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How was it possible that 75 percent of the Jews in France managed to survive in a country that is known for its increase in anti-semitic attitudes from the end of the nineteenth century and which was administered by a collaborationist Vichy regime during Nazi occupation?
23 November 2021 – During the production of my film “A Blind Man’s Vision Of The Dark Side: The Extraordinary Life of Jacques Semelin” , I have met some of the most incredible people. Two are Beate and Serge Klarsfeld.
For the past half century, Beate and Serge (now in their 80s) have hunted, confronted, prosecuted, and exposed Nazi war criminals all over the world, tracking down the notorious torturer Klaus Barbie in Bolivia and attempting to kidnap the former Gestapo chief Kurt Lischka on the streets of Cologne.
They have been sent to prison for their beliefs and have risked their lives protesting anti-Semitism behind the Iron Curtain in South America and in the Middle East. They have been insulted and exalted, assaulted and heralded; they’ve received honors from presidents and letter bombs from neo-Nazis.
While no single account can claim to provide complete knowledge of an event like the Holocaust, the Holocaust nevertheless must be approached simultaneously from epistemic, logical and ethical choices. But it requires an extraordinary amount of due diligence. Both Serge Klarsfeld and Jacques Semelin share a common methodology – and that’s to dig dig dig. Their authority rests on their research. It requires them to examine every record, every transcript, every photograph, every testimonial, every file … every element, every aspect, every point of reference they can to weave their narratives. At the end of the video I explain that methodology, and you’ll get a chance to see our new production studio.
I did not appreciate this level of dedication and scholarship until I dove deeply into their works.
In the following video (link below), Serge summarizes one of the major discoveries of his research: why so many French Jews survived World War II and the Holocaust.
Between the French defeat in 1940 and liberation in 1944, the Nazis killed almost 80,000 of France’s Jews, both French and foreign. Since that time, this tragedy has been well-documented. But there are other stories hidden within it – ones neglected by historians. In fact, 75% of France’s Jews escaped the extermination, while 45% of the Jews of Belgium perished, and in the Netherlands only 20% survived. The numbers were worse in Eastern Europe.
The Nazis were determined to destroy the Jews across Europe, and the Vichy regime collaborated in their deportation from France. So what is the meaning of this French exception? Serge explains it.
And it serves as an introduction to Jacques Semelin’s seminal work (recently published in English) which provides an even richer, even-handed portrait of a complex and changing history and society that explains their survival:
I’ll spend more time on Jacques’ book in my film.
For the moment, listen to Serge explain the basics: how it was possible that 75 percent of the Jews in France managed to survive in a country that is known for its increase in anti-semitic attitudes from the end of the nineteenth century and which was administered by a collaborationist Vichy regime during Nazi occupation.