Jewish Youth and Identity in Postwar France (excerpt)

8202019 Jewish Youth and Identity in Postwar France (excerpt)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfulljewish-youth-and-identity-in-postwar-france-excerpt 114



vii

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 983089

1048625 ldquoeir Children Our Childrenrdquo

Holocaust Memory in Postwar France 983091983089

1048626 ldquoA Drama of Faith and Familyrdquo

Custody Disputes in Postwar France 983095983092

1048627 Notre Vie en Commune

e Family versus the Childrenrsquos Home 983089983089983096

1048628 e Homes of Hope

Trauma Universal Victimhood and Universalism 983089983094983090

1048629 From Competition to Cooperation

Redefining Jewish Identities 983089983097983096

Conclusion 983090983091983091

Notes 983090983092983089

Works Cited 983090983096983093

Index 983090983097983097



983089

Introduction

k

983124983144 983141 983111983148983137983155983155 983142983137983149 983145983148983161 983139983151983150983155983145983155983156983145983150983143 of the French Jewish M and Mme Glassand their daughters Jeannine and Simone had been a cohesive family unitat all changed in the heartbreaking year of 983089983097983092983090 e Glasses had alreadyfled their home to take refuge in the Niegravevre but the change in location failedto alleviate the danger still looming over the family Concerned about thetenuous nature of their wartime existence M and Mme Glass turned to theLagoues non-Jews also living in the Niegravevre to care for both daughters852017

Aerward and despite their own deteriorating circumstances the Glassparents continued to monitor their daughtersrsquo well-being Before her depor-tation Mme Glass informed the Jewish communal body LrsquoUnion geacuteneacuteraledes Israeacutelites de France (the General Union of Israelites in France UGIF)of her childrenrsquos whereabouts while for his part M Glass maintained a cor-respondence with the girls throughout his internment in Camp de Clefs852018Facing imminent deportation M Glass reached out one last time to his

daughtersrsquo guardians expressing his gratitude for sheltering his ldquopoor or-phaned daughtersrdquo entreating them to care for their girls as their own and voicing his hope that he would one day ldquosee them againrdquo852019 M Glass wouldnot come to realize that wish

e end of the war brought grim news to the surviving relatives By 983089983097983092983094M Goldberg the cousin of M and Mme Glass assumed that his kin had per-ished in the concentration camps In light of this somber reality he decidedto approach the Bundist Jewish child welfare agency La Colonie scolaire

(the School Colony) for assistance in gaining custody of his now orphanedteenage cousins But the Lagoues were not eager to part from their chargesHaving raised the Glass daughters for four years they resisted relinquishing



983090 983114983141 983159 983145983155983144 983129983151983157 983156 983144 983137 983150 983140 983113 983140983141 983150 983156983145983156 983161 983145 983150 983120983151983155983156 983159983137 983154 983110 983154 983137 983150983139983141

custody of the girls whom they had grown to love Upon learning of the situ-ation La Colonie scolaire in the words of one social worker agreed that theldquofight must be continuedrdquo pledging their help to organize a family court pro-

ceeding (conseille de famille) which did in fact eventually name M Goldbergguardian of the girls Goldberg chose the Luxembourgs friends of the par-ents as a foster family for the adolescents Fourteen-year-old Simone soonthereaer le the family that had sheltered her for the home of her parentsrsquofriends the Luxembourgs But the issue of Jeannine proved increasingly con-tentious Mme Lagouersquos adamant refusal to relinquish Jeannine promptedM Goldberg in the words of a Jewish social worker monitoring the case to

ldquovirtually kidnaprdquo her with the assistance of some friends852020 Placed with hersister in the home of the Luxembourgs Jeannine appeared content in sucha ldquodifferent milieurdquo Yet a few days before she was scheduled to leave for a

Jewish sleep-away camp Jeannine secretly phoned the Lagoues pleadingto return home Te Lagoues promptly traveled to Paris where they pickedup Jeannine without the knowledge or consent of the extended Glass andLuxembourg families852021

M Goldberg informed La Colonie scolaire of this recent twist in July 983089983097983092983095

By both M Goldberg and La Colonie scolairersquos accounts the child welfareagency demanded that the girl be ldquoreturned by any meansrdquo and redirected thecase back to the family courts where it lingered for an additional two years1048630In the interim bad blood between the Christian and Jewish families onlyintensified Jeannine penned hurtful leers to her Jewish relatives includingher sister proclaiming that she refused to live with them ldquounder any circum-stances whatsoeverrdquo Finally the Court of Appeals ruled for the Lagoues in

part on the basis that not only was M Glass not officially dead but her stay with the Lagoues accorded with his last known wishes1048631 Jeannine Glassrsquos case remained closeted in the archives and presumably

in the memories of those who participated in this family drama And yet herexperience speaks to a larger story about Jewish children and national andfamilial reconstruction efforts aer the Second World War in France In a

bid to reconstitute national and ethnic communities French Jewish com-munal and national agencies mobilized in the name of Jewish so-called ldquolostrdquo

children e rationale behind these efforts was both intensely emotionaland highly pragmatic e youth represented the future of the ldquonationrdquo (aterm used loosely and defined as country the polity the ethnic community



983113983150983156983154983151983140983157983139983156983145983151983150 983091

andor religion depending on who used the term and when) For distressedfamilies these children were the last remains of deceased relatives For allparties involved the youth could not remain lost It is presumably for this

reason that La Colonie scolaire insisted that the struggle for Jeannine Glassldquomust be continuedrdquo and it is presumably these reasons that prompted MGoldberg to kidnap the girl

e custody dispute encircling Jeannine Glass also reveals how the goalsof rebuilding families in the wake of war remained intensely complicated andelusive We do not know why postwar Jewish agencies housed the Glass girls with family friends and not their cousin though perhaps we can presume that

just like so many other French Jews M Goldbergrsquos own familial or emotionalcircumstances precluded caring for two adolescents Te Jewish agencies andthe individuals involved in the case nonetheless worked to provide Jeannineand Simone with a Jewish family life Yet that postwar family life quicklyfaltered e years of familial separation and hiding as a Christian took a tollon Jeannine too great for her to overcome By the late 983089983097983092983088s she found herselfdeeply embedded in the Lagoue family and professed her devout Catholi-cism and distaste for Judaism e shaky nature of French Jewish familial

life as exemplified by the Glass family strife prompted Jewish agencies andfamilies to adopt a collectivist approach for the care of their youth At theheight of the Glass family drama when Jeannine declared that she would notlive with them ldquounder any circumstances whatsoeverrdquo her Jewish guardiansflirted with the idea of sending her to a Jewish childrenrsquos home or to Israel1048632

Tis book examines efforts to rehabilitate Jewish children and reconstruct Jewish families like those of Jeannine Glass that had been fractured by the

war Even though her case was especially dramatic replete with double kid-nappings and clandestine escapes her story typified the kind of emotionalfinancial and communal energy invested in postwar French Jewish childrenand families It considers how children like Jeannine Glass became objectsof struggle as French Jews and non-Jews reassessed their vision of France inthe wake of Vichy Because of its pragmatic and emotional significance thefraught maer of the rehabilitation of Jewish children created a forum forpostwar French citizens of all faiths to voice their competing perspectives

on Jewish communal and French national reconstruction Such weighty andcontentious issues as a nascent memory of the Holocaust the contours ofrepublicanism the reconstruction of Jewish ethnicity and the utility of the



983092 983114983141 983159 983145983155983144 983129983151983157 983156 983144 983137 983150 983140 983113 983140983141 983150 983156983145983156 983161 983145 983150 983120983151983155983156 983159983137 983154 983110 983154 983137 983150983139983141

institution of family in the postwar world all figured in Jewish child welfare work and debates as Francersquos citizens labored to reconstruct the world of thechild and reconstitute their visions of France

is book documents how Jewish social workers child welfare expertsand communal leaders working and writing in postwar France pinned theirhopes and fears on the French Jewish communityrsquos surviving thirty thousand

Jewish youth e story of efforts to rehabilitate young Jews helps recoverthe voices of children as they tried to make sense of their shiing identitiesreveals Jews aempting to explain their specific experience of genocide toa French society itself aempting to forge shared narratives of wartime suf-

fering and resistance and explains how sectors of French society clashedover their notions of the institution of family and national identity1048633 Writingfamilialism and the history of childhood into postwar French Jewish historyalso unravels some common historiographical assumptions e history ofefforts to reintegrate postwar Jewish children reveals that a popular embraceof Jewish ethnicity communal comity and an early articulation of Holocaustmemory emerged on the French stage immediately at warrsquos end is evi-dence in turn questions a historiography that has emphasized the allures of

assimilation and silence for postwar French Jews but it does not entirely sup-port those historians that stress the themes of reconstruction and renewal8520171048624I argue that even though French Jews jumped into the task of reconstruction

with vigor and energy their underlying mood spoke to their sense of crisisand anxiety Tis study additionally contributes to the historiography on the

Jewish family by considering how ideas about national identity and citizen-ship have informed the familialist strategies of Jews in the modern era e

national political and cultural terrain navigated by Jews991252in this case repub-lican France991252shaped how Jewish families formed and re-formed As French Jews sought to redress the demographic losses caused by the

Nazis maers relating to Jewish ethnicity and childhood acquired a poi-gnant urgency French Jewish organizations combed the countryside andthe cities of France for the Jewish children hidden with non-Jewish familiesand institutions during the war ey constructed nearly seventy childrenrsquoshomes for youth rendered parentless and homeless by the persecutions en-

gaged in debates about the best conditions in which to raise orphans andfinally established youth programs to affiliate every young Jew e fact thatFrench Jews continued to pursue programs and initiatives from custody



983113983150983156983154983151983140983157983139983156983145983151983150 983093

disputes in 983089983097983092983093 to Jewish Community Centers in 983089983097983093983093 reflects the tenacityof ethnic identities among French Jews in the postwar era

Conceptions of family however proved highly fungible and adaptable to

the demands of the circumstances ough Jewish child welfare and familypolicy activists theoretically wished to reconstruct Jewish family life aer the

war reality proved to be far more complicated In particular the emotionaland economic fragility of countless Jewish families propelled Jewish activiststo doubt the ability of French Jews to care properly for their children is

book shows how these communal leaders experimented with collective solu-tions such as establishing childrenrsquos homes or organizing colonies de vacances

(sleep-away camps) to house and educate French Jewryrsquos precious remain-ing youth But Jewish organizations were not the only ones reassessing theirideas about the institution of family aer the war Many Jewish individualsalso reconsidered their notions of family a fact revealed by the staggeringpercentage of children placed in orphanages by surviving parents

Just at the moment when French Jews were taking a collectivist approachmany European politicians and pedagogues were citing the nuclear familyas key to forging social stability and building democracy Collectivist educa-

tion as historian Tara Zahra has noted was discredited in the West by theNazi regime Fearful of replicating the ldquoexcessive intervention into familyliferdquo of the Nazis postwar politicians and child welfare workers now saweducating children within families as heralding a new age of democracy Forthem aer years of total war and occupation a return to stability and nor-mality translated into rebuilding family ties that had been torn asunder bythe war852017852017 In France republican politics oen informed French non-Jewish

perspectives on what they considered ldquothe best interest of the childrdquo Reject-ing the particularistic politics of Jewish agencies and the racism of the NazisFrench non-Jews generally sought to preserve the families that had beencobbled together in hiding during the war Teir belief that any loving familyserved the childrsquos best interests was rooted in their own competing aemptsto restore republicanism or buoy Catholicism aer Vichy For this group theimportance of loving families991252not ldquosectarianrdquo interests991252was undeniableand unassailable French policies and practices toward orphaned children

speak to a ldquopost-fascistrdquo aempt to reassert republicanism and Jewish lifeaer Vichy racism852017852018 e charged topic of children and nationhood emergedas a maer of considerable dispute



983094 983114983141 983159 983145983155983144 983129983151983157 983156 983144 983137 983150 983140 983113 983140983141 983150 983156983145983156 983161 983145 983150 983120983151983155983156 983159983137 983154 983110 983154 983137 983150983139983141

983123983141983156983156983145983150983143 983156983144983141 983123983156983137983143983141 983120983154983141 983159983137983154 983110983154 983141983150983139983144 983114983141983159983145983155983144 983112983145983155983156983151983154983161

e relationship between postwar French Jews and republicanism emerged

out of a longer history that traces back to the French Revolution a watershedmoment in reconfiguring the terms between Jews and the state No longeran autonomous community governed by its own laws and leadership French

Jews became the first Jewish community in Europe to navigate the privilegesand perils of citizenship in a modern nation-state e principles of repub-lican universalism mandated that the forty thousand Jews of France launchinto the task of ldquoself-regenerationrdquo transforming from a group distinct in

dress religion and communal affiliation to equal citizens deeply integratedinto French society and culture French republicanism commied to prin-ciples of individualism and individual rights dictated that all of Francersquoscitizens should embrace cultural assimilation and subsume particularisticethnic religious or regional identities In exchange for the political and so-cial advantages conferred by emancipation French Jews were to relegate

Judaism to the private sphere where they practiced a set of religious beliefsmuch like other French citizens French Jews largely saw in the emancipatory

contract an unprecedented opportunity for social and economic mobilityand over the course of the nineteenth century generally shed many of thetraits that had visibly distinguished them from the rest of Francersquos citizensEmbracing republican France they sent their children to the public schoolsystem and their men to the army and to some of the highest positions inFrench administration French Jews could be aptly described as ldquocrazy forthe Republicrdquo852017852019

Earlier historiography had accepted the demands of republican univer-salism at face value arguing that French Jews embraced a ldquopolitics of as-similationrdquo that sought to negate Jewish particularity852017852020 And yet as a largerschool of historiography has since demonstrated French Jews never intendedto radically assimilate into French society852017852021 Acculturation was a gradualand geographically inconsistent process Whether they headed the Consis-toire central (the Central Consistory the state-sanctioned religious bodyof French Jews) or worked as cale dealers in eastern France French Jews

picked and chose which aspects of the majority culture to adopt and whichaspects of their minority culture to retain Even among those seemingly



983113983150983156983154983151983140983157983139983156983145983151983150 983095

ldquoassimilationistrdquo Parisian Jews who had reached the highest echelons of theFrench administration they too balanced their loyalty to republican uni-

versalism with continued Jewish particularity Pierre Birnbaumrsquos research

on ldquostate-Jewsrdquo who worked for the French administration reveals that they wed and befriended other Jews served on the boards of Jewish commu-nal organizations and remained active in French Jewish religious life Jewseven at the highest levels of the French state continued to move in Jewishcircles8520171048630 e creation of the Alliance israeacutelite universelle (Universal Isra-elite Alliance AIU or the Alliance) established by the intellectual French

Jewish elite in 983089983096983094983088 exemplifies the continued ties of Jewish ethnic bonds

even as French Jews evangelized republican universalism Tis organiza-tion first established to combat antisemitism abroad eventually sought toimprove the situation of Levantine Jews by importing French language cul-ture and values through an extensive network of French language schoolsand programs In its work with international Jewry the Alliance mimickedthe overall ldquocivilizing missionrdquo of nineteenth-century imperial France but itsorganizational agenda also testified to the sense of mutual responsibility thatFrench Jews felt toward co-religionists abroad8520171048631 Te Jews of Alsace the larg-

est Jewish community of France were slower and more hesitant in embracingFrench republican norms Into the middle and last third of the nineteenthcentury even as the process of their acculturation continued apace many

Alsatian Jews still adhered to Jewish folk and religious customs traditionaleconomic paerns and linguistic difference in the form of Judeo-Alsatian

Alsatian Jews only slowly and partially accepted the assimilatory project ofldquoself-regenerationrdquo8520171048632 Ultimately while in theory nineteenth-century French

Jews publicly championed French republican universalism in practice theirquotidian reality spoke to the continued ties of ethnic belonging8520171048633From the earliest days of the Revolution French Jews never constituted a

cohesive and homogenous entity But the waves of Jewish immigrants thatlanded in France at the end of the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuryfurther diversified the nature of French Jewry and exacerbated the tensions

between Jewish particularism and French universalism Between 983089983096983096983089 and983089983097983089983092 approximately 983092983092983088983088983088 eastern European Jews made their way to Paris

where they built a vibrant and varied Yiddishist Leist and working classsubculture8520181048624 At the close of the First World War 983089983093983088983088983088983088 Jews resided in



983096 983114983141 983159 983145983155983144 983129983151983157 983156 983144 983137 983150 983140 983113 983140983141 983150 983156983145983156 983161 983145 983150 983120983151983155983156 983159983137 983154 983110 983154 983137 983150983139983141

France852018852017 Focusing on the extremes of these two groups991252the French Jew-ish establishment such as the Consistoire central and the Alliance or theactivist immigrant organizations991252has led some historians to stress the gulf

and the friction that divided immigrant and native French Jews852018852018 Judaismdictated the dress and the daily rhythms of many of these observant easternEuropean Jews thereby challenging republican ideology that consigned re-ligious observance to the private sphere Concerned that this wave of visiblydistinct immigrants would spark a resurgence of antisemitism the nativeFrench Jewish establishment aempted to acculturate and integrate the newarrivals through a series of education and social-welfare programs But these

efforts were met with resistance and resentment Historians have arguedthat immigrants felt the establishment had adopted a condescending andpatronizing aitude in their refusal to accept the validity of multiple formsof Jewish expression in France Rather than finding a middle ground theestablishment demanded immigrants shed their previous ideological andreligious commitments and accept the mores of French culture and society852018852019

e interwar period further reconfigured the French Jewish communitythrough immigration and also has served as a site of recent historiographical

reappraisal Between 983089983097983089983097 and 983089983097983091983097 France provided refuge to large numbers of Jews fleeing poverty in eastern Europe and later fascism in centralEurope On the eve of the Second World War somewhere between 983091983088983088983088983088983088and 983091983093983088983088983088983088 Jews made their home in France852018852020 Tis influx of immigrants andrefugees coupled with the general economic and political climate of interwarEurope caused French Jewry to reckon with a series of thorny political andsocial challenges Most notably the 983089983097983091983088s witnessed a surge of antisemitism

e rise of the Nazis in particular prompted a large wave of refugees to maketheir way to France just at the very moment when the French economy spi-raled downward and French xenophobia and antisemitism spiraled upwardhistorians generally refer to this situation as the ldquorefugee crisisrdquo of the 983089983097983091983088sMoreover the dire predicament of central and eastern European Jews forcedFrench Jews to grapple with the now pressing question of Zionism and Pal-estine as a site of Jewish refuge e trifecta of Zionism the refugee crisisand antisemitism prompted some French Jews to reexamine previously held

assumptions about the wisdom of the Israeacutelite-Franccedilaise model a Jewish iden-tity founded upon a solely religious framework



983113983150983156983154983151983140983157983139983156983145983151983150 983097

ese interwar developments have encouraged historians to reexaminethe nature of the political and cultural antagonisms between native and im-migrant Jews in France A linguistic economic and cultural divide unde-

niably existed between native and immigrant French Jews but as we haveseen immigrants did not import Jewish ethnicity into France French Jewshad long refused to buckle to the assimilatory force of the French state Incontrast to earlier scholarship that had focused on the extreme edges of thenative and immigrant divide more recent work has documented the zonesof commonality and cooperation between the two groups For one thoughthe first generation of Jewish immigrants generally felt most comfortable

with Yiddish their children opted for French Focusing largely on the 983089983097983090983088sNadia Malinovich has argued that an increasing number of Jews in Francereached a comfortable symbiosis between being ldquoFrench and Jewishrdquo Re-sponding to the spike in eastern European antisemitism and the momentumof the Zionist project in Palestine writers youth groups and intellectualsfelt compelled to articulate an increasingly communitarian conception of

Jewish affiliation852018852021Tis reappraisal of the viability of the Israeacutelite-Franccedilaise model can be seen

in a number of domains Large numbers of French Jews (including establish-ment organizations such as the Consistoire central or the AIU) refused toembrace Zionism remaining convinced that Jewish nationalism was irrec-oncilable with French universalism Nonetheless Malinovich and othershave convincingly argued that the role of Zionism among interwar Jews has

been underappreciated8520181048630 Convinced that Palestine should serve as a havenfor persecuted eastern European or Levantine Jews some French Jews up-

held their tradition of supporting philanthropic initiatives991252including thosedirected at supporting Zionism991252that worked to aid their more unfortunate brethren While older French Jews tended to view Palestine as a viable solu-tion to the plight of persecuted co-religionists younger French Jews of im-migrant parents joined the small but still significant number of Zionist youthgroups ough as the historian Daniel Lee has noted these Zionist youthgroups failed to aract the participation of large numbers of younger Jews ofnative French parentage this fact ldquoshould not imply Zionismrsquos failure to take

hold of French Jewish youth in other waysrdquo8520181048631 Lee points to the Eacuteclaireursisraeacutelites de France (Jewish Scouts of France EacuteIF) supported by the Con-



983089983088 983114983141 983159 983145983155983144 983129983151983157 983156 983144 983137 983150 983140 983113 983140983141 983150 983156983145983156 983161 983145 983150 983120983151983155983156 983159983137 983154 983110 983154 983137 983150983139983141

sistoire central as representing a crucial vehicle in introducing mainstream younger French Jews to Zionism

e refugee crisis reveals how the French Jewish establishment came to

work tirelessly on behalf of non-native French Jews Te immigration ofthirty thousand German and Austrian Jews to France aer 983089983097983091983091 collided

with the explosion of French antisemitism8520181048632 is rise in antisemitism re-sulted from a confluence of factors the large waves of refugees the GreatDepression the looming possibility of yet a second world war and some

would argue a deeply entrenched right-wing antisemitic tradition8520181048633 Tissurge in antisemitism meant that many Jews in France encountered social

antisemitism in their day-to-day life and the Jewish establishment had tostrategize how to most effectively handle both this uptick in antisemitichostility and the refugee crisis Some historians have argued that the French

Jewish leadership doggedly adhered to the ldquopolitics of discretion and patri-otic rhetoricrdquo in the face of this crisis whereas immigrant and youth groupsopted to wage a public political bale against antisemitism and champion thecause of Jewish refugees8520191048624 e historian Vicki Caron has agreed with thesescholars that the reaction of the French Jewish establishment was woefully

inadequate during the first years of the refugee crisis but she has also shownhow divisions existed within the French Jewish establishment regarding howto formulate appropriate and effective communal policy vis-agrave-vis the crisisFurthermore by the second half of the 983089983097983091983088s the native French Jewish leader-ship embraced a pro-refugee stance and went to great pains to help overturnanti-immigration legislation852019852017 All in all a greater number of immigrant andnative French Jews came to realize that the source of antisemitism resided

not with the behavior and presence of immigrant Jews but with the FrenchOn the eve of the Second World War approximately 983091983091983088983088983088983088 Jews residedin France only a third of whom enjoyed French citizenship Te recent schol-arship documenting the interwar era has convincingly called into questionprevious historiography that had damned the native French Jewish establish-ment for pursuing a ldquopolitics of assimilationrdquo nearly till the bier end Insteada complex picture of a French Jewry in transition emerges991252demographicallyreconfigured by decades of immigration gradually accepting of forms of Jew-

ish expression based on communitarian and ethnic allegiances and increas-ingly though not entirely willing to work with rather than against Jewishimmigrants and their agencies e 983089983097983090983088s and the 983089983097983091983088s set the stage for the



983113983150983156983154983151983140983157983139983156983145983151983150 983089983089

developments that this book will trace in the warrsquos wake Larger segmentsof French Jewish society came to appreciate the value of Jewish communalcooperation and reassessed the legitimacy of plural forms of Jewish identifi-

cation that ran counter to the ideal of republican universalism In the wakeof the Holocaust the seeds sown in the interwar era came into bloom

983124983144983141 983127983137983154 983107 983144983145983148 983140983154983141 983150 983137983150983140 983110983137983149 983145983148 983145 983141 983155

e fall of France in 983089983097983092983088 served as the greatest challenge to French Jewsrsquofaith in French equality and liberalism When the ird Republic collapsed

the German authorities occupied the Northern Zone while a collabora-tionist regime referred to as Vichy administered the Free Zone Like manyof Francersquos citizens French Jews first joined the exodus of refugees fleeingsouthward in the hope of finding greater freedom and safety in the so-calledFree Zone Te self-described Free Zone proved to be a cruel misnomerthough for French Jews Eventually 983091983088983088983088983088 of them returned to Paris re-sulting in the capital housing 983089983093983088983088983088983088 French Jews852019852018 Over the course of four

years the equality and safety enjoyed by Francersquos Jews disintegrated French

and German authorities stripped Jews of their political and economic rightsdetained them in interment camps on French soil and eventually sent ap-proximately 983095983093983088983088983088 French Jews to their deaths in concentration camps Ofthe laer figure 983089983092 percent had not reached the age of eighteen and only983090983088983088983088 to 983091983088983088983088 survived the brutal camps to return home Immigrant Jews inFrance suffered cruelly under Vichy and the Nazis 983093983093983088983088983088 foreign Jews fell

victim to persecution whereas 983090983092983093983088983088 French Jews (including naturalized

citizens and children of foreign parents) lost their lives852019852019 is devastatingoutcome was achieved through the active participation of the French asFrench authorities planned the capture and deportation of Jews and Frenchpolice officers knocked on doors and made the arrests At the same timeFrench society held a range of opinions991252from dissent to assent to indiffer-ence991252about the persecution and the deportations852019852020

During wartime Jews and non-Jews labored to spare at least children fromthe Nazisrsquo relentless assault852019852021 In the early stages of the war Jewish agencies

had concentrated their relief efforts on providing material assistance andmedical aid to Jews increasingly pauperized and displaced by the Nazis egrim summer of 983089983097983092983090 however marked a turning point in the evolution



983089983090 983114983141 983159 983145983155983144 983129983151983157 983156 983144 983137 983150 983140 983113 983140983141 983150 983156983145983156 983161 983145 983150 983120983151983155983156 983159983137 983154 983110 983154 983137 983150983139983141

of Jewish rescue efforts e first deportations to Auschwitz coupled withraids on childrenrsquos homes prompted Jewish agencies to shi from open phi-lanthropy to clandestine resistance In particular the brute shock of these

Nazi policies led resisters and child welfare workers to recognize the futilityof legal measures against the Nazis Resistance agencies shied their effortsto forging fake documents ignoring Vichy orders and placing children with

willing non-Jewish foster families or religious institutions8520191048630 Te Oeuvrede secours aux enfants (Childrenrsquos Relief Agency OSE) alone managed tohide approximately five thousand Jewish children in wartime armed with asophisticated and covert network of social workers host families and non-

Jewish organizations8520191048631Parents actively participated in the effort to save their offspring As theyassessed the mounting danger parents hurried to entrust their children to

virtual strangers In panic and haste the parents of later Holocaust historianSaul Friedlaumlnder begged an acquaintance to take in their only child In a rela-tively brief time the Czech Jewish child Pavel Friedlaumlnder transformed intothe devout French Catholic Paul-Henri Marie Ferland8520191048632 Friedlaumlnderrsquos com-pelling life story exemplifies a larger rescue effort in which eight thousand to

ten thousand Jewish children in France assumed fake identities and fosterfamilies for the duration of the war Whether hidden by families or agencies

Jewish children routinely adopted French Christian names and no maertheir age had to adhere to a fictional biography In the meantime child wel-fare and resistance agencies guarded childrenrsquos true names and identities lest

young children forget their personal pasts French social workers for theirpart routinely shuffled children from safe house to safe house depending

on local conditions e transitory nature of most hidden childrenrsquos refugerequired children to memorize yet again a new identity and false personalhistory8520191048633 Jewish childrenrsquos memories of these painful ldquohiddenrdquo years remainoen varied and emotionally charged8520201048624 Some once-hidden children recalltheir childhoods as stressful and confusing longing for parents unable tounderstand the necessity of another familial separation and living in at bestunfamiliar or at worst abusive or antisemitic conditions And liberationdid not result in an eagerly anticipated joyful family reunion Many youth

awaited parents who would never return accustomed themselves to newlyreconfigured families or contended with traumatized and emotionally dis-tant parents852020852017



vii

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 983089

1048625 ldquoeir Children Our Childrenrdquo

Holocaust Memory in Postwar France 983091983089

1048626 ldquoA Drama of Faith and Familyrdquo

Custody Disputes in Postwar France 983095983092

1048627 Notre Vie en Commune

e Family versus the Childrenrsquos Home 983089983089983096

1048628 e Homes of Hope

Trauma Universal Victimhood and Universalism 983089983094983090

1048629 From Competition to Cooperation

Redefining Jewish Identities 983089983097983096

Conclusion 983090983091983091

Notes 983090983092983089

Works Cited 983090983096983093

Index 983090983097983097



983089

Introduction

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983089

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Documents

Jewish Youth and Identity in Postwar France (excerpt)