The Sounds of Silence: Why French Bishops Supported Vichy's First Statut des Juifs

The Sounds of Silence: Why French Bishops Supported Vichy's First Statut des Juifs

Aliza Luft
OSC Scientific Seminar, March 25 (via Zoom)
  • Le Matin (Newspaper) - Document Gallica.bnf.fr/Bibliothèque Nationale de FranceLe Matin (Newspaper) - Document Gallica.bnf.fr/Bibliothèque Nationale de France

OSC Scientific Seminar 2021-2022

Friday 25th March 2022, 16:00 pm
Online via Zoom

The Sounds of Silence: Why French Bishops Supported Vichy's First Statut des Juifs

Aliza Luft

Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

This talk explains how French bishops during the Holocaust decided to support the Vichy regime's initial antisemitic policy against Jews.
Previous work on the French Catholic Church during the Holocaust argues that bishops' interests and ideologies motivated their support for Vichy along with its Statut des Juifs. I complicate these claims through process-tracing analysis of original documents from French diocesan archives, including bishops' notes, diaries, and correspondences.
Findings suggest that the rupture caused by the Nazi invasion and occupation of France, and the resulting division of the Church, powerfully impacted French bishops' abilities to coordinate and determine a course of action. This chaos, and the selective repression by Nazis of bishops who were once outspoken advocates of Jews, provided opportunities for vocal, high-status, and pro-Statute bishops to set the trajectory of the Church in motion. Others remained quiet, and their silence was decisive: in a time of disarray when the Church was seeking to determine a common stance, bishops' silence appeared as a tacit signal in favor of endorsing legal antisemitism.

Registration is mandatory (the link for the videoconference will be sent one day before)

To find out more:

See the website of Aliza Luft https://www.alizaluft.com/

 

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