judaism in paris
Jewish people have been in France since at least 582 CE, so I won't go over their entire history (though if you want there's an excellent article about it here). What would be in recent memory for a young Jewish woman in 1941 are these facts:
The Dreyfus affair exposed the long-roiling antisemitism in France. It lasted from 1894-1906. The short version: Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military man, was convicted of treason for purportedly selling French military secrets to the Germans. The primary piece of evidence in the case was a handwritten note which could not be definitively linked to Dreyfus. Nonetheless, Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment in exile. However, while he was imprisoned, another note was found and linked to a different officer; the army covered this up, but the public found out and Emile Zola wrote his famous article "J'Accuse", berating the army and the public for their antisemitism. Dreyfus was re-tried and re-convicted (again because of antisemitism and not because he did anything wrong) but was released after 10 years. The Dreyfus Affair split the nation between Dreyfusards (who believed Dreyfus was innocent) and anti-Dreyfusards (aka antisemites) and led to tension between the largely Catholic press and the Jews living in France.
In 1939 there were around 150,000 Jews in Paris (over half the total in France). The Jews lived all over the city but there were large concentrations of them in the north and east.
Parisian Jews were active from the very beginning in resistance movements. The march to the etoile on Nov. 11, 1940, of high school and university students, the first major public manifestation of resistance, included among its organizers Francis Cohen, Suzanne Dijan, and Bernard Kirschen.
The first roundups of Parisian Jews of foreign nationality took place in 1941; about 5,000 "foreign" Jews were deported on May 14, about 8,000 "foreigners" in August, and about 100 "intellectuals" on December 13. On July 16, 1942, 12,884 Jews were rounded up in Paris (including about 4,000 children). The Parisian Jews represented over half the 85,000 Jews deported from France to extermination camps in the east. During the night of Oct. 2-3, 1941, seven Parisian synagogues were attacked.
The Dreyfus affair exposed the long-roiling antisemitism in France. It lasted from 1894-1906. The short version: Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military man, was convicted of treason for purportedly selling French military secrets to the Germans. The primary piece of evidence in the case was a handwritten note which could not be definitively linked to Dreyfus. Nonetheless, Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment in exile. However, while he was imprisoned, another note was found and linked to a different officer; the army covered this up, but the public found out and Emile Zola wrote his famous article "J'Accuse", berating the army and the public for their antisemitism. Dreyfus was re-tried and re-convicted (again because of antisemitism and not because he did anything wrong) but was released after 10 years. The Dreyfus Affair split the nation between Dreyfusards (who believed Dreyfus was innocent) and anti-Dreyfusards (aka antisemites) and led to tension between the largely Catholic press and the Jews living in France.
In 1939 there were around 150,000 Jews in Paris (over half the total in France). The Jews lived all over the city but there were large concentrations of them in the north and east.
Parisian Jews were active from the very beginning in resistance movements. The march to the etoile on Nov. 11, 1940, of high school and university students, the first major public manifestation of resistance, included among its organizers Francis Cohen, Suzanne Dijan, and Bernard Kirschen.
The first roundups of Parisian Jews of foreign nationality took place in 1941; about 5,000 "foreign" Jews were deported on May 14, about 8,000 "foreigners" in August, and about 100 "intellectuals" on December 13. On July 16, 1942, 12,884 Jews were rounded up in Paris (including about 4,000 children). The Parisian Jews represented over half the 85,000 Jews deported from France to extermination camps in the east. During the night of Oct. 2-3, 1941, seven Parisian synagogues were attacked.