Language:
English
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
Historical Journal
Angaben zur Quelle:
44,4 (2001) 1065-1082
Keywords:
Union générale des israélites de France
;
Consistoire central israélite de France
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
;
Jewish organizations History 20th century
;
Vichy (France) History German occupation, 1940-1945
Abstract:
Summarizes briefly the evolution of Franco-Jewish historiography of the Holocaust from the 1950s on, finding several unresolved problems. One is the issue of continuity in French politics before and during the Vichy regime. Focusing on the problem of the behavior of Jewish organizations under Vichy, discerns two major approaches. The "Zionist" interpretation treats the Jews of France as a single community and disregards the disparity between the reactions of native Jews and immigrants. The other approach, supported by Adler, sees two Jewish communities in France, each with its own tactic of survival. Criticizes the attitude of the Central Consistory and of the Union Générale des Israélites de France (UGIF), both dominated by native Jews, which failed to defend the immigrant Jews, the first victims of the Nazi-Vichy repressions. Contends that the UGIF cannot be regarded as a "resistance organization", as some authors do. Among the insufficiently resolved questions are also those of the role of French public opinion in relation to the Jewish question and whether the communist Jewish resistance can be regarded as a form of Jewish resistance in France.
DOI:
10.1017/S0018246X01002175
URL:
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