[TheSpottedOwl]

When were jewish people ever safe in France?

Never! My father served in France in WWII. He waited until I experienced the joy of childbirth to tell me some of the things he saw. He wasn't a hateful person, but boy did he hate the French. On Sunday afternoons, PBS would show either World at War, or Victory at Sea. When we watched footage shot in France, my dad's jaw would start twitching. Watching these programs was my father's way of educating me on the horrors of genocide. We're Irish Catholic, btw.

The French Jews should thumb their noses at Chirac, and emigrate. Nobody would bother them where I live.

[Kelly_2000]

For balance it was not all of France that capitulated you refer to the Vichy government. My late grandfather was a member of the maquis his cell collaborated with the British SOE to rescue fighter pilots shot down over Nazi occupied France.

My Great Aunt was killed by the nazis during the war. To label all French in this way is not very real to the truth.

[ariamne]

My sister married a frenchman, and his parents invited our parents for a visit in the south of france. Our father is not jewish, our mother is, and we were not raised with any sense of who we were, so our jewishness was always kind of an afterthought. The french in-laws made a reservation for my parents at a bed and breakfast type place under my father's name (Hart). When my parents arrived, the consierge took a close look at my mother and told my sister (who was the only one who spoke french fluently)that while my father could stay, "the jewess" had to leave, that "her kind" were not welcome.

This was quite an eye opener for us. My sister goes to france every year to visit her in-laws, and though in appearance we take after our father, I fear for her. Being American is also not safe.