A "Jewish Marshall Plan" The American Jewish Presence in Post-Holocaust France (original) (raw)

• From the Publisher
• Judges' Remarks

January 3, 2022

While the role the Unit­ed States played in France’s lib­er­a­tion from Nazi Ger­many is wide­ly cel­e­brat­ed, it is less well known that Amer­i­can Jew­ish indi­vid­u­als and orga­ni­za­tions mobi­lized to recon­struct Jew­ish life in France after the Holo­caust. In A ​“Jew­ish Mar­shall Plan,” Lau­ra Hob­son Fau­re explores how Amer­i­can Jews com­mit­ted them­selves and hun­dreds of mil­lions of dol­lars to bring much need­ed aid to their French coreligionists.

Hob­son Fau­re sheds light on Amer­i­can Jew­ish chap­lains, mem­bers of the Armed Forces, and those involved with Jew­ish phil­an­thropic orga­ni­za­tions who sought out Jew­ish sur­vivors and became deeply entan­gled with the com­mu­ni­ties they helped to rebuild. While well inten­tioned, their actions did not always meet the needs and desires of the French Jews.

A ​“Jew­ish Mar­shall Plan” exam­ines the com­plex inter­ac­tions, exchanges, and sol­i­dar­i­ties cre­at­ed between Amer­i­can and French Jews fol­low­ing the Holo­caust. Chal­leng­ing the assump­tion that French Jews were pas­sive recip­i­ents of aid, this work reveals their work as active part­ners who nego­ti­at­ed their own role in the recon­struc­tion process.

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