Restoration of Rights to Jews in France Will “irritate” Frenchmen, Leader Warns

A warning that some elements in liberated France will be “irritated” to see French Jews replaced automatically in the industrial, commercial and political positions from which they were ousted under the anti-Jewish laws, has been issued by Michel Le Troquer, prominent Paris lawyer and son of the Commissar-Delegate in the Administration for Liberated Territories appointed by the provisional government of France in Algiers.

M. Le Troquer, who succeeded in getting out of France recently, makes this prediction in an article published in the French newspaper “L’Alger Republican” and disseminated by the French Press and Information Service in New York, which is an agency of the French Committee of National Liberation. He reports that on the whole the people of occupied France were “violently shocked” by the arrests and deportations of Jews and the savage conditions under which the Germans carried them out. He found, however, that the anti-Jewish propaganda which the Nazis have been spreading throughout France since the occupation has had some effect.

“I personally remain impartial,” he says, speaking of the “irritation” which Jews may have to face in France when restored to their former position. “I neither approve, nor disapprove. I am simply stating a fact.” He warns French leaders, Alliet public opinion and all those who may be concerned to be aware of this problem. “Undoubtedly a proper solution can be found if great prudence and political wisdom is exercised by those who are in charge of preparing injustices, without making psychological errors,” he concludes.