II.3. La coexistence et ses limites : la jeunesse juive française et le régime de Vichy : L’exemple du chantier rural des Éclaireurs israélites de France à Lautrec (Tarn)

Résumé 0

Despite Vichy’s role in the Holocaust, historians specialized in the Vichy regime and the Jewish people have acknowledged for several years that some of the government’s policies did favor certain parts of the Jewish population at one time or another. This does not mean, contrary to the opinions of those seeking to present Vichy in an overly flattering light, that the regime enacted a deliberate policy to benefit and even rescue Jews. To understand how some Jews might have received additional security thanks to Vichy regulations, it is important to examine the regime’s approach to policy making. By focusing on French Jewish youth, this article reveals why some Jews were afforded exceptions to the anti-Semitic legislation from 1940 to 1942 and were even encouraged to take part in some of the regime’s national renewal initiatives. Archives from southwestern France and an analysis of the Jewish Scouts’ rural working site in Lautrec (Tarn) expose the tension between Vichy’s simultaneous efforts to regenerate and exclude. The interplay between national and local governance created a space for coexistence, albeit partial and temporary, between the Vichy regime and some French Jews.