The Crisis in French Jewry

Paris Jewry is gradually beginning to realise how serious the crisis is, the Yiddish daily “Periser Hajnt” writes in an editorial to-day. Things have never been so serious with us as now. The Jewish population of France is facing a very critical time. Not only the livelihood of the Jewish population is in danger, but entire Jewish branches of industry and trade are being wiped out, and Jewish workers and artisans, merchants and small traders, and industrialists are all in danger of finding themselves without any means of earning their bread. The new laws against aliens which are being drafted in Parliament will directly and indirectly aim a blow at a considerable section of the Jewish immigrant population in France. The Jewish public in France must consider the situation and be prepared for any eventualities. The appeal to help the victims of the crisis has had a good response. Private individuals and organisations are contributing to the fund. But it is only a beginning, and the trouble has hardly yet been tackled. Every Jew in Paris must realise that the lives of Jewish men, women and children are at stake, and that the whole of Jewish life in France is in the balance.

A bill for the protection of French labour, which gives the Government wide powers of control over the employment of foreigners in industrial and commercial undertakings, was adopted by the Chamber late last night.

The bill empowers the Government to fix the proportion of foreigners employed in such undertakings, and enjoins that in no case shall the proportion exceed 10 per cent., while in the case of the public services the proportion is limited to 5 per cent. No foreigner may be employed unless he is in possession of an official permit, which will only be issued with the approval of the Labour Exchanges. Political refugees and exiles, the foreign fathers of families settled in France, and ex-service men of the Allied Armies are to be entitled to the permit.