The Mur des Names or Wall of Names in the Mémorial de la Shoah lists 76,000 French Jews deported and murdered by the Nazis (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Patrick Comerford
I spent an afternoon during our visit to Paris earlier this month walking around the Jewish district in Le Marais and strolled through the Rue des Rosiers, known affectionately in Yiddish as Pletzl or the ‘Little Place,’ and the surrounding streets, including Rue Pavée, with the Rue Pavée Synagogue, built as the Agoudas Hakehilos Synagogue.
The smaller synagogues I visited included Fondation Roger Fleischman and the former Synagogue Beit Yossef on rue des Ecouffes in Paris, and I also visited some of the cafés and bookshops, the Holocaust Memorial, the Memorial of the Unknown Jewish Martyr and the Museum of Jewish Art and History.
At the beginning of World War II, about 270,000 to 300,000 Jews were living in France, and the Marais district in the 4th arrondissement had a large Jewish population. During the German occupation of France, an estimated 78,000 to 80,000 French Jews, including 11,000 children, were deported to the extermination camps. Most of the victims died in Auschwitz, Birkenau and other camps between 1942 and 1944; several thousand died in internment camps and 1,000 or more were executed or murdered in France. Only 2,500 survived deportation.
The Mémorial de la Shoah is the Holocaust museum and memorial in Paris (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
The Mémorial de la Shoah at 17 rue Geoffroy l’Asnier is the Holocaust museum and memorial in Paris. It is the largest and one of the most important centres in Europe for research, information and awareness on the history of the Jewish genocide during World War II.
The memorial was founded in 1956 and underwent a major renovation in 2005, creating exhibition spaces, a multimedia centre, and a reading room.
The present memorial and museum were opened by President Jacques Chirac on 27 January 2005. The day coincided with International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The inscriptions in Hebrew and French on the façade, with quotations from Zalman Shnoeur and Justin Godart (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
The façade of the building, above the forecourt, has two inscriptions. The first is an adaptation in Hebrew by the Russian-born poet Zalman Shnoeur (1887-1959) of Deuteronomy 25: 17: ‘Remember what Amalek did unto our generation, which exterminated 600 myriad bodies and souls even though there was no war.’
Shneour had moved to Paris in 1907 to study at the Sorbonne. He returned to Paris in 1923, but when Hitler’s troops invaded France in 1940 he fled to Spain and then New York and Israel. He died in New York in 1959.
The second inscription is a quote from Justin Godart (1871-1956), former Prime Minister and Honorary President of the Committee for the Unknown Jewish Martyr: ‘Before the unknown Jewish martyr, bow in respect and piety for all the martyrs; incline your thoughts to accompany them along their path of sorrow. They will lead you to the highest pinnacle of justice and truth.’
A circular memorial lists the names of the death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
The forecourt includes a circular memorial listing the names of the death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto.
Seven bas-reliefs on a wall were created by Arbit Blatas (1908-1999) and symbolise the camps and the persecution of the Jews.
Blatas also created similar sculptures on a wall in the Ghetto in Venice commemorating the victims of the Holocaust.
Bas-reliefs by Arbit Blatas symbolise the camps and the persecution of the Jews in France (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Several walls forming a passageway list the names of about 76,000 French Jews who were deported and murdered by the Nazis. The names are listed alphabetically and by year of deportation.
The Mur des Names or Wall of Names is made of stone from Jerusalem. It was renovated in 2019-2020, allowing the addition of 175 since-discovered names, adding 1498 missing birth dates and correcting the spellings of hundreds of other names.
The Tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr in the crypt dates from 1957 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Deep in the building, the crypt is a sombre place, with the Tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr, commemorating all six million Jews with no grave of their own.
This sacred memorial predates the Mémorial de la Shoah. In 1957, the ashes of victims from the different death camps – Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Mauthausen, Sobibor and Treblinka – and from the Warsaw Ghetto were placed in soil brough from Israel and buried together. These ashes and soil are entombed in a Star of David sculpted in black marble and pierced in the centre with an eternal flame.
On the wall at the back of the crypt, a Biblical quotation in Hebrew reads: ‘Look and see if there is any sorrow like mine. Young and old, our sons and daughters were cut down by the sword’ (see Lamentations 1: 12, 2: 21).
Facing the tomb is a door from Beaune-la-Rolande, an internment and transit camp in France for foreign-born Jewish men, women, and children.
A door from Beaune-la-Rolande internment and transit camp (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
The Jewish files are located in a small room near the crypt. They were created by the Vichy collaborating regime to identify Jewish citizens, and were later used by the Nazis to locate Jews for deportation.
The memorial’s permanent exhibits document the history of French Jews during the Holocaust. The materials on exhibit include photographs, text and video and audio recordings.
The memorial also includes an auditorium, bookstore, multimedia learning centre, documentation centre, and the Room of Names (research room).
The archival collections were started in 1943 during the Nazi occupation by Isaac Schneersohn. He had the foresight to preserve records that documented the persecution and murder of European Jews during the Holocaust.
The Wall of the Righteous lists 3,300 people who have been recognised as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Outside, on the corner with the street running down to the Pont Louis-Philippe and the River Seine, the Wall of the Righteous runs alongside the memorial.
Since 1963, the Yad Vashem Museum Memorial in Jerusalem has awarded the title ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ to non-Jewish people who helped save Jews during the war. The Wall of the Righteous in Paris lists 3,300 people, either French or acting in France, who have been awarded this recognition.
Today, France has the largest population of Jews after Israel and the US – an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 people – and most Jews in France, like most Muslims in France, are of North African origin. The number of antisemitic incidents in France almost quadrupled last year (2023), with more than 1,500 incidents, compare to 436 in 2022.
With the far-right on the rise across Europe and an increase in antisemitism around the world since 7 October, the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris is an important reminder of the Holocaust and of the dangers of not challenging and speaking out against any expressions of antisemitism and racism.
Shabbat Shalom
The Eternal Flame in the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris (Patrick Comerford, 2024)
23 February 2024
Daily prayer in Lent with
early English saints:
10, 23 February 2024,
Saint Cedd of Lastingham
Saint Cedd of Lastingham joined Saint Aidan’s monastery in Lindisfarne with his brother, Saint Chad of Lichfield
Patrick Comerford
The Season of Lent began last week with Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and we began this week with the First Sunday in Lent (Lent I, 18 February 2024). Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life and work of Saint Polycarp (ca 155), Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr.
Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated by the Church of England in the Calendar of Common Worship.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;
2, today’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Saint Cedd was Bishop of the East Saxons and founded Lastingham Abbey
Early English pre-Reformation saints: 10, Saint Cedd of Lastingham
Saint Cedd of Lastingham is commemorated in Common Worship on 26 October. Cedd was born in Northumbria in the late sixth century and with his brother, Saint Chad of Lichfield, he joined Saint Aidan’s monastery in Lindisfarne, where he served many years.
When King Peada of the Middle Angles became a Christian, Cedd was sent with three other priests to preach the gospel in this new territory. Some time later, King Sigebert of the East Saxons was converted and Cedd, now an experienced missionary, went with another priest to Essex. After travelling through the region they reported back to Lindisfarne where Saint Cedd was consecrated bishop for the East Saxons.
He returned to Essex to continue his work, building churches, two monasteries, and ordaining deacons and priests.
While on a visit to Northumbria he founded his third monastery, at Lastingham, where he died of fever in 664 after attending the Synod of Whitby.
Whitby Abbey … Saint Cedd died at Lastingham after attending the Synod of Whitby in the year 664 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Matthew 5: 20-26 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 20 ‘For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21 ‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.’
King Peada of Mercia (right) with Saint Chad (centre) and Richard II (left) on the West Front of Lichfield Cathedral … King Peada sent Saint Cedd to preach in Mercia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 23 February 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Stories of Hope, Ukraine – Two years on …’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Rachel Weller, Digital Communications Officer, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (23 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
We pray God’s protection on the Ukrainian people who receive support from the LWF’s community centre. We pray particularly for the children as they settle into schools; may God be close in a place that can feel lonely.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who gave to your servant Polycarp
boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
before the rulers of this world
and courage to die for his faith:
grant that we also may be ready
to give an answer for the faith that is in us
and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Polycarp:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Tomorrow: James the Deacon, companion of Paulinus
The ruins in the Agora are all that remain of classical Smyrna … the Church Calendar remembers Saint Polycarp of Smyrna on 23 February (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Patrick Comerford
The Season of Lent began last week with Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and we began this week with the First Sunday in Lent (Lent I, 18 February 2024). Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life and work of Saint Polycarp (ca 155), Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr.
Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated by the Church of England in the Calendar of Common Worship.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;
2, today’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Saint Cedd was Bishop of the East Saxons and founded Lastingham Abbey
Early English pre-Reformation saints: 10, Saint Cedd of Lastingham
Saint Cedd of Lastingham is commemorated in Common Worship on 26 October. Cedd was born in Northumbria in the late sixth century and with his brother, Saint Chad of Lichfield, he joined Saint Aidan’s monastery in Lindisfarne, where he served many years.
When King Peada of the Middle Angles became a Christian, Cedd was sent with three other priests to preach the gospel in this new territory. Some time later, King Sigebert of the East Saxons was converted and Cedd, now an experienced missionary, went with another priest to Essex. After travelling through the region they reported back to Lindisfarne where Saint Cedd was consecrated bishop for the East Saxons.
He returned to Essex to continue his work, building churches, two monasteries, and ordaining deacons and priests.
While on a visit to Northumbria he founded his third monastery, at Lastingham, where he died of fever in 664 after attending the Synod of Whitby.
Whitby Abbey … Saint Cedd died at Lastingham after attending the Synod of Whitby in the year 664 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Matthew 5: 20-26 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 20 ‘For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21 ‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.’
King Peada of Mercia (right) with Saint Chad (centre) and Richard II (left) on the West Front of Lichfield Cathedral … King Peada sent Saint Cedd to preach in Mercia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 23 February 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Stories of Hope, Ukraine – Two years on …’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Rachel Weller, Digital Communications Officer, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (23 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
We pray God’s protection on the Ukrainian people who receive support from the LWF’s community centre. We pray particularly for the children as they settle into schools; may God be close in a place that can feel lonely.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who gave to your servant Polycarp
boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
before the rulers of this world
and courage to die for his faith:
grant that we also may be ready
to give an answer for the faith that is in us
and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Polycarp:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Tomorrow: James the Deacon, companion of Paulinus
The ruins in the Agora are all that remain of classical Smyrna … the Church Calendar remembers Saint Polycarp of Smyrna on 23 February (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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