Isaac Schneersohn
Encyclopedia
Isaac Schneersohn was a French rabbi, industrialist, and the founder of the first Holocaust Archives and Memorial, born in the Ukraine.
On April 28, 1943, He founded, under the Nazi Occupation at Grenoble
, in collaboration with the philosopher Jacob Gordin, the futur Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation [Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (CDJC)] which will be integrated into the Shoah Memorial [Mémorial de la Shoah] in 1997.
, in 1879 or in 1881?
According to Heilman & Friedman (2010): "This man [Isaac Schneersohn] had served as a Crown Rabbi in Gorodnya (Gorodnia
) (Horodnia (in ) or Gorodnia (in )) and later in Chernigov (Tchernihiv (in ) or Tchernigov (in ; in Polish
: Czernihów), both in northern Ukraine. He had been active in Russian Jewish community affairs and education, as well as later serving as a council member and deputy mayor in Ryazan
in the western region of Russia, not far from Moscow, representing the moderate liberal party."
At Paris, "His home became a place where Jewish leaders, many of them Zionists, mostly right-wing Revisionists, as he had become, met."
Isaac Schneersohn had three sons, Boris, Arnold, and Michel, who were mobilized as reserve officers in the French Army
. The first two, captives, were internees at the disciplinary camp of Lübeck
. The last one was liberated in August 1940. He took part then in the fight in the Maquis
of Dordogne
.
Isaac Schneersohn was Director Delegate of the ‘’’Société Anonyme de Travaux Métalliques (SATM)’’’ [Limited liability company of Metallic Work], located at 10 rue Marbeuf at Paris).
, with his family. In 1941, he settled at Mussidan
, in Dordogne.
He was active in the ‘’’Union Générale des Israélites de France (UGIF)’’’. As such, he made numerous trips at Grenoble
, where in 1942 the idea grew to create a Center of Jewish Documentation.
The work of the CDJC was interrupted by the German invasion of the Italian zone in September 1943. The members of the CDJC took refuge in the underground. Isaac Schneersohn and Léon Poliakov got back at Paris at the time of the insurrection of August 1944. They succeeded to seize the archives of the Commissariat général aux questions juives, of the archives of the German Embassy at Paris, of the staff headquarters, and especially of the AntiJewish department of the Gestapo
.
On October 8, 1958, the future Nobel Peace Prize
laureate René Cassin
presented him with the Croix of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in the lounge of the hotel Plaza Athénée
.
His son Arnold Schneersohn will be, after the war, treasurer of the ‘’’Centre de documentation juive contemporaine (CDJC)’’’, on an honorary basis. Captive in an Oflag
, he had organized a pocket of resistance, which earned him a transfer to the discipline Oflag of Lübeck.
A descendant of a une long lineage of rabbis, and a rabbi by training, Isaac Schneersohn decided to become an industrial. Then to dedicate his life to the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine (CDJC).
At Paris, he was close to rabbi David Feuerwerker
, who took part on numerous occasions to the annual ceremonies at the CDJC, in the presence of the authorities. When rabbi Feuerwerker became the rabbi of the Synagogue Chasseloup-Laubat in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, Isaac Schneersohn and his son Arnold Schneersohn were member of his community.
Isaac Schneersohn was synonymous to the CDJC. He personified that institution which continues to have an important influence, on a worldwide scale.
He died at the age of 88 or 90.
André Kaspi described Schneersohn's motives :
«On April 28, 1943, in his appartement of the rue Bizanet at Grenoble, Isaac Schnerrson [sic] founded the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine (CDJC). In the middle of the war, a good year prior to the Normandy landings, whereas in the extermination camps the nazis carry out their grim work. Oblivious? Overly optimistic? No, Schneersohn doesn’t believe in miracle. Emigré from Russia, a former rabbi, businessman victim of the laws of aryanisation, he applied the immemorable recommandation of Judaism: "Remember." Later, he explained: "My stubborn determination and my perseverance, he wrote, my firm conviction of the necessity to collect this documentation strengthen always more. [...] I didn’t know if I would survive, none of us thought he would come out alive from hell. But I had only one desire, as long as I could, to put down in writing all what was happening." To accumulate proofs and archives, to put together files readily accessible, to lay the work of the historians... The CDJC was born in the turnmoil. Since then, it has not stopped helping researchers, to publish a journal, Le Monde juif, to sponsor history books of which the first are published as soon as 1945. It shows the debt that we all have, we the historians of World War II, we the amateurs and the users of histoiry towards this institution.»
Who were the participants to this meeting of April 28, l943? André Kaspi explains:
«When Isaac Schneersohn organizes in April 1943 the meeting at Grenoble, during which the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine is founded, 40 representatives of diverse Jewish organizations are present. The management committee is made up of 7 members: 2 representatives of the Consistory (Consistory (Judaism)
) (Consistoire central), 2 representatives of the Fédération des Sociétés juives de France, 1 representative of the World ORT
, 1 representative of the rabbinate and Schneersohn himself who presides over. The objective is to gather together all the documents which will allow, one day, to write the history of the Jews of France during the war. Promise honoured, since beginning in 1945 3 important works are published by the CDJC, followed by 5 others in 1946, 5 more in 1947, with a total of 20 until the end of the year 1951. Thus the CDJC became the memory of the Jewish community, all the community.»
, Schneersohn together with Léon Poliakov
will devot himself to collect documents which will serve the history of the Jews during the war. The group organized around Isaac Schneersohn and Léon Poliakov return to Paris, during the Insurrection of August 1944, and takes possession of the archives of the Commissariat général aux questions juives, of the Régime de Vichy, of those of the German Embassy at Paris, of the German staff headquarters and of the AntiJewish archives of the Gestapo
at Paris.
In 1944, the CDJC was thus transferred at Paris. It settled in Le Marais
, pratically in the Pletzl
, the old Jewish neighborhood, an evident symbolism.
The Mémorial du martyr juif inconnu was inaugurated on October 30, 1956.
In 1997, the decision was taken to merge the two institutions: the CDJC and the Mémorial du martyr juif inconnu.
From this merger was born the Mémorial de la Shoah, which opened its doors on January 27, 2005.
«I, the undersigned, Isaac Schneeersohn, industrial, President of the Association "Le Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine", a (scientific) not-for-profit association, whose statutes have been properly filed at the Préfecture de Police [Police headquarters], in accordance with the law on the associations of 1901, am writing to direct your attention that this organism had been founded in the Resistance in the month of April 1943, at Grenoble 10 rue Bisanet,
- that at the time, we printed and distributed clandestinely a "Bulletin du Centre de Documentation"
- that we have continued our activity officially since the Libération,
- that all the time, since the Libération, we have continued to publish a "Bulletin Intérieur",
- that our Centre de Documentation concerns an ever increasing number of persons who deal with the history of the German occupation in France and quite particularly of the incidence on the lives of the Jews of this occupation,
- that our Bulletin is increasingly requested and it's great time –as much for practical reasons as well as for the acquired notoriety by our Bulletin and the necessity to collect the costs of its publication- that it should finally be authorized to be published officially under the form of a regular journal.»
«Let's remember with an infinite gratitude the founders of the Mémorial : Isaac Schneersohn, who with an unequalled foresight decided as soon as 1943, in the middle of the war, right in the middle of the roundups, to collect proofs of what the communauty suffered. Without him, without them, today, we couldn’t do anything. Many trials would have been lost, the Mur [Wall] would have enormous gaps, many books wouldn’t have been written or would have been much later. Together with his companions, Joseph Billig, Georges Wellers, Léon Poliakov
, with his friend Claude Kelman, they have done an extraordinary work at an extremely difficult time when silence and embarrassment were the fate for the surviving deportees».
The mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë
noted that same day :
«From the outset, the history of the first Mémorial is closely bound to the one from our city. The idea is due to Isaac SCHNEERSOHN who in 1943, in the height of the occupation, has the intuition that the tragedy under way demands to put together the maximum proofs. Thirteen years later, Paris welcomes the tombeau du Martyr Juif inconnu, which will give birth to the Mémorial.»
The President of the Republic
, Jacques Chirac
, at this same ceremony recalled:
«Taking notes in the midst of the Apocalypse, gathering together papers and testimonies, against the inexorable mechanism of the extermination, such was the challenge taken up by Isaac Schneersohn. Stirring Symbol of the heroism and admirable illustration of the work of the historian.
By founding at Grenoble, in April 1943, the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine, Isaac Schneersohn carried out an act of genuine resistance. The one of memory. Already, weakness was stronger than force itself; honor greater than shame; hope more powerful than fear. Already, all the dignity of man when he remains standing, in the midst of gloom, expressed itself. Isaac Schneersohn or the archivist of the spirit against the bureaucracy of barbarism.»
of Lubavitch, Menachem Mendel Schneerson
and his wife Chaya Mushka Schneerson
, who lived at Berlin, in Germany, in 1933, decided to come settle at Paris, in France. In choosing this new location, an important factor was the presence of cousins: rabbi
Schneour Zalman Schneersohn
, Édmée Schneerson, and Isaac Schneersohn, living there.
The authors of this work examined the links between Menachem Mendel Schneerson
et Isaac Schneersohn:
"By the early 1930s [Isaac] Schneersohn was well connected and an important contact for his cousins the Schneersons (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
and Chaya Mushka Schneerson
) and the Horensztajns (Menachem Mendel Horensztajn and Sonia (Sheine) Horensztajn). Although no longer terribly observant Jewishly, he did keep a kosher home, in large measure because his wife remained religious; the Schneersons (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
and Chaya Mushka Schneerson
), sometimes ate there. He [Isaac Schneerson] also ran a salon, and on Friday nights people often gathered at his home 135 Avenue Émile-Zola (about two and half miles from where Mendel (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
) and Moussia (Chaya Mushka Schneerson
) lived), including some of the best-known Zionists, from Vladimir Zev Jabontiski (Vladimir Jabotinsky) to Chaim Weitzmann (Chaim Weizmann
). In a way he [Isaac Schneersohn]became his cousins' (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
and Chaya Mushka Schneerson
) adviser; even in Russia he had been particularly concerned with getting Jews past the quota restrictions and into higher education. In the process he had made contacts with the czar (Tsar
) and other notables, a pattern he would continue in France. As his own sons, Boris, Arnold, and Michel, were students in engineering
at the École spéciale des travaux publics
(ESTP
), this may have made that institution appeal to Mendel (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
) too."
On April 28, 1943, He founded, under the Nazi Occupation at Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, in collaboration with the philosopher Jacob Gordin, the futur Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation [Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (CDJC)] which will be integrated into the Shoah Memorial [Mémorial de la Shoah] in 1997.
Court Rabbi
Isaac Schneersohn was born at Kamenetz-Podolsk, currently in the UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, in 1879 or in 1881?
According to Heilman & Friedman (2010): "This man [Isaac Schneersohn] had served as a Crown Rabbi in Gorodnya (Gorodnia
Horodnia
Horodnia is a city in Chernihiv Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 14,043 . It has a city status since 1957....
) (Horodnia (in ) or Gorodnia (in )) and later in Chernigov (Tchernihiv (in ) or Tchernigov (in ; in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
: Czernihów), both in northern Ukraine. He had been active in Russian Jewish community affairs and education, as well as later serving as a council member and deputy mayor in Ryazan
Ryazan
Ryazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Oka River southeast of Moscow. Population: The strategic bomber base Dyagilevo is just west of the city, and the air base of Alexandrovo is to the southeast as is the Ryazan Turlatovo Airport...
in the western region of Russia, not far from Moscow, representing the moderate liberal party."
Industrialist at Paris
Originally from Russia, Isaac Schneersohn immigrated to France in 1920. He was naturalized as a French citizen during the inter-wars years.At Paris, "His home became a place where Jewish leaders, many of them Zionists, mostly right-wing Revisionists, as he had become, met."
Isaac Schneersohn had three sons, Boris, Arnold, and Michel, who were mobilized as reserve officers in the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
. The first two, captives, were internees at the disciplinary camp of Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
. The last one was liberated in August 1940. He took part then in the fight in the Maquis
Maquis (World War II)
The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...
of Dordogne
Dordogne
Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...
.
Isaac Schneersohn was Director Delegate of the ‘’’Société Anonyme de Travaux Métalliques (SATM)’’’ [Limited liability company of Metallic Work], located at 10 rue Marbeuf at Paris).
World War II
When World War II broke out, he left Paris for BordeauxBordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, with his family. In 1941, he settled at Mussidan
Mussidan
Mussidan is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-International relations:It is twinned with Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.* Vigy, France; since 1990-References:*...
, in Dordogne.
He was active in the ‘’’Union Générale des Israélites de France (UGIF)’’’. As such, he made numerous trips at Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, where in 1942 the idea grew to create a Center of Jewish Documentation.
The work of the CDJC was interrupted by the German invasion of the Italian zone in September 1943. The members of the CDJC took refuge in the underground. Isaac Schneersohn and Léon Poliakov got back at Paris at the time of the insurrection of August 1944. They succeeded to seize the archives of the Commissariat général aux questions juives, of the archives of the German Embassy at Paris, of the staff headquarters, and especially of the AntiJewish department of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
.
The Centre de documentation juive contemporaine
In 1946, Isaac Schneersohn became President of the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine (CDJC) and director of the Revue published by the center, until 1969.On October 8, 1958, the future Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
laureate René Cassin
René Cassin
René Samuel Cassin was a French jurist, law professor and judge. A soldier in World War I, he later went on to form the Union Fédérale, a leftist, pacifist Veterans organisation...
presented him with the Croix of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in the lounge of the hotel Plaza Athénée
Plaza Athénée
The Plaza Athénée is a hotel in Paris, France. It is located at 25 Avenue Montaigne, near the Champs Elysées and the Eiffel Tower. It is part of the Dorchester Collection group of international luxury hotels....
.
His son Arnold Schneersohn will be, after the war, treasurer of the ‘’’Centre de documentation juive contemporaine (CDJC)’’’, on an honorary basis. Captive in an Oflag
Oflag
An Oflag was a prisoner of war camp for officers only, established by the German Army in both World War I and World War II in accordance with the requirements of the Geneva Convention ....
, he had organized a pocket of resistance, which earned him a transfer to the discipline Oflag of Lübeck.
A descendant of a une long lineage of rabbis, and a rabbi by training, Isaac Schneersohn decided to become an industrial. Then to dedicate his life to the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine (CDJC).
At Paris, he was close to rabbi David Feuerwerker
David Feuerwerker
- Born in Geneva :He was born on October 2, 1912, at 11 Rue du Mont-Blanc, in Geneva, Switzerland. He was the seventh of eleven children. His father Jacob Feuerwerker was born in Sighet, now Sighetu Marmatiei, Maramureş, then Hungary, now Rumania...
, who took part on numerous occasions to the annual ceremonies at the CDJC, in the presence of the authorities. When rabbi Feuerwerker became the rabbi of the Synagogue Chasseloup-Laubat in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, Isaac Schneersohn and his son Arnold Schneersohn were member of his community.
Isaac Schneersohn was synonymous to the CDJC. He personified that institution which continues to have an important influence, on a worldwide scale.
He died at the age of 88 or 90.
The meeting of April 28, 1943 at Grenoble
On April 28, 1943, at Isaac Schneersohn's residence, rue Bizanet, at Grenoble, took place the meeting which will prepare the ground for the collection of documents and testimonies on the situation of the Jews during the war.André Kaspi described Schneersohn's motives :
«On April 28, 1943, in his appartement of the rue Bizanet at Grenoble, Isaac Schnerrson [sic] founded the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine (CDJC). In the middle of the war, a good year prior to the Normandy landings, whereas in the extermination camps the nazis carry out their grim work. Oblivious? Overly optimistic? No, Schneersohn doesn’t believe in miracle. Emigré from Russia, a former rabbi, businessman victim of the laws of aryanisation, he applied the immemorable recommandation of Judaism: "Remember." Later, he explained: "My stubborn determination and my perseverance, he wrote, my firm conviction of the necessity to collect this documentation strengthen always more. [...] I didn’t know if I would survive, none of us thought he would come out alive from hell. But I had only one desire, as long as I could, to put down in writing all what was happening." To accumulate proofs and archives, to put together files readily accessible, to lay the work of the historians... The CDJC was born in the turnmoil. Since then, it has not stopped helping researchers, to publish a journal, Le Monde juif, to sponsor history books of which the first are published as soon as 1945. It shows the debt that we all have, we the historians of World War II, we the amateurs and the users of histoiry towards this institution.»
Who were the participants to this meeting of April 28, l943? André Kaspi explains:
«When Isaac Schneersohn organizes in April 1943 the meeting at Grenoble, during which the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine is founded, 40 representatives of diverse Jewish organizations are present. The management committee is made up of 7 members: 2 representatives of the Consistory (Consistory (Judaism)
Consistory (Judaism)
In Jewish usage, a consistory is a body governing the Jewish congregations of a province or of a country; also the district administered by the consistory...
) (Consistoire central), 2 representatives of the Fédération des Sociétés juives de France, 1 representative of the World ORT
World ORT
World ORT is a non-profit non-governmental organization whose mission is the advancement of Jewish and other people through training and education, with past and present activities in over 100 countries....
, 1 representative of the rabbinate and Schneersohn himself who presides over. The objective is to gather together all the documents which will allow, one day, to write the history of the Jews of France during the war. Promise honoured, since beginning in 1945 3 important works are published by the CDJC, followed by 5 others in 1946, 5 more in 1947, with a total of 20 until the end of the year 1951. Thus the CDJC became the memory of the Jewish community, all the community.»
The founding of the CDJC
To accumulate testimonies on the ShoahShoah
Shoah may refer to:*The Holocaust*Shoah , documentary directed by Claude Lanzmann * A Shoah Foundation...
, Schneersohn together with Léon Poliakov
Leon Poliakov
Léon Poliakov was a French historian who wrote extensively on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.Born into a Russian Jewish family, Poliakov lived in Italy and Germany until he settled in France....
will devot himself to collect documents which will serve the history of the Jews during the war. The group organized around Isaac Schneersohn and Léon Poliakov return to Paris, during the Insurrection of August 1944, and takes possession of the archives of the Commissariat général aux questions juives, of the Régime de Vichy, of those of the German Embassy at Paris, of the German staff headquarters and of the AntiJewish archives of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
at Paris.
In 1944, the CDJC was thus transferred at Paris. It settled in Le Marais
Le Marais
Le Marais is a historic district in Paris, France. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance...
, pratically in the Pletzl
Pletzl
The Pletzl is the Jewish quarter in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The Place Saint-Paul and the surrounding area were, unofficially, named the Pletzl when the neighborhood became predominantly Jewish because of an influx of immigrants at the end of the nineteenth century and the...
, the old Jewish neighborhood, an evident symbolism.
The Mémorial du martyr juif inconnu was inaugurated on October 30, 1956.
In 1997, the decision was taken to merge the two institutions: the CDJC and the Mémorial du martyr juif inconnu.
From this merger was born the Mémorial de la Shoah, which opened its doors on January 27, 2005.
Presentation of his work by Isaac Schneersohn
On March 25, 1946, Isaac Schneersohn applied to the Ministre de l'information, to request that his Bulletin, which will give birth to the Journal Le Monde Juif, be authorized to publish legally. He introduced his work:«I, the undersigned, Isaac Schneeersohn, industrial, President of the Association "Le Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine", a (scientific) not-for-profit association, whose statutes have been properly filed at the Préfecture de Police [Police headquarters], in accordance with the law on the associations of 1901, am writing to direct your attention that this organism had been founded in the Resistance in the month of April 1943, at Grenoble 10 rue Bisanet,
- that at the time, we printed and distributed clandestinely a "Bulletin du Centre de Documentation"
- that we have continued our activity officially since the Libération,
- that all the time, since the Libération, we have continued to publish a "Bulletin Intérieur",
- that our Centre de Documentation concerns an ever increasing number of persons who deal with the history of the German occupation in France and quite particularly of the incidence on the lives of the Jews of this occupation,
- that our Bulletin is increasingly requested and it's great time –as much for practical reasons as well as for the acquired notoriety by our Bulletin and the necessity to collect the costs of its publication- that it should finally be authorized to be published officially under the form of a regular journal.»
The posthumous recognition of the work of Isaac Schneersohn
At the time of the commemoration ceremony of the liberation of the camp at Auschwitz, on January 27, 1945, on January 27, 2005, Éric de Rothschild, president of the Mémorial de la Shoah, stated :«Let's remember with an infinite gratitude the founders of the Mémorial : Isaac Schneersohn, who with an unequalled foresight decided as soon as 1943, in the middle of the war, right in the middle of the roundups, to collect proofs of what the communauty suffered. Without him, without them, today, we couldn’t do anything. Many trials would have been lost, the Mur [Wall] would have enormous gaps, many books wouldn’t have been written or would have been much later. Together with his companions, Joseph Billig, Georges Wellers, Léon Poliakov
Leon Poliakov
Léon Poliakov was a French historian who wrote extensively on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.Born into a Russian Jewish family, Poliakov lived in Italy and Germany until he settled in France....
, with his friend Claude Kelman, they have done an extraordinary work at an extremely difficult time when silence and embarrassment were the fate for the surviving deportees».
The mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë
Bertrand Delanoë
Bertrand Delanoë is a French politician, and has been the mayor of Paris since 2001. He is member of the Socialist Party . Delanoë was born in Tunis, Tunisia to a French-Tunisian father and a French mother...
noted that same day :
«From the outset, the history of the first Mémorial is closely bound to the one from our city. The idea is due to Isaac SCHNEERSOHN who in 1943, in the height of the occupation, has the intuition that the tragedy under way demands to put together the maximum proofs. Thirteen years later, Paris welcomes the tombeau du Martyr Juif inconnu, which will give birth to the Mémorial.»
The President of the Republic
President of the Republic
The President of the Republic is a title used for heads of government or heads of state in some republics:*President of Argentina, the Presidente de la República Argentina* President of Brazil, the Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil...
, Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, at this same ceremony recalled:
«Taking notes in the midst of the Apocalypse, gathering together papers and testimonies, against the inexorable mechanism of the extermination, such was the challenge taken up by Isaac Schneersohn. Stirring Symbol of the heroism and admirable illustration of the work of the historian.
By founding at Grenoble, in April 1943, the Centre de documentation juive contemporaine, Isaac Schneersohn carried out an act of genuine resistance. The one of memory. Already, weakness was stronger than force itself; honor greater than shame; hope more powerful than fear. Already, all the dignity of man when he remains standing, in the midst of gloom, expressed itself. Isaac Schneersohn or the archivist of the spirit against the bureaucracy of barbarism.»
Isaac Schneerson and the future Rebbe of Lubavitch
According to a recent work, the futur RebbeRebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
of Lubavitch, Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
and his wife Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson , referred to by Lubavitchers as The Rebbetzin, was the wife of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. She was the second of three daughters of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok...
, who lived at Berlin, in Germany, in 1933, decided to come settle at Paris, in France. In choosing this new location, an important factor was the presence of cousins: rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Schneour Zalman Schneersohn
Schneour Zalman Schneersohn
Schneour Zalman Schneersohn was a French Hasidic Chief Rabbi, before moving in his late years to the United States...
, Édmée Schneerson, and Isaac Schneersohn, living there.
The authors of this work examined the links between Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
et Isaac Schneersohn:
"By the early 1930s [Isaac] Schneersohn was well connected and an important contact for his cousins the Schneersons (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
and Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson , referred to by Lubavitchers as The Rebbetzin, was the wife of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. She was the second of three daughters of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok...
) and the Horensztajns (Menachem Mendel Horensztajn and Sonia (Sheine) Horensztajn). Although no longer terribly observant Jewishly, he did keep a kosher home, in large measure because his wife remained religious; the Schneersons (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
and Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson , referred to by Lubavitchers as The Rebbetzin, was the wife of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. She was the second of three daughters of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok...
), sometimes ate there. He [Isaac Schneerson] also ran a salon, and on Friday nights people often gathered at his home 135 Avenue Émile-Zola (about two and half miles from where Mendel (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
) and Moussia (Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson , referred to by Lubavitchers as The Rebbetzin, was the wife of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. She was the second of three daughters of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok...
) lived), including some of the best-known Zionists, from Vladimir Zev Jabontiski (Vladimir Jabotinsky) to Chaim Weitzmann (Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann, , was a Zionist leader, President of the Zionist Organization, and the first President of the State of Israel. He was elected on 1 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952....
). In a way he [Isaac Schneersohn]became his cousins' (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
and Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson
Chaya Mushka Schneerson , referred to by Lubavitchers as The Rebbetzin, was the wife of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism. She was the second of three daughters of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok...
) adviser; even in Russia he had been particularly concerned with getting Jews past the quota restrictions and into higher education. In the process he had made contacts with the czar (Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
) and other notables, a pattern he would continue in France. As his own sons, Boris, Arnold, and Michel, were students in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
at the École spéciale des travaux publics
École spéciale des travaux publics
École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du bâtiment et de l'industrie , is a technical college in Paris, founded in 1891 by Léon Eyrolles and was officially recognized by the State in 1921. It is one of the French generalist engineering Grandes écoles...
(ESTP
ESTP
ESTP is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to refer to one of sixteen personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types...
), this may have made that institution appeal to Mendel (Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
) too."
External links
- Radio France. Paroles d'étoiles. L'album des enfants cachés (1939-1945). Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine.
- Léon Poliakov, l'un des premiers historiens de la Shoah. Témoignage recueilli le 28 avril 1997 à Massy par la Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.
- Diane Afoumado, historienne, 1946-2006 : Soixante ans dans l'histoire d'une Revue (Le Monde Juif). Revue du Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine, Mémorial de la Shoah. pdf
- Discours de M. Jacques Chirac, Président de la République, à l'inauguration du Mémorial de la Shoah, le 25 janvier 2005.
- Le Mémorial de la Shoah dans le quartier du Marais à Paris, no. 10 du 15 mai 2009. Clionautes. pdf.