Rescue of Jews in France 1940–44: The Jesuit Contribution

Abstract

Until recently, most Holocaust historians have devoted little attention to the topic of Jesuit priests who gave Jews shelter and helped them, in defiance of the orders of Vichy Government or the Germans authorities. In order to understand how it was possible for about 250,000 Jews in France, not to be deported, and to find help among the population, it is important also to take into account the activities of Jesuits providing hiding places for several hundred children and also adults. Most of them were able to obey their conscience, and disobey orders, and to act illegally in order to rescue Jews. Rescuers were not working alone, but generally they developed networks including also non-religious people. Above all, this study reveals us how much it was important to accomplish rescue in a collaborative group of rescuers: the network. This study also reveals much about the modalities of rescuing Jews in France in different regions. Most Catholic rescuers had been engaged before the war in a spiritual and theological way with anti-Nazi activities, especially in helping refugees, and in resistance to anti-Semitism and racism. It was indeed the Catholics, and especially the Jesuits and Dominicans, who raised the most attention regarding the Nazi danger, and this prepared them to act in rescuing Jews after 1940 in France.