Juif dans la France allemande : Institutions, dirigeants et communautés au temps de la Shoah

The Germans authorized only two Jewish organizations in occupied France: the Consistoire Central des Israélites de France, conserver of republican principles, and its seeming opposite, the Union Générale des Israélites de France, created in November 1941 as an umbrella for all Jewish welfare organizations and a tool for identifying and excluding Jews. Focuses on the leaders of these organizations and various Jewish communities. Shatters the image of the unanimity and efficiency of the UGIF; it remained geographically dispersed and polymorphous due to the diversity of the people and charitable organizations that constituted it, the heterogeneity of the Jewish communities, and the relative autonomy of the Consistoire. Notes that the UGIF never functioned as a Judenrat; it did not carry out registration of Jews. Argues that working for the UGIF did not provide immunity from being arrested and that the UGIF helped Jews in need. The Germans tried to involve the UGIF in the identification and extortion of Jews. When deportations began in 1942 the leaders faced the dilemma of trying to alleviate the suffering of Jewish prisoners and deportees while avoiding being part of the Final Solution. Discusses differences between the first leaders, Albert Lévy, Raymond-Raoul Lambert, and Gaston Kahn, who represented the interests of foreign Jews, and their successors, Georges Edinger and Raymond Geismann, who wholly identified with French culture. Traces the debate conducted between 1944-2004 concerning the UGIF. Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-502) and index. 526 pages, 8 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm