L'éducation juive à Marseille sous Vichy (1940-1943) : une renaissance circonstancielle

Abstract

The Jewish educational structures in Marseilles were of the current israelite type and in few numbers. But after 1940, because a relative freedom of practicing religion was left by Vichy administration and also because many French Jews and refugees retire to Marseilles, these structures increased. Eager to maintain Judaism alive among the young, the central consistory together with organisations such as OSE and ORT took many initiatives actuated by the confessional approach belonging to « israelistism ». But the various ultra orthodox groups stranded in the city do not remain behindhand, as well as the Zionistic organization favouring a more cultural practice of Judaism.Different levels then, an educational juxtaposition following the complex outlines of the new local Jewish geography, which do not impede with a kind of a cooperation between the refugees spokesmen and the local notabilities centered on the common object as defined by Edmond Fleg : to make « inside Judaism [...] a refuge », a place for resisting in front of the humiliations and danger of the times being. These endeavours unfortunately come to an end in 1943 and 1944 when physical survival becomes the first aim for a Jew in Marseilles.