French Jewry celebrated the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Representative Council of French Jewish Organizations (CRIF) by members of the Jewish underground in German-occupied France in 1944 as a symbol of their determination to survive and rebuild the Jewish institutions destroyed by the Nazis.
The principle ceremonies were held in Lyon where Klaus Barbie, the wartime gestapo chief there, is now in prison awaiting trial for crimes against humanity. They were attended, among others, by the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Albert Decourtray, who stressed his solidarity with the Jewish people, and by Defense Minister Charles Hernu who noted that Barbie, known as the “butcher of Lyon,” is finally to be brought to justice.
There were also ceremonies in the village of Izieu where, 40 years ago almost to the day of the founding of CRIF, 43 Jewish children were arrested for deportation on Barbie’s orders.
CRIF was founded in Lyon by a Jewish judge, Leon Meiss, who was in hiding from the Nazis at the time. Today it is the representative body of 50 major Jewish organizations in France. Its current president, Theo Klein, recalled the tragic past and urged the French Jewish community and Jews the world over to remain vigilant against all forms of racism.
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