Jews in France, Jews of France

Résumé 0

After recalling the age-old Jewish presence and the emergence of Jewish history in France, Simon Schwarzfuchs retraces his own career as a historian. Born in Bischheim in 1927, he spent his childhood in Hoenheim. With the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939, he was evacuated with his family to Limoges, where he spent the war years. From 1942 to the spring of 1944, he was a student at the Petit séminaire israélite de Limoges (PSIL). After joining the Eclaireurs israélites de France (Marc Haguenau company), he took part in the battle for the Liberation of France. He left for Paris in October 1944 to pursue rabbinical and university studies. He received his rabbinical diploma in 1948 and graduated from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Religious Sciences Section) in 1951. After a period at the CNRS, he became a professor of Jewish history in Parisian Jewish schools. He obtained a scholarship and left for Dropsie College in Philadelphia in 1951. After receiving his PhD in 1953, he returned to France, where he was a lecturer at the EPHE. In 1964, he left for Israel where he became a lecturer in Jewish history at Bar-Ilan University, then a professor from 1968 onwards. In addition to elements of his biographical and academic career, the author evokes the institutions, journals and individuals who have marked the history of Jewish studies in France.