Armand Kaplan, who served as Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress-French Section for many years and who was made an officer of the Legion of Honor by the French government last March, died here today following a long illness. He was 63 years old.
Kaplan was born in Budapest but his family emigrated to Strasbourg when he was three years old. They resided there until they fled from the city on the eve of World War II. He took an active part in the Strasbourg Jewish community affairs and attained a reputation as an operatic singer and as a member of the community’s choir.
Having found refuge in the Alsatian region at the outbreak of the war, Kaplan was arrested by the Vichy authorities in 1941 and was interned in various concentration camps throughout the country. With the overthrow of the Vichy regime, he joined the resistance movement with which he fought until the end of the war.
Kaplan played a central role in the reconstruction of Jewish community life in France in the post-war years. In 1950 he was named Secretary General of the WJC-French Section and in 1969 he was concurrently named director of the WJC international affairs department. He retired from his posts in 1980.
Kaplan played an especially important role in developing relations with the East European countries and helped the WJC develop a lifeline between the Jewish communities of East and West Europe. Within the French Jewish community, he played a critical role in the strengthening of relations and solidifying ties with Israel as a central force in Jewish life.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
