In the Aftermath of Genocide: Armenians and Jews in Twentieth-Century France

France is the only Western European nation home to substantial numbers of survivors of the World War I and World War II genocides. In the Aftermath of Genocide offers a unique comparison of the country's Armenian and Jewish survivor communities. By demonstrating how--in spite of significant differences between these two populations--striking similarities emerge in the ways each responded to genocide, Maud S. Mandel illuminates the impact of the nation-state on ethnic and religious minorities in twentieth-century Europe and provides a valuable theoretical framework for considering issues of transnational identity. Investigating each community's response to its violent past, Mandel reflects on how shifts in ethnic, religious, and national affiliations were influenced by the groups' recent histories. The book examines these questions in the context of France's long commitment to a politics of integration and homogenization--a politics geared toward the establishment of equal rights and legal status for all citizens, but not toward the accommodation of cultural diversity.In the Aftermath of Genocide reveals that Armenian and Jewish survivors rarely sought to shed the obvious symbols of their ethnic and religious identities. Mandel shows that, if anything, following the 1915 genocide and the Holocaust, these communities seemed increasingly willing to mobilize in their own self-defense and thereby call attention to their distinctiveness. Most Armenian and Jewish survivors were neither prepared to give up their minority status nor willing to migrate to their national homelands of Armenia and Israel. In the Aftermath of Genocide suggests that the consolidation of the nation-state system in twentieth-century Europe led survivors of genocide to fashion identities for themselves as ethnic minorities despite the dangers implicit in that status.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments ix Note on Transliteration xiii Introduction 1 1. Orphans of the Nation: Armenian Refugees in France 19 2. The Strange Silence: France, French Jews, and the Return to Republican Order 52 3. Integrating into the Polity: The Problem of Inclusion after Genocide 86 4. Diaspora, Nation, and Homeland among Survivors 118 5. Maintaining a Visible Presence 151 6. Genocide Revisited: Armenians and the French Polity after World War II 178 Conclusion 202 Notes 209 Bibliography 291 Index 311

About the Author :
Maud S. Mandel is Dorot Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies and Assistant Professor of History at Brown University.

Review :
"Detailed, thorough, and thoughtful, Mandel's book is an excellent addition to the scholarly literature of genocide and its consequences. By focusing on an often neglected aspect of this phenomenon, the author has contributed greatly to our understanding of the ways in which persecuted groups are able to respond to their victimization, and her book should be of interest to anyone concerned about these important issues."--Alex Alvarez, American Historical Review "Mandel's work fills a gap in our understanding about what happens in the aftermath of genocide, and teaches us that, to understand how communities rebuild, we must be sensitive to the specific contextual factors that condition how they respond to their traumatic past."--Jonathan Judaken, H-France "[An] interesting book..."--Jewish Book World "In the Aftermath of Genocide breaks new ground by studying policy prescriptions and subjective experience together, comparing 'the aftermath of genocide' across two groups, Armenians and Jews... Through her comparative approach, Mandel tells a more complex and interesting story, not only about Armenians and Jews 'in the aftermath of genocide,' but also about French society in the aftermath of two world wars."-- Mary D. Lewis, French Politics, Culture, and Society "Mandel does make a convincing case, backed up by an impressive bibliography and extensive notes. The book is particularly valuable in providing a thorough historical examination of the status of the survivors of genocide in French society, taking into account social, cultural and religious distinctions, and makes a case for the essential questions of the twentieth century where personal identity is becoming more entrenched in national identity."--Ferzina Banaji, French Studies