List of French Jews
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Jews have lived in France since Roman times, with a complex history. In the Middle Ages, French kings expelled most of the original Askhenazi Jewish population to Germany. Since the French Revolution (and Emancipation), Jews have been able to contribute to all aspects of French culture and society. Moveover, the Cremieux decree gave in 1870 the full French citizenship to Jews living in Maghreb under French colonization. During World War II, a significant number of Jews living in Metropolitan France perished in the Holocaust, deported to Nazi death camps by the French Vichy government. After 1945, France served as a haven for Askhenazi refugees, then after the independence of Morocco, Tunisia and the end of Algerian War, an influx of immigration of Sephardi Jews saw the Jewish population triple to around 600,000, making it the largest Jewish community in Western Europe. Behind the United States and Israel, France ranks 3rd by Jewish population. In 2008, the Jewish Agency evaluated the Jewish population in France to be 488,000[1], not mentioning French citizens with only one Jewish parent or grandparent.
The following is a list of some prominent Jews and people of Jewish origins[2], among others, (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] Activists
- René Cassin (1887 - 1976) drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, won Nobel Peace Prize (1968)[1]
- Daniel Cohn-Bendit (1945 - ) student leader and German Green MEP[2]
- Lewis Goldsmith, journalist and political writer [3]
- Alain Krivine (1941 - ) student leader and Trotskyist MEP[3]
- André Spire (1868 - 1966) lawyer, journalist, poet, Jewish society and French Zionism leader[4]
[edit] Clergymen
- Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger (1926 - 2007) former Catholic archbishop of Paris and cardinal. He converted to catholicism when he was 13.
- Rashi (1040-1105) a medieval rabbi based in Troyes,famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).
[edit] Military
- Members of Main d'Œuvre Immigrée (MOI) - French Resistance group, mostly Jewish members
- Denise Bloch (1915 - 1945) World War II SOE spy[5]
- Nissim de Camondo (1892 - 1917) pilot in World War I[6]
- Alfred Dreyfus (1859 - 1935) military officer[7]
- Robert Gamzon, French resistant, commanding the 2nd company of Maquis de Vabre
[edit] Philanthropists
- Angelo Donati (Modena 1885 - Paris 1960) lived in Paris from 1919 to 1960, saved the Jews from nazi persecution in the Italian-occupied France between 1942 and 1943 while staying in Nice
[edit] Politicians
- Robert Badinter (1928 - ) Justice minister, 1981-6; abolished the death penalty in France[8]
- Léon Blum (1872 - 1950) Prime Minister 1936-7, 1938, 1946-7[9]
- Daniel Cohn-Bendit (1945-) French-born German politician, active in both countries, best known as as leader of the 1968 student uprising in France; more recently a leader of the European Greens
- Jean-François Copé, President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Group in the French National Assembly
- Adolphe Crémieux (1796 - 1880) Justice minister, 1848, 1870-1[10]
- Laurent Fabius (1946 - ) Prime Minister, 1984-6[11]
- Roger Karoutchi (1951 - ) Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, with responsibility for Relations with Parliament
- Louis-Lucien Klotz (1868 - 1930) journalist and politician; Minister of Finance during World War I[12]
- Bernard Kouchner (1939 - ) Current Minister of Foreign Affairs and physician[13]
- Pierre Lellouche (1951 - ) member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party
- Georges Mandel (1885 - 1944) Interior minister, 1939[14]
- Pierre Mendès-France (1907 - 1982) Prime Minister, 1954-5; withdrew from Indochina[15]
- Jules Moch (1893 - 1985) Transport minister, 1945-7; Interior minister, 1947-50; Defense minister, 1950-1[16]
- Dominique Strauss-Kahn (1949 - ) Finance minister, 1997-9[17]Current President of the International Monatary Found
- Simone Veil (1927 - ) Health minister, 1974-6; legalized abortion, President of the European Parliament 1979-82[18]
- Pierre Moscovici, French politician, member of French Socialist Party (PS) and a member of the French Parliament.
[edit] Rabbis
- Gilles Bernheim, chief rabbi of France elected in June 2008
- David Feuerwerker (1912-1980) author of the classic work L'Emancipation des Juifs en France. De l'Ancien Régime à la fin du Second Empire. Albin Michel: Paris, 1976 ISBN 2-226-00316-9
- Zadoc Kahn [1839-1905), chief rabbi of France and translator of the Bible in French
- Jacob Kaplan
- Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (1040-1105) famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud
- Joseph Sitruk, (1944 - ), chief rabbi of France from 1987 to 2008
- Yechiel of Paris, (end of XIIth century - 1286), famous Tosafist
[edit] Journalists
- Charles Enderlin, journalist for France 2 and a dual French-Israeli national
- Marc Gilbert journalist for the ORTF
- Michel Drucker journalist for France 2
- Marie Drucker journalist for France 3
- Marc-Olivier Fogiel journalist for M6
- Franz-Olivier Giesbert rédacteur en chef, Le Point
- Jean-Jacques Servan Schreiber directeur, L'Express
- Éric Zemmour political journalist
- Serge Moati artist, journalist, film director and writer
[edit] Academic figures
[edit] Scientists
- Anatole Abragam (1914 - ) Russian-born physicist[19]
- Liliane Ackermann (1938-2007) microbiologist
- Hippolyte Bernheim (1840 - 1919) hypnosis pioneer[20]
- Maurice Block (1816 - 1901) statistician [4]
- Georges Charpak, (1924 - ), physicist, Nobel Prize (1992)
- Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (1933 - ) physicist, Nobel Prize (1997)[21]
- Boris Cyrulnik (1937 - ) neurologist, psychiatrist
- Jacques Hadamard (1865 - 1963) mathematician[22]
- François Jacob (1920 - ) microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1965)[23]
- Gabriel Lippmann (1845 - 1921) physicist, Nobel Prize (1908)[24]
- Andre Michael Lwoff (1902 - 1994) microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1965)[25]
- Szolem Mandelbrojt (1899-1983) mathematician
- Benoît B. Mandelbrot (1924- ), father of fractal geometry
- Henri Moissan (1852 - 1907) chemist, Nobel Prize (1906) (half Jewish)[26]
- Alfred-Joseph Naquet (1834-1916)chemist and politician; promoter of french divorce law
- Olinde Rodrigues (1795 - 1851) mathematician & social reformer[27]
- Laurent Schwartz (1915 - 2002) mathematician, Fields Medal (1950)[28]
- David Servan-Schreiber (1961 - ) physician, neuroscientist
- André Weil (1906 - 1998) mathematician, Wolf Prize (1979)[29]
[edit] Social scientists
- Albert Aftalion, Bulgarian-born French economist [5]
- Raymond Aron (1905 - 1983) sociologist[30]
- Robert Aron (1898-1975) historian
- Julien Benda (1867 - 1956) philosopher & novelist[31]
- Berachyah (12th or 13th century) philosopher[32]
- Henri Bergson (1859 - 1941) philosopher, Nobel Prize (1927)[33]
- Marc Bloch (1886 - 1944) historian & Resistance leader[34]
- Léon Brunschvicg (1869 - 1944) philosopher[35]
- Hélène Cixous (1937 - ) feminist critic[36]
- Jacques Derrida (1930 - 2004) philosopher[37]
- Émile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) sociologist[38]
- Alain Finkielkraut (1949 - ) essayist[39]
- Georges Friedmann (1902-1977) sociologist
- Gersonides (1288 - 1344) philosopher[40]
- André Glucksmann (1937 - ) philosopher[41]
- Jean Gottmann (1915 - 1994) geographer [6]
- Robert Hertz (1881 - 1915) sociologist[42]
- Emmanuel Lévinas (1906 - 1995) philosopher[43]
- Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908 - 2009) anthropologist[44]
- Bernard-Henri Lévy (1948 - ) philosopher[45]
- Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1857 - 1939) philosopher & anthropologist[46]
- Gabriel Marcel (1889 - 1973) philosopher[47]
- Marcel Mauss (1872 - 1950) sociologist[48]
- Edgar Morin (1921- ) sociologist
- Jacob Rodrigues Pereira (1715 - 1780) first to teach the deaf[49]
- Léon Poliakov (1910 - 1997) historian
- Rashi Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (1040 - 1105) religious commentator[50]
- Maxime Rodinson (1915 - 2004) historian[51]
- George Steiner (1929 - ) literary critic[52]
- Jean Wahl (1888-1974) philosopher
- Simone Weil (1909 - 1943) philosopher & mystic[53]
[edit] Cultural figures
[edit] Artists
- Christian Boltanski (1944 - ) photographer, sculptor and installation artist[54]
- Claude Cahun (1894 - 1954) photographer[55]
- Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979) Ukrainian-born abstract artist who with artist husband Robert Delaunay, helped found Orphism art movement
- André François (1915 - 2005) cartoonist[56]
- Michel Kikoine (1892 - 1968) painter[57]
- Moise Kisling (1891 - 1953) Polish-born painter[58]
- Alexandre Persitz (1910-) Russian-born architect best known as influential editor of the journal L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui
- Amedeo Modigliani (1884 - 1920) painter and sculpture
- Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903) painter (half Jewish), widely considered the father of Impressionism
- Willy Ronis (1910-2009) photographer [59]
- Joann Sfar (1971 - ) cartoonist[60]
- Chaim Soutine (1893 - 1943) Belarusian-born painter[61]
- Pauline Trigère (1909 - 2002) fashion designer[62]
- Ossip Zadkine (1890 - 1967) sculptor (half Jewish)[63]
[edit] Film and stage
- Anouk Aimée (1932 - ) actress[7]
- Alexandre Aja (1978 - ) director (Haute Tension)[64]
- Arthur (born Jacques Essebag) TV productor, TV Host, humorist, actor (1966 - ) [65]
- Richard Anconina[8] (1953 - ) actor[66]
- Yvan Attal (1965-) filmmaker[67]
- Jean-Pierre Aumont (1911 - 2001) actor[9]
- Elie Kakou (1960 - 1999) humorist, actor French wikipedia
- Emmanuelle Béart (1963 - ) actress [68]
- Sarah Bernhardt (1844 - 1923) world-famous stage actress[69]
- Michel Boujenah (1952 - ) actor, productor, director[70]
- Alain Chabat (1958 - ) actor, humorist, director[71]
- Sami Frey (1937-)A Famous stag actor, director,movie actor
- David Charvet (1972 - ) French-born actor/singer (Baywatch)[72]
- Elie Chouraqui (1953- ) director, productor, scripwriter, actor[73]
- Marcel Dalio (1900 - 1983) actor[74]
- Gerard Darmon (1948 - ) actor, singer[75]
- Arié Elmaleh (1975 - ) actor, brother of Gad[76]
- Gad Elmaleh (1971 - ) humorist, actor, singer brother of Arié[77]
- Daniel Emilfork (1924 - 2006) actor[78]
- Roger Hanin (1925 - ) actor
- Anna Held (1872 - 1918) actress[79]
- Agnès Jaoui (1964 - ) director & actress[80]
- Marin Karmitz (1938 - ) producer[81]
- Elie Kakou (1960 - 1999) humorist, actor[82]
- Claude Lanzmann (1925-) filmmaker[83]
- Claude Lelouch (1937-) director[84]
- Marcel Marceau (1923 - 2007) mime artist[85]
- Jean-Pierre Melville (1917 - 1973) film director and screenwriter[86]
- Raphael Nadjari (1971-) director
- Gérard Oury (1919-2006) director
- Rachel (1821 - 1858) stage actress[87]
- Alexandra Rosenfeld (1986 - ) Miss France 2006[88]
- Ida Rubinstein (1885 - 1960) Belle Epoque icon[89]
- Elie Semoun (1963 - ) humorist, actor, singer[90]
- Simone Signoret (1921-1985) Academy, Emmy, BAFTA and César Award-winning film, stage and television actress
- Michael Vartan (1968 - ) actor[91]
- William Wyler (1902 - 1981) director[92]
- Elsa Zylberstein (1968 - ) actress
[edit] Musicians
- Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813 - 1888) composer & pianist[93]
- Franck Amsallem, (1961- ) jazz pianist and composer
- Barbara (born Monique Serf) (1930 - 1997) singer[94]
- Patrick Bruel (born Patrick Benguigui) (1959 - ) singer, actor[95]
- Joe Dassin (1938 - 1980) singer[96]
- Natalie Dessay (1965 - ) soprano[97]
- Sacha Distel (1933 - 2004) singer[98]
- Paul Dukas (1865 - 1935) composer[99]
- Michel Emer - composer of many hit songs by Édith Piaf.
- Jean Ferrat (1930 - ) singer, author
- Serge Gainsbourg (1928 - 1991) singer-songwriter[100]
- Benjamin Godard (1849-1895)
- Jean-Jacques Goldman (1951 - ) singer and songwriter[101]
- Helene Grimaud (1969 - ) pianist
- David Guetta DJ and Producer
- Fromental Halévy (1799 - 1862) composer[102]
- Ludovic Halevy (1834-1908), librettist[103]
- Joseph Kosma (1905 - 1969) film composer[104]
- Jacques Lanzmann (1927 - 2006) lyricist; brother of Claude Lanzmann[105]
- Isidore de Lara (1858 - 1930) composer [106]
- René Leibowitz (1913 - 1972) composer[107]
- Daniel Levi (1961 - ) singer, composer[108]
- Enrico Macias (1938 - ) singer[109]
- Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974) composer[110], member of the Groupe des six
- Pierre Monteux (1875 - 1964) conductor[111]
- Georges Moustaki (1934 - ) composer, singer[112]
- Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880) composer[113]
- Régine (1929 - ) Belgian-born singer[114]
- Camille Saint-Saens (1835 - 1921) composer (jewish descent)
- Sapho - singer[115]
- Martial Solal (1927 - ) jazz pianist & composer[116]
- Jean-Michel Pilc (1960 - ) jazz pianist & composer
- Olivier Hutman jazz pianist & composer
- Manuel Rocheman (1965 - ) jazz pianist & composer
- David El Malek (1970 - ) jazz saxophonist & composer
- Michel Benita jazz bassist & composer
- Alexandre Tansman (1897 - 1986) composer, pianist[117]
- Émile Waldteufel (1837 - 1915) composer[118]
[edit] Writers and poets
- Tristan Bernard (1866 - 1947) playwright & novelist[119]
- Henri Bernstein (1876 - 1953) playwright[120]
- Henri Bergson, philosopher (1859 - 1941)
- Henri Blowitz, journalist [10]
- Paul Celan (1920 - 1970) poet[121]
- Romain Gary (1914 - 1980) novelist[122]
- Max Jacob (1876 - 1944) poet[123]
- Edmond Jabès (1912 - 1991) poet[124]
- Joseph Joffo (1931-) writer[11]
- Gabriel Josipovici (1940-) novelist[12]
- Gustave Kahn (1859 - 1936) poet & art critic[125]
- Joseph Kessel (1898 - 1979) novelist & journalist[126]
- Justine Lévy (1974-) novelist[127]
- André Maurois (1885-1967)author[128]
- Albert Memmi (1921-) novelist & sociologist[129]
- Patrick Modiano (1945-) writer (half Jewish)[130]
- Irène Némirovsky (1903 - 1942) writer[131]
- Georges Perec (1936 - 1982) novelist[132]
- Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922) writer [133]
- Yasmina Reza (1959-)playwright[134]
- Nathalie Sarraute (1900 - 1999) writer[135]
- Claude Sarraute, journalist, writer[136]
- Jean-Jacques Schuhl, writer[137]
- Anne Sinclair (1948-) political journalist; wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn[138]
- André Suarès (1868 - 1948) poet[139]
- Tristan Tzara (1896 - 1963) poet[140]
- Ilarie Voronca (1903 - 1946) poet & essayist[141]
- Bernard Werber, best-selling author[142]
[edit] Business figures
- Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet (1906 - 1996) founder and head of Publicis Groupe[143]
- Moïse de Camondo (1860 - 1935) banker[144]
- Isaac & Daniel Carasso, founders of Danone[145]
- André Citroën (1878 - 1935) founder of Citroën[146]
- Annabelle Cruse-Bardinet (1967- ) proprietor of Chateau Corbin (the only female-owned winery in France) located in Saint Emilion.
- Emmanuel Cruse II (1968- ) proprietor of Chateau d'issan and member of the Cruse family.
- Marcel Dassault (1892 - 1986) aerospace industrialist[147]
- Michel[148], David[149], and Pierre David-Weill[13], bankers and chairman of Lazard LLC Partners
- Achille Fould (1800 - 1867) financier[150]
- Maurice Girodias (1919 - 1900) founder of Olympia Press (half Jewish)[151]
- Maurice de Hirsch, banker [14]
- Philippe Kahn, founder of Borland[152]
- Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, owner of Louis-Dreyfus & Co. (half Jewish)[153]
- Alexandre, Simon & Elie Lazard, founders of Lazard Frères [13]
- Michel Adam Lisowski, founder and president of Fashion TV[154]
- André Meyer (1898 - 1979) French/American financier[155]
- Jean-Pierre Meyer Deputy Chairman of L'Oréal cosmetics
- Jean-Charles Naouri, financier[156]
- Emile and Isaac Péreire, bankers [15]
- Rothschild banking & wine growing family of France[157]
- Alain, Gerard, and Pierre Wertheimer owners and co-founder of Chanel
[edit] Sport figures
- Ossip Bernstein, chess grandmaster [16]
- François Cevert (1944 - 1973) racing driver (half Jewish)[158]
- Gilbert Cohen, boxer
- Robert Cohen (1930-) boxer: World Bantamweight Champion[159]
- Pierre Darmon (1934-) tennis player[160]
- René Dreyfus (1905 - 1993) racing driver[161]
- Alphonse Halimi (1932 - 2006) boxer: World Bantamweight Champion[162]
- Maurice Herzog, mountaineer : first 8000 m : mountain Annapurna (1950); later a politician[17]
- Alfred Nakache (1915-1983), swimming champion
- Daniel Wildenstein, racehorse owner [18]
- Maurice Cohen, OGC Nice president
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ The Jewish Agency Assessment 2008
- ^ As a particular counter-example, current French President Nicolas Sarkozy had a Jewish grandfather, is officially Catholic and is not part of this list.
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "he was of Portuguese Jewish descent"
- ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed: "He was born in Berlin of Jewish parents. He studied at Bonn and Giessen, but settled in Paris, becoming naturalized there"
- ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2nd ed., art. "Aftalion, Albert"
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "the only child of prosperous Jewish parents"
- ^ "Motion Pictures". Encyclopaedia Judaica. Keter Publishing House. 1971-1972.
- ^ http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Anconina
- ^ "Jean-Pierre Aumont ... returned to fight for his country despite the danger to him as a Jew". Jewish Chronicle. 2001-02-16. pp. 31.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., art. "Blowitz, Henri
- ^ "A Bag of Marbles" - Joseph Joffo
- ^ (Jewish Year Book 2005 p215)
- ^ a b Encyclopaedia Judaica, art. "Lazard"
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "His grandfather Jacob had established the family as one of the first Jewish families to acquire great wealth and social acceptability in Bavaria ... His mother came from an Orthodox Frankfurt family and ensured that the children were properly instructed in Jewish matters ... he moved to Paris ... He was a well-known and ubiquitous member of the smart set in Paris"
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, art. "Pereire, Emile and Isaac"
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, art. "Chess"
- ^ Jewish Chronicle, November 30, 1962 p.1
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, art. "Wildenstein"