On the occasion of the publication of "French Jews and Nazism 1933-1939. L'Histoire renversée" by Jérémy Guedj (Puf, 2024) and the meeting scheduled at the Memorial on October 1st, discover the author’s interview.
In the 1930s, about thirty years after the Dreyfus Affair, what did the Jews of France think of the political context in Germany, of the advent of national socialism?
French Jews became interested very early in the emergence of National Socialism in Germany, truly as early as 1923, ten years before Hitler’s rise to power. And, from 1926-1928 onwards, they were well aware of the intrinsically antisemitic character of National Socialism, of its possible applications: exclusion from society and even social extermination as one can read. Very regularly, the Jewish press reports on the exactions of the national socialist movement in Germany and predicts the arrival to power of Hitler even if it makes some errors of assessment. The Jewish press is much better informed on the issue of antisemitism in Germany than the French general press, not only because this is what primarily interests its readers, but also because it wants to alert about the seriousness of Nazi antisemitism, where, elsewhere, we only make it one element among others. The Jews immediately understood the antisemitic dimension of Nazism because they were Jews – they therefore felt directly concerned – and because they got informed by the Jewish communities in Germany.
Despite the increasingly deteriorated situation of their neighbors, do French Jews feel safe from anti-Semitism, from the hostility of the French government as well as the French?
From the 1920s, concern spreads among French Jews for their German co-religionists. But, the tragedy experienced by the German Jews reminds them of the greatness of the French Republic, the greatness of its institutions. They continue to believe that they will be spared from antisemitism, especially if they prove without fail that they are well integrated into French society. They refuse to see that the fate of German Jews could foreshadow theirs, because the question does not even arise for them.
After the signing of the Munich agreements (end of September 1938), the Jews of France observe that Nazism feeds antisemitism in France without always admitting that there exists an intrinsically French antisemitism. Despite this state of mind, they feel increasingly threatened in France and understand that they too could be victims of a Franco-German rapprochement. The Israelites perfectly assimilated into French society are supporters of discretion, proof of a successful assimilation, while the Jews from Eastern Europe and young French Jews (more committed and Zionist than their elders) argue for the opposite, or even the response.
French Jews did not ignore the dangers, they may have shown a certain naivety or overconfidence in the 1930s. They were then convinced that French society would show solidarity with the Jews, that they were protected in France and, signs also allowed them to believe it: at the end of the 1930s, the LICA (International League against Anti-Semitism) obtained the condemnation of anti-Semitism.
How does the advent of Hitler upset the identity of the Jews of France?
Contrary to what could be repeated, the Jews of France did not let themselves be pushed aside. They attempted to act against the German policy, against its spread. In the 1920s and 1930s, how do they mobilize to fight against Nazi ideology and its expansion?
Very early, the Jews of France become aware of the danger that Hitler and the Nazi ideology represented for the Jews (unlike many French people). So, very early on, they set up a range of actions to counter Nazism on a small, medium, or large scale. They begin first by intellectually contradicting all the arguments of Nazism concerning the Jews. But, from 1938, the Jews of France, by rising against Nazism, speak another language, a language they no longer share with the rest of French society. They increasingly feel like they belong to a minority.
They also organize the translation of Mein Kampf (on the initiative of LICA, the first anti-racist association) and the sending of this text to all powerful and influential personalities in the country with the aim of making Hitler’s project understood, his intentions of annihilation – with all the meanings that the word can take at that time in their imagination – of the Jewish people. Many Jewish intellectuals often vainly attempt to alert politicians and decision-makers in France of Hitler’s exactions.
For years, we were prisoners of the reading of Hannah Arendt convinced that the Jews had seen nothing coming, that they had immured themselves in passivity. However, this statement does not withstand rigorous and thorough research. A few weeks after the 1933 elections, Jews in France understand very well that Hitler embodies their existential enemy. Even if they alert on the danger, how to plan such an application of this danger?
And, at the time, some Jews like Raymond-Raoul Lambert, editor in chief of the Israelite Universe, consider that some do too much and are dangerously noticed; they prefer silence to noise. For example, at the time of the Munich agreements, the intellectual publishes an article that he titled 'Serve and be silent'.