Unemployment in France Giving Rise to Growing Antisemtism

The unemployment and economic distress which is now beginning to become a serious factor in France, is giving rise to a growing antisemitic movement. Incidents occur daily in the Jewish quarters of Paris, for the most part of a slight character, but of increasing frequency. Non-Jewish workers, artisans and shopkeepers are bitter about Jewish competition, and often express their resentment. The position is most difficult in the case of alien workers, mostly Polish, large numbers of whom are, on account of the crisis, being repatriated daily. There is also much complaining about unfair competition by Jewish traders and shopkeepers. The epithet “Dirty Jew” is heard constantly in the poorer quarters of the city, and sometimes Jews are provoked to retaliation, and the incident ends in blows. Things have not become so serious as to call for police intervention, and in the absence of court proceedings the occurrences for the most part escape notice in the press. But talk among the Jews of Paris is centring to an increasing extent upon these incidents and considerable anxiety is being expressed.

M. Picquenard, the representative of the French Government on the Governing Body of the International Labour Office of the League of Nations, recently declared there that the French Ministry of Labour had since the beginning of January been making an enquiry into the number of unemployed in France. The enquiry was restricted to all French industrial concerns employing 100 or more workers, and its results showed that there were in France at present about 350,000 persons entirely without work, and about 1,000,000 partially employed. If these figures refer only to the industrial concerns, it is pointed out, the total number of unemployed must be rather larger.

In any case M. Picquenard’s figures show that France is already affected by the world economic crisis to a much greater extent than anybody has hitherto suspected, or than would be suggested by the official statistices, the “Manchester Guardian” wrote yesterday. M. Picquenard’s statement, it said, is being talked about both in political and business quarters.