Adam Rayski (1913–2008)

This one took me a bit to wade through. It was heavy reading as one would expect for a book with such a serious subject. I read faster the more interested I am with a book and books with a story tend to keep my interested more than history books because they flow better for me from the perspective on a central character/characters. This jumped all over the place in France following events rather than individuals though many moments from individual lives are highlighted.

There were three categories of non-Jewish people in France. There were the anti-Semites who mostly embraced (with enthusiasm)anti-Jewish measures, the apathetic, and the horrified who helped Jews avoid being rounded up and sometimes even publically stood up for the Jews. France was one of the most helpful to the Germans in their persecution of the Jews. Yet, at the same time many ordinary people helped many Jews escape the clutches of the German extermination apparatus. The Vichy French government was more than merely silent. Rather, they willingly collaborated with the German effort to exterminate the Jews.

One of the fascinating parts of this history is how the German extermination organization got the French and the Jews to cooperate with their plans to exterminate the Jews. They did not just come out right off the bat shipping Jews off to extermination camps or killing them in the streets. They did things bit by bit to help the French feel the Jews were other, not neighbors, or fellow citizens. They started with Jewish refugees who fled to France from other countries. They started with making Jews wear the yellow star, they started with dismissing Jews from the army or other government jobs, they started with propaganda about how Jews were against France, about how the Jews were part of the wealthy folks keeping regular people down. They made the Jews organize their aid societies and then kept tabs on them so they could control them and take their contact info to use for themselves. A sad bit of history but one that should never be forgotten or repeated.

There are men and women of France who did the right thing. And some of them laid down their lives because of it. These have nothing to be ashamed of. But the rest of France, the rest of France looked away or helped destroy the Jews. These owe a blood debt to the Jewish people.… (mere)