraced from the Drancy Site
    International Review of the Red Cross (2019), 101 (1), 295–315. Memory and war doi:10.1017/S1816383119000432 IN FOLIO The Shoah Memorial: A history retraced from the Drancy site Annaı¨g Lefeuvre* Annaı¨g Lefeuvre is an anthropologist and a member of LabEx Pasts in the Present and the project “Dark Tourism in Comparative Perspective: Sites of Suffering, Sites of Memory”. Abstract Between the inauguration of the Tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr in 1956 in Paris and the opening of the Shoah Memorial in Drancy in 2012, the narration of the Shoah in France has evolved through the use of archives, discussions, commemorations and exhibitions. In the immediate post-war period, a small group of people worked on the construction of a dedicated place to document the genocide of Jews in Europe in order to ensure that the memory of the Shoah would be impregnated into the collective consciousness. This project, which later evolved into the Paris and Drancy Shoah Memorials, could be seen as an expression of what remembrance is in France today. Keywords: Shoah Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Jews of France, Drancy camp, sites of memory, memorialization. Introduction The Paris Shoah Memorial and its extension in Drancy were born from the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Centre1 (Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine, CDJC) and were made possible by the Foundation for the * The author was an Education Coordinator at the Drancy Shoah Memorial at the time of writing this article. References to historical facts in this contribution come from materials available in the Memorial. © icrc 2019 295 A. Lefeuvre Memory of the Shoah (Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, FMS).2 The Paris Shoah Memorial opened its exhibition to the public in 2005,3 at the same time as the inauguration of the Wall of Names, where the names of the 76,000 Jews deported from France are engraved.
    [Show full text]