Vichy Terror, French Betrayals Exposed by Prof. Paxton
Mass deportation of Jews,
"Aryanization" of Jewish
possessions, the barbarism of
the Nazi transported into
France where collaboration-
ists shared in guilt, is related
in an expose of the crimes,
"Vichy France, Old Guard
and New Order, 1940-1944" by
Prof. Robert A. Paxton of
Columbia University.
In the course of his review
of the tragedies that marked
the Nazi invasion and the
demonic role of Vichy
F ,e, Dr. Paxton describes
"Lie first mass deportations"
which began with the notor-
ious roundup of some 13,000
Jews in the Velodrome
d'Hiver in Paris on July 16,
1942, before being shipped to
a camp at Durancy and then
on to the east. That spectacle
of human misery, which
prompted formal opposition
from the Catholic hierarchy,
was only the beginning."
That's when Pierre Laval
collaborated with the Nazis.
"In the end," the author
indicates, some 60,000-65,000
Jews were deported from
France, most foreigners
who had relied upon tradi-
tional French hospitality.
Perhaps 6,000 French Jews
also took that gruesome jour-
ney. Some 2,800 of the de-
portees got back."
Vichy collaborators, in their
trials for their crimes after
the war attempted defense for
charges that they had partici-
pated in mass murders of
Jews which resulted in cruel
murders. The Vichy Commis-
saire in charge of Jewish
affairs, Xavier Vallat, main-
tained: "At a time when out
of 4,343,000 native Jews who
lived in Austria, Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, German y,
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Holland, Luxemburg, Poland,
Yugoslovia only 337,500 sur-
vived—that is to say that 92
per cent disappeared, the
figures given for France (by
the Anglo-American Commis-
sion of Enquiry on the Pales-
tine Question, 1946) . . . prove
that if, alas, most of the for-
eign Jews died in deportation,
95 per cent of the Jews of
French nationality are for-
tunately still living."
The author thereupon com-
ments: "Unfortunatey the
shield was less successful in
either case than the Vichy
defense claimed." Certainly,
Laval and Marshall Philippe
Petain do not come out well
in the inquiry.
Dr. Paxton refers to Vichy's
acquiescence e mpower in g
Germany "to demand the ex-
tradition of German citizens
who had sought refuge in
France." This was in the fall
of 1940.
"Under this provision,"
Paxton writes, "such promi-
nent figures as Herschel
Grynspan (who had assassi-
nated a German diplomat in
1938) and the socialist econo-
mist and Weimar minister
Rudolf Hilferding were deliv-
ered back into German hands
— an ominous first warning
about the precariousness of
asylum in Vichy France.
Moreover, Vichy did every-
thing possible to encourage
the further emigration of
Jewish refugees. At a time
when French Jews were
being uprooted from the econ-
omy, there was no possibility
of foreigners settling. Vichy
also revoked some recent
citizenships, enlarging t h e
number of Jews in France
without the protection of citi-
zenship. Finally, Vichy
gathered destitute Jewish ref-
ugees into work camps. Al-
though Petain spared them
the yellow star, thousands
were waiting behind barbed
wire when the Germans came
into the unoccupied zone in
November 1942. Only those
with money had managed to
use southern France as a
springboard for safer havens.
For the rest, the French tra-
dition of refuge made the un-
occupied zone a trap."
Admiral Francois Darlan,
Jewish Mental Health Facilities
Aid Residents of Co-Op City
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1973, JTA, Inc.)
NEW YORK — Two Jew-
ish-sponsored mental health
facilities at Co-op City in the
Bronx, the largest housing
cooperative in the United
States, seek to 'provide a
variety of services for a Jew-
ish population larger than
that of most of the 50 states.
Both were opened by the
Jewish Family Service of
New York.
With all the sections of the
sprawling middle-income
project open, there are be-
tween 55,000 and 60,000 men,
women and child residents.
About 80 per cent — or about
45,000 — are Jews.
To serve those needing
therapeutic help, the consul-
tation center has four full-
time family workers and two
part-time workers. "The
Walk-In" center has a staff
of two social workers, a psy-
chologist, and a college stu-
dent working full-time during
the summer.
The Walk-In center pro-
vides help to about 600 young
people each month, a major-
ity of them Jewish, according
to Stephen Donshik, Walk-In
project coordinator, who is
one of the two social workers.
The other is Mrs. Barbara
Epstein and the psychologist
is Michael Schatz.
The three specialists also
provide professional super-
vision and training for 25
volunteers, of various ages,
who direct a Community Ac-
tion Listening Line (CALL)
hotline. CALL is a commun-
ity self-help project which is
in operation from 7 p.m. to
10 p.m. every day for re-
sponse to every imaginable
problem, Donshik told the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
• Donshik explained the dif-
ferences in operations of the
consultation center and the
Walk-In center. The consulta-
tion center does individual
and family counseling on a
formal basis, with appoint-
ments. The Walk-In center
was created in response to
evidence that young people
will not seek out "establish-
ment" agencies.
One of the problems is in-
adequate recreational facil-
ities for the estimated 10,000
youngsters resident in Co-Op
City. Space is available at
the complex but the Co-Op
City management does not
provide the necessary staff
and equipment, other than
basketball courts.
Safety guards apply pres-
sure on the youngsters when
they gather for social ex-
changes and, in the process,
unintentionally disturb t h e
elderly who make up nearly
one-third of the residents,
Among the teenagers' prob-
lems are tensions between
blacks and whites and be-
tween Jews and non-Jews.
In additiOn to work on the
streets, the Walk-In staff
members are directly in-
volved in helping youngsters
resolve some of their diffi-
culties in the local public
schools. The staff members
are available to adult com-
munity groups which work
with teen-agers and want
guidance in setting up youth
activity programs.
He reported that the center
had started the first of a
planned series of rap groups,
each running six to eight
weeks. Each focusses on such
specific areas of concern to
young people as dating.
drugs, conflict at home and
at school, and similar prob-
lems.
"who had made himself the ,
chief spokesman for conces-
sions to German anger," and
who collaborated with the
German ambassador, Otto
Abetz, was among the most
vicious perpetrator of the
crimes against Jews.
Paxton states that "Petain
seems to have consulted the
Vatican on the permissible
limits of anti-Semitism."
There is this revealing state-
ment about the Catholic posi-
tion:
"Ambassador Leon Berard
(Vichy envoy to the Holy See)
wrote him (Petain) a long
personal letter (Sept. 2, 1941)
assuring him that an 'author-
ized person at the Vatican'
had said that the chur ch
would not start any quarrel
over restricting certain citi-
zens' access to jobs or over
limiting Jews' actions in so-
ciety. The church quarrel
with fascist and Nazi 'racism'
rested on their r e f u s a l to
agree that a Jew ceased to
be a Jew upon conversion to
Catholicism and on their re-
fusal of intermarriage even
after conversion. The Vatican
spokesman took issue only
with the first article of the
law of Oct. 3, 1940, (which
clashes in spirity with the ex-
emptions elsewhere in the
text) defining Jews racially
as anyone with three grand-
parents, whatever the reli-
gion of the present genera-
tion. There were racist anti-
Semites in France, and with
Darquier de Pellepoix in 1942
they even entered the govern-
ment. But, as long as Vichy
had a free hand in Jewish
matters, a Catholic and na-
tional anti - Semitism rather
than a racial anti-Semitism
lay at the base of French
policy."
There was a strong radical
Catholic opposition to the
new social laws, but the poi-
soning of public opinion was
too extensive for the liberals
to overcome.
Paxton gives a full account
of the activities of the
Maquis, the resistance move
ment.
The roles of victimized
Jewish leaders, Leon Blum,
Georges Mandel and many
others, is accounted for.
Paxton's "Vichy France" is
the most thorough study of
the French role in the war,
the submissions, the collabo-
rations, the tragedies and the
sufferings. Fully documented,
this Knopf-published volume
is perhaps the best source
for the painful subject under
review. —P.S.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, September 7, 1973-39
LETTER BOX
Reader Assails Manifesto of Humanism
Editor, The Jewish News:
The plaudits which you im-
pliedly extend to Rabbi Sher-
win Wine (by courtesy) by
giving front-page prominence
together with the Manifesto
II so-called, purporting to
worship at the shrine of
humanism, whatever that
might mean, is scarcely suf-
ficiently newsworthy to merit
that position in your valued
publication.
The burden of the distin-
guished galaxy is that our
Deity, religion and faith will
not bring succor to a troubled
world. Whether they know it
or not, they echo the Bolshe-
vik c r e e d of godlessness,
whose hymn anticipated this
manifesto by about 70 years.
We are all agreed that the
most vital thing mankind
needs today is peace through
justice. It is not believed that
the authors of the manifesto
could improve upon the words
of the greatest lawgiver of
all time, our teacher Moses,
when he states to the ancient
Israelites that even when
they have to wage war, the
first resort must be peace.
Let them try to improve
upon the concept of justice of
Father Abraham.
It is not in all conscience
believed that Sherwin Wine
and Mordecai M. Kaplan can
substitute for these ancient
sages.
M. MANUEL MERZON
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Jewish Center will take
place Sept. 16 at the main
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in October.
JOE MILLET
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Against 2 Officials
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Two
Israeli officials accused of
taking bribes from Jordanian
visitors to the West Bank
were released on IL 5,000
bail each by a Jerusalem
district court.
Moshe Levi, a civilian em-
ploye of the military govern-
ment in Judea, and Yitzhak
Tzemah, an interior ministry
official in Hebron, face trial
for allegedly registering the
4sitors as West Bank resi-
dents so that they could re-
main with their families.
"I cannot praise a fugi-
tive and cloistered virtue,
unexercised and unbreath-
ed, that never sallies out
and sees her adversary, but
slinks out of the race where
that immortal garland is to
be run for, not without dust
and heat."
—Milton
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