Jewish Immigrants in France Anxious to Become French Citizens

man,” as the Jewish immigrants say, is now the style in France. One imitates the other. It has become almost a disgrace not to apply for naturalization. The French government offices are simply loaded with Jewish applications for naturalization. Lawyers who attend to naturalization matters are doing a wonderful business. Children don’t give their parents any rest and refuse to listen to any sort of excuse—they want to “become Frenchmen.”

And real Frenchmen at that. Not only according to their citizenship, to their legal status, but also according to their names. If one’s name is Rabinowitsch or Frankel or Yahinson, it is rather difficult to enter French life. The Frenchmen don’t like German-sounding or Slavic-sounding names. So you will notice among the new citizens of France a great desire to get new family-names together with their new citizenship. Some of them are sincerely convinced that through the adoption of French citizenship and French patronymics they will become one hundred percent Frenchmen. Some do not go so far in their hopes, but are convinced of the practical value to them of adopting French names.

As yet it isn’t so easy. The French laws in this regard are not very liberal. But the French deputy, Charles Lampert, who is an ardent protagonist of the naturalization of foreigners and who put through the new naturalization law, has now also introduced in parliament a bill making it easier for the naturalized foreigners to change their patronymics.

Jewish Paris has now come to the point where it is beginning to contribute for international Jewish purposes. Until now Paris was known to the Jewish world as a “city that gives no money for general Jewish purposes.”

There were two reasons for this “miserliness” on the part of Jewish Paris. On the one hand the “native” French Jews were too far removed from Jewish interests. For a French Jew, Judaism would begin and end with his “Alliance Israelite Universelle.” After paying his membership dues to the “Alliance,” he would feel that he had done his full duty towards world Jewry.

The Jewish immigrant from abroad on the other hand has until now felt too insecure in his economic and social situation to think about Jewish communal matters. He had too many worries about making a living and was therefore deaf to all communal matters.

Both of these reasons are now vanishing. The “natives” are getting accustomed to Jewish appeals from abroad and the immigrants are gradually establishing a more firm foothold for themselves in France. As a result Jewish communal activities are getting a new lease of life in Paris and comparatively large sums of money, undreamed of a few years ago, are being raised for Jewish purposes.