Choice of the Jews Under Vichy, the: Between Submission and Resistance

In The Choice of the Jews under Vichy, Adam Rayski buttresses his analysis of war-era archival materials with his own personal testimony. His research in the archives of the military, the Central Consistory of the Jews of France, the police, and Philippe Petain demonstrates the Vichy government's role as a zealous accomplice in the Nazi program of genocide. He documents the efforts and absence of efforts of French Protestant and Catholic groups on behalf of their Jewish countrymen; he also explores the prewar divide between French-born and immigrant Jews, manifested in cultural conflicts and mutual antagonism as well as in varied initial responses to Vichy's antisemitic edicts and actions. Rayski reveals how these Jewish communities eventually set aside their differences and united to resist the Nazi threat.

About the Author :
Adam Rayski (1913–2008) left Poland in 1932 for Paris, where he became a full-time journalist working for the Neie Presse, a leftist Yiddish-language daily newspaper. From July 1941 until the end of World War II he served as national secretary of the Jewish Section of the French Communist Party and headed the Union des Juifs pour la Résistance et l'Entraide, in which he played a major part in Jewish survival in France.

Review :
"The strength of the book, particularly taking its original publication date into consideration, lies in its ability to portray Jews not as passive victims but as active resisters and to emphasize a collective consciousness of self-affirmation." — H-Net Reviews "Reading the excellent English-language version of Rayski's original study is unsettling. Rayski is concerned first and foremost with erecting a pantheon for heroes of the war-Jewish activists on the Left in the Resistance-and condemning those elements in the French Jewish community who, in his estimation, blindly acceded to Vichy pressure and irresponsibly maintained the officially mandated stance throughout most of the war. If read as a testament by a significant representative of Eastern European Jewry to try to make sense of the world in which he lived and the decisions which he took, Rayski's book provides a viewpoint that will enrich the future historian's analysis of the ways that many survivors of the Holocaust in France interpreted their past." —Journal of Modern History "One of the most informed memoirs of the Occupation, the book is also a shrewd and detailed analysis. It is nuanced in its approach and yet ready to be decisive and provocative in its judgments. Anyone searching for context as well as narrative will be richly rewarded by a thematic concentration on the multiple constraints which faced the Jews in Vichy France… This is both witness and history of exceptional provenance and quality." —The English Historical Review "This highly recommended book is suitable for anyone concerned with resistance, the Holocaust, Jewish studies, or the history of the Jews under Vichy." —History: Reviews of New Books "[Rayski] pieces together the 'hidden face' of daily Jewish life under the Occupation and relates the experiences of those who went underground—an especially rich and valuable discussion as this phenomenon has rarely been studied." —Library Journal "[A] rich and detailed description of the challenges faced by French Jewry during World War II. . . . This complex . . . important book is recommended for scholars of French history and Jewish and Holocaust studies." —Library Journal "Rayski, who served as an official of an important Jewish resistance organization under Vichy, examines Jewish responses to Vichy policy as a series of choices. . . . Rayski's approach effectively portrays French Jews as much more than passive victims of an oppression imposed on them from above; rather, through oral and written testimonies and extensive archival research, he conveys the Jews' involvement in their own collective destiny. . . . Recommended." —Choice "Well researched and forcefully argued, . . . Adam Rayski's book describes not only what the Jews did, but makes a case for what they should have done. As such, whatever the viewpoint of the reader, this is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the mentalities of the time, and also a testament to some activists' faith in human solidarity." —Times Literary Supplement "The publication of an English translation of Adam Rayski's book ... is a welcome addition.... Rayski's book remains valuable largely for the valuable primary source material it brings to the fore.... [T]he University of Notre Dame Press with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum should be commended for having made this work available in an excellent English translation." —American Historical Review "Rayski renders justice to the numerous French Jews who joined the resistance. . . . [He] gives us for the first time a comprehensive picture of the collective attitudes of the Jews of France from 1939 to 1944." —L'Arche