The Jews of the Republic: A Political History of State Jews in France from Gambetta to Vichy (review)

Book Reviews 157 The Jews of the Republic: A Political History of State Jews in France from Gambetta to Vichy, by Pierre Birnbaum, translated from the French by Jane Marie Todd. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996. 449 pp. $55.00. In a scene Jean Renoir wrote for his famous film La grande illusion French officer captives explain why they want to escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp in which they are incarcerated. Their motives vary. One says it's for the fun of it, another wants to get back in the fight, a third claims that it's the thing to do. Lieutenant Rosenthal, the lone Jew, is pragmatic. He explains thatboth his parents were naturalized French and he himselfwas born in Vienna, yet within a generation and a halfhis family has been able to acquire three historic castles complete with hunting grounds, lakes, fields, orchards, rabbit warrens, fishing rights, game birds, and stud farms, plus three picture galleries full ofancestorportraits-all ofthem authentiC. "Ifyou don'tthink that that's worth escaping for, tell me why not." Captain de Boeldieu, the aristocratic career officer, is somewhat contemptuous. "Odd," he remarks, "I have never thought ofpatriotism from that angle." This brief exchange shows why some Jews considered the France of the Third Republic a land of opportUnity. But something greater than economic advantage produced this affection. A century after the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen the egalitarian and humanitarian goals of the French Enlightenment had apparently come to fruition in the society and political system of the Third Republic. Many Jews, like the fictitious Rosenthal, found France a country which rewarded those who through ambition, dedication, and talent could create successful careers and, most important, be accepted as French. They were citizens whose religion happened to be Jewish, not Jews who were living in France. And the proofseemed to be there in the staggering dimension of their achievements. Birnbaum deals with one facet ofthis success in focusing his attention on a group of171 individuals who becamepartofthe Republic's governmental, administrative, and military elite. These individuals served in the highest capacity as prefects, deputies, senators, magistrates, ministers, and generals. These "state Jews" loved the Republic "with devotion, propagated its values, even going so far as to constitute true administrative families, anxious to ensure the proper functioning of public service." Considering the prejudices and restraints in that period ofEuropean history the rise of these men was truly phenomenal, all the more so as it was achieved without conversion to Christianity. No other great power of Europe, least of all Brit~in and Germany, experienced such elevation of Jews to state officialdom without such conversion. In the public domain these Jews remained assimilationist and were, therefore, able to blend particularism into a universal conception of Frenchness. Privately, however, they endeavored to maintain their own traditions and stay faithful to their religion, albeit in many cases they did so minimally and in an increasingly rationalist manner. They usually married Jewish women. 158 SHOFAR Summer 2000 Vol. 18, No.4 Their rise to power had its price. The more important they became the more they attracted attention and fostered antisemitic hatred. The 1908 principals of Action Fram;aise called the Republic an "evil" government ofthe Jews-a treacherous, thieving, corrupting, andpersecuting people. Attacks on individuals couldget even more nasty. The same year ofthe manifesto, one ofits drafters, Leon Daudet, denounced the distinguished legislator,jurist, and editor, Joseph Reinach, as a "Jewish beast ofprey" who projected a "mantle of false cornmon sense over [his] ethnic hatred" while ravaging Christians for Jewry's benefit. Following this verbal attack Reinach was assaulted physically by a mob shouting "Death to the Jews!" Reinach had obviously become a primary lightning rod for antisemitic envy and hatred. However, many French did not have to be prompted to have their prejudices exposed. Counterrevolutionaries denounced anyone who embraced the principles of 1789; this especially included the Jews. Birnbaum concentrates on how these state Jews were able to maintain their traditional values while operating within a secular political and cultural milieu. He thus enlarges the comprehension of the Third Republic, marking its departure from clientilism towards a system based on...