My dad's side of the family is from Diemeringen, a town in the Alsace region of France. They mostly left in the 19th century; some of them were still there during World War II (and were hidden in Paris by kindly Christians). My grandparents went on a trip to Alsace in the early 1980s and met an elderly pair of sisters who only spoke French; they hired a translator and had a nice chat. Diemeringen was mentioned in the Jewish Bulletin, yesterday — the historical synagogues are endangered.
"How did so many synagogues end up in Alsace? Most French Jews lived in the province when, in 1791, France became the first country in Europe to grant Jews citizenship. Between then and 1914, some 176 synagogues were built in the province out of 256 for all France."
Synagogues aren't the only thing in trouble in France, apparently. According to the NY Times, antiwar rallies are turning their attention to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and are taking on a troubling tone. They aren't just criticising Sharon or the settlements. There's stuff like this happening: "Another French Arab pointed to a group of protesters from a Jewish student association, and said: 'They are targets. They are not welcome here because of what they did to our Palestinian brothers.'"
The general climate for Jews in France seems to be getting rather chilly...
"In its annual report on racism in France, the National Consultative Committee on Human Rights said there had been a sixfold increase over 2001 in acts of violence against Jewish property and persons. Of 313 acts of racist violence documented in 2002, 193 were anti-Semitic, it said. In a second category of racist acts — threats, graffiti and insults — more than 70 percent of the nearly 1,000 incidents were aimed at the Jewish community, while most of the rest were aimed at the North African immigrant community, the report said."
-->"Preservationists fret over future of Alsace" (Jewish Bulletin, March 28, 2003)
www.jewishsf.com/bk030328/i36.shtml
--> "French Rallies Against War Shift Focus To Israel" (NY Times, March 29, 2003)
www.nytimes.com/2003/03/30/ international/worldspecial/30FRAN.html
More from the NY Times:
Banners at recent demonstrations have shown the Star of David intertwined with the Nazi swastika.
Today, marshals in white caps struggled, with limited success, to keep the protest free of racist and anti-Semitic symbols and messages. One marshal seized an American flag that bore a swastika where the stars should be; another took away a sticker that showed the swastika, the Star of David and an equals sign between them.
But even as protesters hung a huge banner that read "No to racism and anti-Semitism" on the Place de la Concorde near the heavily guarded American Embassy, one huge banner read "Hitler, Bush, Sharon, in the name of God we kill." .
Young French Arab teenagers from the poor suburbs chanted slogans pledging war and martyrdom in the name of both Palestinians and Iraqis and against Israel. "We are all Palestinians, we are all Iraqis, we are all kamikazes!" chanted one group of teenagers, no older than 14 or 15, from the suburb of Garges-les-Gonesses. Others chanted: "We are all martyrs! Allah-u Akbar! God is more powerful than the United States."
