model apartments The dispossession of Jewish tenants in Paris 1940–1946
Lecture by Sarah Gensburger: Holocaust historian
On March 29, 1941, the General Commissariat for Jewish Affairs was created. It contained the first measures of spoliation specifically targeting Jews. The French state could legally manage and liquidate their property under the pretext of national economic needs. In addition, starting in 1940, several German ordinances organized the "Aryanization" of Jewish property and businesses. This was only the beginning of a long series of laws and decrees that would institutionalize a massive predatory operation. Stripped of their possessions by the German occupiers and the Vichy government, thousands of tenants were evicted from their apartments because they were identified as Jews. In fact, the law of July 22, 1941, signed by Pétain, deprived Jews of the enjoyment of their professional and personal property. In Paris, this "arsenal of exclusion" left many homes vacant. From then on, individuals representing the full diversity of Parisian society rushed to take advantage of this lucrative rental market. In her book, co-written with Isabelle Backouche and Eric Le Bourhis, Sarah Gensburger recounts the history of these carefully organized expropriations at the neighborhood, street, and building levels.
Courbet Room, access via 2 or 6 Rue Mégevand, Besançon
Reservations required
As part of its annual lecture series, the Museum of Resistance and Deportation invites you to join us oneThursday per monthfor a new lecture and a new guest speaker.