Sharp criticism against the Petain government for its anti-Jewish policy is voiced today in an article in the Evening Standard devoted to the 150th anniversary of the Jewish emancipation in France under the French Revolution.
“It is true,” the London paper writes, “that the introduction of the anti-Jewish laws by the Vichy government has been done at the behest of the foreign conqueror, but it is also true that it has been done readily by the Petains, the Darlans and the Lavals who are the legitimate heirs of those who hounded Dreyfuss to prison. They are the bastards of 1789. Petain’s sore sense of honor does not seem to be provoked when the devilish practices of Nazism against Jews are imported into his land.”
Urging the Jews not to despair, the article points out that they have good cause to be proud. “The Yellow Star is a honorable badge in this world where some would outlaw reason, love and pity from the minds of men,” it concludes.
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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.
