FW: SEVENTY YEARS AFTER : THE LESSONS FROM THE VEL D’HIV ROUNDUP ARE STILL NOT LEARNT IN FRANCE

Subject: SEVENTY YEARS AFTER : THE LESSONS FROM THE VEL D'HIV ROUNDUP ARE STILL NOT LEARNT IN FRANCE

SEVENTY YEARS AFTER : THE LESSONS FROM THE VEL D'HIV ROUNDUP ARE STILL NOT LEARNT IN FRANCE

Seventy years ago, on July 17, 1942, the Velodrome d'hiver Roundup took place in Paris. It was the greatest mass roundup of Jews ever carried out on French soil, and one of the main mass arrest of Jews in Europe during World War II. It took fifty-one years before a commemoration was held in memory of the crime. And it took two more years before we saw a French President, Jacques Chirac, acknowledging the responsibility of France for this crime. The new French President Francois Hollande was even more explicit this year, and talked about a crime committed « in France, by France ». He added, very explicitly, that antisemitism is not an opinion but an abjection. Antisemitism is rising again in France. Four months ago, the worst antisemitic crime in France since World War II, the murder of three Jewish children and the father of two of them, took place in Toulouse. It was committed by an French Islamist, so the French President words are not enough, and it is necessary to look deeper into it and to search more. 

All the lessons from the Roundup have not yet been learned and it doesn't stop in France.

It must be said: France was not the only European country to have been impregnated for centuries with antisemitism, but French authors have played a particularly important role in the formulation of modern antisemitism and racist theories.

Few other countries have seen the publication of a major newspaper devoted almost entirely to incite hatred of Jews: before the Sturmer published by Julius Streicher in Germany under Adolf Hitler, France has been the country where Edouard Drumont published 'La libre parole' (the Free Speech), from November 1892 to June 1924, and the majority of the pages of 'La libre parole' was devoted to anything but inciting hatred of Jews.

No other deeply rooted antisemitic book has enjoyed as much success as 'La France juive' (Jewish France), written by the same Edouard Drumont in 1886. It was continually reprinted until 1938, and it is again available in bookstores since 1986.

Joseph-Arthur de Gobineau, a French diplomat, has played a founding role in the development of modern racism by his 'Essay on the inequality of races'. His views (and those of his disciple Houston Stewart Chamberlain), had a profound influence on writers such as Paul de Lagarde and Julius Langbehn, who have played a crucial role in the development of German National Socialism.

When the Sturmer was published in Germany, Leon Daudet and Charles Maurras were the main figures of the very antisemitic 'French Action' (Action Francaise). 'French Action' matched the intensity of the equally antisemitic 'Je suis partout' (I am everywhere) where French fascists Lucien Rebatet and Robert Brasillach, author of the famous sentence «We must finish with the Jews as a whole, and not to keep the small ones» where among the writers.

The Roundup took place in a context of pervasive antisemitism not limited to a handful of heinous people.

It did not magically disappear with the end of the war.

The silence that was kept for so long by the French authorities on the reality of French antisemitism at the time of the Roundup has help to build the legend that pretends that French people has not been deeply touched by antisemitism. The long inculcated idea that the crime had been committed by a minority of bad apples that were « not France » has prevented a wider examination of consciences. And it allowed a more easier rebirth of antisemitism later, under other attire. 

In France today, antisemitism in the manner of Edouard Drumont, Leon Daudet or Robert Brasillach has not disappeared, but it is very minor. The main form of antisemitism is Muslim antisemitism. And since those who claim to fight antisemitism only want to see it when it speaks like Edouard Drumont, Leon Daudet or Robert Brasillach, antisemitism as it exists today is not fought. 

Political speeches will not change a thing. 

It must be added : France is not alone in having been occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. But unlike other countries occupied by the Nazis, France adopted a political regime based on active collaboration with Nazi Germany, and this regime was largely made of people coming from the Left.

If a few French conducted themselves with dignity and courage during that period, the vast majority acted with cowardness. Many French people denounced Jews. France then had forty millions inhabitants and it included almost « forty million Petainists », as the title of a book by historian Henri Amouroux said.

In June 1940, the 1936 elected left-wing majority Parliament voted full powers to Marshal Petain: the Collaboration regime was born. Most of the Collaborationists of Vichy's Government Ministers were Socialists before the war. The two main collaborationists parties during the war were the 'Parti Populaire Français' (French Popular Party), headed by Jacques Doriot a former Communist Mayor of Saint-Denis near Paris, and the 'Rassemblement National Populaire' (Popular National Gathering), headed by Marcel Deat a former Socialist deputy of Paris. Until the failure of Nazi-Soviet Pact, the French Communists were among the most ardent collaborationists.

Israeli historian Simon Epstein published 'Un paradoxe français' (A French Paradox) in 2008, where he explains how the pacifist Left of the 1930's became the collaborationists of the 1940's. When it was published, Simon Epstein's book was totally ignored by the French media.

The Roundup was organized by a regime based on active collaboration with the Nazis. And this regime was mostly composed of people from the French Left.

The silence that is kept in France until today on the reality of the collaborationist regime at the time of the Roundup has helped to build the legend that the collaborationists were a minority of bad apples composed of people coming from the « far right ». The idea that the crime had been committed by the « far right » and the automatic association of antisemitism with the Far Right has prevented a full understanding of what meant « collaboration » with the Nazis, why members from the Left became collaborationists, and how they became antisemitic criminals.

In France today, Muslim antisemitism may spread. Those who claim to fight antisemitism refuse to see it since it does not come from the 'Far Right'. Members from the Left can even become fellow travellers of Muslim antisemites. They wear an 'anti-Zionism' mask to talk about Israeli Jews using the same words antisemites used when they spoke about the Jews seventy years ago.

Political speeches, especially speeches coming from the Left, will not change this situation.

It must also be added: in order to understand the Round Up, pervasive antisemitism in France, the Collaborationist regime, the fact that members of the Left became 'collaborationists' and antisemitic criminals, one must understand the meaning of July 14, the French national holiday, celebrated three days before the commemorations of the Round Up.

July 14th refers to the French Revolution. It was a very special event, fraught with consequences, and very different from the American Revolution.

The American Revolution was imbued with the thought of John Locke, the English Whig ideas about civic virtue, corruption, ancient rights and liberty. It led to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the rule of Law, the American Republic as it exists for more than two centuries, and the American idea of liberty and freedom.

The French Revolution was mostly influenced by thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the totalitarian idea of « general will » that allows the legislator to claim to embody the will of the people. It was also influenced by the equally totalitarian idea that an absolute and perfect political truth exists and can be used to reshape a society. It led to the Reign of Terror, and to a political and juridical instability that did not stop to this day. Since July 1789 France has had five republics, two empires, a return to absolute monarchy, a constitutional monarchy and an authoritarian regime. The four republics that preceded the present one ended in a coup or in the vote of full powers to a « providential man ».

The Reign of Terror, in 1793-1794, may be considered as the first totalitarian experience in modern times. It allowed Robespierre to be the first dictator to actually try to mold a whole society according to his vision. It implied the physical elimination of « counter-revolutionaries » and of all those who could be considered as non-integrable to the future society. Thousands of innocent were hastily sentenced to death and sent to the guillotine until Robespierre himself was executed. More than three hundred thousand people were massacred in Vendee : the first totalitarian experience in modern times included the first genocide in modern times.

The French Revolution was an inspiration for many modern dictators. Robespierre was admired by Lenin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot. 

Robespierre spoke of « revolution ». Some of those who were inspired by him spoke of « proletarian revolution ». Hitler spoke of the « National Socialist revolution ». The French collaborationists during World War II spoke of « national revolution ». 

At the time of Robespierre, those who had to be eliminated were defined as « enemies of the people ». Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot also defined those they decided to eliminate as « enemies of the people ».

Hitler intended to eliminate those he considered « enemies of the German people », who, as such, could not be part of Germany's future.

The French collaborationists during World War II also intended to eliminate « enemies of the people », who, as such, could not be part of France's future. 

The Collaborationist regime in France was not an accident. The Velodrome d'hiver Roundup was not an accident either. 

The fact that members of the French Left, who never stopped to admire Robespierre, could become collaborationists is very explainable. The fact that they became antisemitic criminals is also explainable: when groups of human beings are defined as « enemies of the people » by totalitarians, their elimination become logical.

Jews could be easily defined as « enemies of the people » in a context of widespread antisemitism. The collaborationists were not a minority composed of people coming from the « far right ». Antisemitism in France during the nineteenth century and before World War II was not only a far right phenomenon. 

Edouard Drumont, the author of 'La France Juive', defined himself as a « socialist ». Jules Guesde, the main French Socialist leader in the late nineteenth century was regularly during the nineteenth century the 'Jewish finance'. Jean Jaures, before 1914, openly criticized the 'stranglehold of Jewry' on the economy.

Could I add it: Muslim anti-Semites who speak and act in today's France are close to Islamist movements, and Islamist movements speak of 'Islamic Revolution'. 

People who admire Robespierre may easily understand these words. They may easily find excuses to those who use these words. They may very easily be open to how Muslim anti-Semites define their ennemies.

Political speeches, especially speeches coming from a Left where many are Robespierre's admirers, cannot change the situation.

Obviously, all the lessons of the Velodrome d'hiver Roundup have not been learned.

And obviously, it does not stop in France.

Guy Milliere

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