A.
Jewish influence has infiltrated our society little by little and has in the end become deleterious. Observers on all sides agree that their activity over the course of recent years, during which they were largely in control of public affairs, has been highly negative. The facts are there and demand a response from the government, which must take on the painful task of putting France back on its feet… The disaster that we have experienced [the conquest of France by Nazi Germany] has placed us before the obligation to consolidate the strengths of the French people whose characteristics have been established by a long hereditary process.
Declaration by the French Foreign Ministry preceding the publication of the laws against the Jews, Spring 1941
B.
One of the things that had to be done to get France back on track was to remove Israelites from a certain number of professions that allowed them to exert what all have seen to be a deadly influence on public administration, youth, and public opinion.
Explanation provided to France’s ambassador in Washington by the Foreign Ministry so that he would be able to explain the rationale for the legal measures against the Jews
Poznanski, Renée, Jews in France during World War II, Brandeis University Press, 2001, p. 74
