The Jewish Experience in Paris

For more than 1,500 years, Jews have lived within the modern-day limits of Paris and France. France even became the first nation, at the time of the Revolution in 1789, to grant equal rights to this community. Yet despite an entrenched history in France, Jewish life and experiences in this region are not monolithic. This course concentrates on the origins and history, the changing cultural conditions, and the particular characteristics of the French Jewish experience.

Class time will reflect on the cultural, linguistic, religious, and political diversity of Jewish communities in Paris and its surroundings. We will visit the major Parisian monuments of historic and contemporary Jewish life in order to analyze key chapters of French Jewish history since the end of the 18th century. Major events studied may include: the Revolution and the Emancipation; the Dreyfus Affair; waves of Jewish immigration to the Paris area; State antisemitism and deportation during the Occupation and the Vichy régime; and post-Holocaust reconstruction and life.