The Survival of the Jews in France, 1940 - 44 [Hardcover]

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 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?
Jacques Semelin sheds light on this 'French enigma', painting a radically unfamiliar view of occupied France. His is a rich, even-handed portrait of a complex and changing society, one where helping and informing on one's neighbours went hand in hand; and where small gestures of solidarity sat comfortably with anti-Semitism.
Without shying away from the horror of the Holocaust's crimes, this seminal work adds a fresh perspective to our history of the Second World War.

Acknowledgments
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
List of Maps

Preface, by Serge Klarsfeld

Introduction: The Enigma of the 75 %

I. In Search of Safety

1. French Isra?lites and Jewish ?migr?s
Citizens in their own right
France, land of asylum
1933: Adolf Hitler in power
2. Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia
3. The Descent into War and State Control over Civilian Populations
4. Evacuated and Expelled from Alsace-Lorraine and Baden-Palatinate
5. From the Fear of Bombardments to the Panic of Exodus
Millions of civilians on the roads
No place to go: the case of Jewish immigrants
Turning around and going back
6. From the Occupied Zone to the Free Zone
Variations in living conditions
Causes and evaluation of southward migrations
7. The Attraction of the Italian Zone and Dispersal into Rural Areas
The Italian safe haven?
The Jewish presence il£)