Antisemitism and the Jewish Presence in France: Past, Present & Future
With Dr. Maurice Samuels, Yale University
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Antisemitism in France is a complex tapestry woven with threads of prejudice, political intrigue, and cultural narratives. Jewish history in France is marked by a range of experiences for the community—from periods of coexistence and prosperity
to eras of persecution and violence.
Dr. Maurice Samuels has explored the historical record from times when Jews faced
systemic discrimination, forced conversions, and violent pogroms to being welcomed during the period of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. The 19th and 20th centuries brought a new wave of antisemitism, characterized by the Dreyfus Affair which Samuels charts in his book about Dreyfus. The episode not only exposed deep-seated prejudices but also mobilized public opinion and saw the emergence of modern antisemitism in a secular context. Dr. Samuels will help expand our thought about Jews’ places in both France and the modern world as he looks at the particulars in the case of the French Jewish community. Grappling with the resurgence of antisemitism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries this lecture will explore the historical backdrop and allow us to address questions such as why does antisemitism persist? And what lessons can we draw from the past to combat discrimination in our time?
Dr. Maurice Samuels is the Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French and Chair of the French Department at Yale University, where he also directs the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism. A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Cullman Center Fellowship at the New York Public Library, he is the author of five books, including most recently “Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair,” published in 2024 by Yale University Press in the Jewish Lives Series.