Much Courage but Little Hope
Jewish Refugees and the French Internment Camp System
in French Politics, Culture & SocietySearch for other papers by Meredith L. Scott in
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Abstract
This article examines the refugee crisis of the 1930s and the internment camp system that France created, focusing on the experiences of Jewish refugees. France, the first European country to emancipate Jews, pursued policies that focused on German-speaking Central Europeans and disproportionately affected Jews. This examination has a dual focus; it considers political narratives and government policies alongside the experiences of Jewish refugees. Working with letters from refugees and government documents, it reveals information that complicates the idea of France as a land of asylum. It highlights the limits of France's commitment to human rights and how the internment camp system, later used to carry out the Holocaust in France, became a tool of the state. While a history of a specific place and time, this study sheds light on contemporary debates about human rights, refugee politics, and the right to asylum.
Contributor Notes
Meredith Scott is an associate professor of history at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Her research focuses on modern French and Jewish history. Her publications include The Lifeline: Salomon Grumbach and the Quest for Safety (Leiden: Brill, 2022) and articles on Jewish activism and humanitarianism in journals such as French History and Urban History.