1
Marseilles, October 2, I940
This morning I read in the newspaper: "The Council of Ministers continued study and finalization of the Statut on the Jews..." So it is possible that within a few days I shall see my citizenship reduced, and that my sons, who are French by birth, culture, and faith, will find themselves brutally and cruelly cast out of the French community… Is this possible? I cannot believe it. France is no longer France. I repeat to myself that Germany is in charge here, trying still to excuse this offense against an entire history-but I cannot yet realize that it is true.
Raymond-Raoul Lambert was one of the leaders of the French Jewry during the Holocaust. In August 1943 he was deported to the Drancy camp with his wife and four children, and in December 1943 the family members were deported to Auschwitz and murdered.
Richard L. Cohen (ed.), Raymond-Raoul Lambert, Diary of a Witness, 1940-1943 (Ivan R. Dee and USHMM, 2007), p. 21
2
From a report of the Organization of the French Jewry, Consistoire central israélite de France, following the Jewish Code
We are not in a position to voice accusations and complaints; as long as two-thirds of French territory remains under enemy occupation, French Israelites will submit themselves to these measures that have been unjustly taken against them, however unpleasant they may be...
With a feeling of gratefulness to their country, a feeling that endures in spite of the ordeals that they have had to suffer, they proclaim their love of France and their unreserved confidence in its renewal.
Renée Poznanski, Jews in France During World War II (Brandeis U. P. with USHMM, 2001), pp. 93
