List of French Jews

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This page is a list of Jews.
For more on who is considered Jewish, see Who is a Jew?.
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Jews have lived in France since Roman times, and since the French Revolution (and Emancipation) have contributed to all aspects of French culture and society. A significant number perished in the Holocaust, deported to Nazi death camps by the French Vichy government. After the war, France served as a haven for Jewish refugees, and an influx of immigration (mostly of Sephardi Jews from North Africa) saw the Jewish population triple to around 600,000, making it the largest Jewish community in Western Europe at the present time.

The following is a list of some prominent Jews and people of Jewish origins (not all of them practice, or practiced, the Jewish religion) who were born in, or are very strongly associated with, France.

Contents

[edit] Historical figures

[edit] Politicians

[edit] Activists

[edit] Clergymen

[edit] Military

[edit] Academic figures

[edit] Scientists

[edit] Social scientists

[edit] Cultural figures

[edit] Film and stage

[edit] Musicians

[edit] Artists

[edit] Writers and poets

[edit] Business figures

[edit] Sport figures

[edit] Other public figures

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Aja - [1] "Aaron's character, Doug, was wearing a Jewish Star necklace around his neck, and for me, that kind of caught me off guard; not too many characters in horror films are Jewish. I wanted to ask Alex what his decision was for making Doug Jewish. His answer surprised the heck out of me; it's because Alex is Jewish. "It was in the script that his name was Bukowski, but it was really in the sub-text. On set, Aaron realized that in reading the script, I put a lot of myself in there, in the character; he realized that I was always wearing the Star of David and he said 'I would like to have that also as a detail.' And I said 'Sure.'" There's hope for us Jews in horror films after all!!"
  2. ^ Jewish Chronicle 16 Feb 2001 p31: "Jean-Pierre Aumont ... returned to fight for his country despite the danger to him as a Jew."
  3. ^ Bernhardt - [2] "Bernhardt was a 19th century Jewish actress"
  4. ^ Charvet - [3] "Hot babe and TV host Brooke Burke, 34, just got engaged to hunky Jewish actor David Charvet, also 34. (Burke is Jewish on her mother’s side.)"
  5. ^ Melville - [4] "Melville, a French Jew who was born Jean-Pierre Grumbach"
  6. ^ Rosenfeld - [5] "In February 2006, Rosenfeld was one of many French Jewish celebrities..."
  7. ^ Boltanski - [6] "Renowned French Jewish artist Christian Boltanski talks to Kathimerini... My Jewish grandfather came to the country to work as a laborer... It may seem extreme to you, but when I take my clothes to the local dry cleaner I don’t give my real surname, which is Jewish. I don’t even tell taxi drivers that I’m Jewish. I don’t believe that I’m in danger, but I do feel better when I don’t reveal my identity. It can’t be said that France is a country with an anti-Semitic mentality, but things aren’t always rosy. Both the extreme right and left are anti-Jewish. Rightly so, sometimes. But they’ve formed a strange alliance on this theme."
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