Jews probably followed the Roman armies into France; evidence of their residence dates back more than a millenium. Many rue de la juiverie (street of the Jewish district) or rue des Juifs testify to their former presence as does a place such as Baigneux-les-Juifs (Baigneux-the-Jews), a small village in Burgundy known by this name since 1391 that also boasts a rue de la Porte aux Juifs (Street of the Jews’ gate). Everyone knows of Rashi, who lived in Troyes in Champaign (February 22, 1040, to July 13, 1105). He was famous for his wine as well as for his comments on the Talmud. He is also well known to French linguists because his commentaries have helped them to understand and translate the old French language.
Thanks to a never-revoked expulsion edict of 1394, no Jews lived openly in France for nearly four centuries, aside from some “deserving” individuals allowed to live in Paris and in a few other cities. Nevertheless, in 1792, Year One of the French revolutionary calendar and of the French Republic, citizenship was granted to some 40,000 Jews who were residing on French territory at that time. The “Emancipation” of the Jews was ratified on November 16, 1791. Most of those who benefitted from this decree lived in areas (Metz, the Moselle and Alsace), which France had acquired gradually during the 17th and 18th centuries. Although frequently subjected to massacres or expulsions, Jews had lived in these regions since at least the 11th century. The two or three thousand “Papal Jews”—a community that dates back to the Middle Ages—became French in 1791 when Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin were annexed, thus completing the portrait of long-rooted French Jewry. To these communities must, of course, be added those individuals in the west and southwest of France usually called Portuguese or Spanish. Having fled the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, a few thousand individuals had lived there since the 16th century as “New Christians,” although many had returned to Judaism.
[Ed. Note: This article was first published in AVOTAYNU, Volume XXVII, Number 3, Fall 2011, page 28. Back issues and subscriptions may be easily obtained at http://www.avotaynu.com/htm]
While French Jews became citizens in 1791, it was Emperor Napoléon I, who 17 years later in 1808, administratively organized the Jewish religion—among other things, by creating regional consistories under the authority of a national consistory—in order to have a partner, but also to manage the religion (appointment of rabbis, synagogue maintenance and so forth). Among other ordinances, he required a census of the Jews and their professional activities and ordered them to adopt fixed hereditary family names, records of which are a treasure trove for genealogists today. At the same time, Napoleon published a series of decrees, known as the “infamous decrees,” that imposed special conditions of work and residence on the Jews. In Lorraine, for example, Jews were liable collectively for the debts of their former communities.
After 1791, France became a kind of Promised Land for Jews from countries where they did not yet enjoy the status of citizen, and one often heard the saying “Happy as God in France” (wie Gott in Frankreich leben). The Jewish population reached about 150,000 after World War I (excluding Jews from Algeria) and 250,000 on the eve of World War II, of whom 77,000 did not return from deportation. After the arrival of Jews from Tunisia and Morocco and the return of Jews from Algeria in 1962, France, with an estimated Jewish population of 400,000 to 600,000 according to different authors, is believed to have the largest western European Jewish population, most of Sephardic descent.
French Archives and French History
Three important aspects of French history have shaped the types of archives found in this country today:
1. At one time, France was a major colonial power actively engaged in conquest. As a result, several areas that currently are independent or are part of other states—whether in Europe or elsewhere—once belonged to France or have been permanently influenced by France. In Europe, for example, during the First Empire (1804–1814/15), Napoleon created administrative structures in the regions he conquered—Belgium, Germany and Italy—that were similar to those found in France. Thus, a French Department of Mont-Tonnerre existed for a short time near Mainz, Germany. As a result, vital records up to 1815 were written in French even if they remained in German archives. In addition, documents pertaining to these regions may be found in the French National Archives. Some of the formerly French areas still speak French, have a large population of French descent (e.g., Canada), and sometimes have administrative laws similar to French law. Some of their administrative documents from these areas for this period may still be in French archives.
On the other hand, the loss of former colonial territories displaced many people. That phenomenon created new types of documents and also created regional differences in the archives. Thus, in the wake of the loss of Alsace-Moselle in 1871, those who wanted to remain French citizens had to move to French territory, and records were created for those who opted for French nationality. Those who moved to French territory later had to ask for the reinstatement of their French nationality, and sometimes they had to apply for naturalization. All of these documents constitute a fertile source for genealogical research. Jews with ancestors from Alsace or Moselle should investigate the procedure by which they regained French citizenship. The records for that region created between 1871 and 1918 of those who remained in Alsace or Moselle as Germans are held in German archives and administered according to German law. Similarly, after 1815, many Jews from the regions con quered by Napoleon moved to France in order to remain French citizens.
The city of Nice is a particularly remarkable case of border changes. The County of Nice, and thus the city, was part of the Duchy of Savoy and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia until 1793 when it became French. Retaken by Sardinia in 1814, Nice became French again only in 1860. During the first Sardinian period, official documents were written in Latin or in Italian and the clergy maintained the vital records, but only for Christians. Documents for that period concerning the Jews—if they exist—are found in the notarial registers. Between 1793 and 1814, Jewish vital records are the same as for every French citizen, but in 1814 the priests again became responsible for recording births, marriages and deaths. As a result, after 1814, no vital records at all exist for Jews until 1837, when registers finally were established for non-Catholics (e.g., Protestants and Jews) and maintained by the clergy of each religion. In 1860, when Nice became French again, vital records of Jews re-entered the common French law.
A more recent example is the case of Algeria. Algerian Jews gained French citizenship in 1870 as a result of the Crémieux Decree,1 but all of their vital records had been regulated by French law since 1830 and were repatriated to France with the other documents relating to French citizens in Algeria. Also repatriated are vital records for other lost French colonies: Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Dahomey (Benin), Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, French Somaliland (Djibouti), Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Laos, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Vanuatu, Vietnam and former French establishments in India (Chandernagore, Karaikal, Mahe, Pondicherry and Yanam).2
Some non-European areas still are French departments or territories (e.g., French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, New Caledonia, Saint Barts and a portion of Saint Martin). Information about the Jewish populations of these territories also is held in French archives.
2. The political and cultural influence of France, as well as its reputation for political freedom is another important aspect of French history. Artists, scientists and political refugees from every continent have been drawn to France at one time or another where they lived for varying lengths of time, some becoming naturalized and/or dying in France. Some may be registered in the police archives as foreigners or as political agitators. Others may be found in professional indexes or even in newspapers. In countries where they were badly treated, many Jews registered themselves for “protection” with the French consulates, especially in territories (such as “Palestine” for example) that belonged to the Ottoman Empire. This is another population reflected in documents held in French archives.
3. France—at the western border of Europe—has broad access to the sea and was a point of departure for many to the Americas and elsewhere.
French Records and French Law
What and where to find information concerning Jews in French archives also depends on French law. Since the 16th century, the law has required official documents to be written in French. In theory, all French archives are free and open, but French law also specifies that no document that might affect the privacy of the individual shall be made public less than 75 years after its creation, or less than 25 years after the death of the person concerned. The law applies to notarial deeds, vital records registers, naturalization files or any document with private information. Death registers and decennial (census) tables, however, are available immediately.
Registration of Vital Records. Vital records for Catholics exist from the 16th century to the present, written in registers kept by the priests. From the 17th century onward, the law required the registers to be written in duplicate, the second copy being for the civil court. None of these laws apply to Jews, except for the southwestern Jews who, as “New Christians,” frequently were recorded in Catholic registers. The first decree to concern Jews as citizens dates from September 20, 1792. It establishes the modern secular marital status. From this date onward, the only legal marriage is the civil one. No religious ceremony may occur without a certificate verifying that the marriage has been registered at the town hall. Since 1792, the general laws apply to French Jews so their vital records and other documents are housed in the regular French archives along with the vital records of all other French citizens. Municipal officials are responsible for recording, in duplicate, all births, marriages and deaths. One copy stays in the town while the other is for the office of the district court. These registers also include judgments and corrections to the birth records, such as acts of recognition, legitimatization and adoption. Records are kept in the town hall for 100 years. During this time, anyone, even those who are not family, may obtain extracts of the deed for a birth or a marriage without justifying the request. Copies of death certificates are issued to any person upon request, but exact copies of birth and marriage certificates are only given to the person him/herself or to certain family members (parents, children, spouses) and the government. Every 30 years, the copies of the district court office records are given to the departmental archives where any member of the public may search for vital records more than 100 years old.
Several successive laws have established what may appear in the margin of vital records. Thus, depending on the date of the deed, information such as the date of a divorce, date and place of the wedding, date and place of death, and so on may be found in the margin.
Church and State Are Separate Since 1905. As a result of the loi de séparation des Eglises et de l’Etat (law separating Church and State), some specific information concerning religions should not be kept in public archives, but in consistorial archives. In 1801, France signed a concordat (i.e., a diplomatic treaty) with the Pope; consequently, French Catholic priests were paid by the Ministry of Religion until 1905. In 1802, the law was extended to other Christian religions. Jews were integrated into that process when Napoleon the First decided in 1807–08 to organize Jews into a central and some regional consistories, although rabbis were paid by the state only from 1831 to 1905. As a result of the concordat and of the “infamous” 1801 decrees mentioned in the introduction, French national and departmental archives possess personal files of Jews from 1808 onward.
Even after 1905, an exception exists for the area of Alsace-Moselle. Under German rule from 1870 to 1918, residents of this region were not French in 1905, so the 1905 law did not apply to them and they still remain under the rule of the 1801 Concordat. The chief rabbis, presidents and members of the Jewish Consistory all are appointed by the Prime Minister of France; other rabbis are appointed by the Minister of the Interior. All are employees of the State—and of course, all files linked to World War II and Vichy laws are stored in public archives. In addition, some consistories have entrusted their private archives to city or departmental archives.
For all these reasons—despite the law separating church and state—one may find files related to Jews in public archives, even for the most recent periods.
Ethnic and religious statistics are forbidden in France. Except for one census in 1851 and for Alsace-Moselle during the German period, no French official documents record religion.
Organization of French Archives
The Ministry of Culture has responsibility for public archives in France in a structure known as the “direction des Archives de France” that dates backs to the French Revolution. Except for the Foreign Affairs archives and those of the Defense Department, which are independent, this highly centralized agency is legally responsible for the administration of all archives throughout the country, either through direct management or through scientific and technical control.
The National Archives in Paris is the largest repository in France and one of the largest in the world. It preserves and processes documents from the central organs of the state and also collects archives from organizations and private institutions with jurisdiction or interest concerning all of French territory. An old section manages fonds (document collections) created before the Revolution; a modern section manages records for the period 1789–1940. Here are naturalization files (until 1930) and all personal files concerning people who worked for the State. According to a specific 1928 law, here also is the central minute book of Paris notaries that should be in departmental archives, as well as various personal and family archives or some archives of companies and associations. The Jewish files are mostly in the F19 series. The National Archives also holds microfiche of the so-called “Jewish File” established by the Vichy government which includes individual and familial information about Jews arrested and/or deported, as well as information about the internment camps of Beaune-la-Rolande, Drancy and Pithiviers. The contemporary section, which manages the same categories of collections for the period after 1940, is in Fontainebleau near Paris, not in the main building in Paris. Naturalization files from 1930 onward are held in Fontainebleau. In 2012, a new repository is scheduled to open in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine that will house all post-Revolutionary archives.
Departmental archives primarily retain documents from regional institutions. They receive vital records dating more than 100 years, documents from the hospitals, and (except for Paris), the minute books of notaries. Departmental archives hold documents of the World War II Vichy police (primarily classified serial number W), among which are Jewish census files.3 Each French town or village owns and manages its own records. In smaller towns or in villages of minor importance, records are managed by the town clerk or an employee without specific professional qualification. Some more important towns have municipal archives with an archivist, but many deposit their old records in the departmental archives. All departmental archives use the same classification scheme for their records, and records for the Jewish religion are assigned the designation 9V2. Municipal archives also use a consistent classification scheme for their documents and records where the Jewish religion is designated 3P.
The Paris Archives is a special case, because it is both a department and municipal archive and also the archives for the capital city. Thus, some Paris records usually kept in department archives (notarial records for example) are in the National Archives. This is also a special case because part of Paris vital records were burned during the insurrection of the Commune in 1871.4 Only about one-third of the vital records prior to 1860 have been reconstructed, with many gaps in the information. The Paris Archives receives vital records more than 100 years old, but records less than 100 years old stay in the arrondissement (district) town halls.
Hospital records (doctors and patients) are kept in hospitals, in the municipal archives, or in departmental archives. Researchers who want to view these archives, must inquire in advance in the hospital or in the municipal archives about where they are held.
Vital records of French citizens who were born, married or deceased outside metropolitan France; or were born and/or married abroad and later acquired French nationality; or in a country formerly under French sovereignty; or of individuals born and/or married in current overseas territories are stored in four different locations depending on the country and the period of time. In Paris, in the Quai d’Orsay archives, are vital records more than 100 years old from Tunisia and Morocco. Vital records more than 100 years old for Algeria and other former colonies are in the Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer in Aix-en-Provence as are records more than 100 years old from contemporary overseas French territories. The repository of Diplomatic Archives in La Courneuve, near Paris, holds consulate documents concerning French citizens in foreign countries. Also at the depository in La Courneuve are records about the control of foreigners in France between 1771 and 1940. Thus, if an ancestor lived as a foreigner for some time in France, genealogists may find some information about him or her in Section I of the police archives. Information about individuals protected by French consulates in various countries also is there. In Nantes (Service central de l’Etat-civil, Ministère des Affaires étrangères) are all vital records less than 100 years old for French citizens who were not born in a contemporary French Territory.
Most military information is preserved in the eight depositories of the Service historique de la defense, the most important of which is in Vincennes near Paris. Here are records of officers and soldiers. In Brest, Cherbourg, Lorient, Rochefort or Toulon are naval records for each naval district. In Caen are the archives relating to victims of contemporary conflicts, including those who died for France or have been deported or imprisoned. The Chatellerault archives holds contemporary records of civilian personnel of the Ministry of Defense.
Specifically Jewish Files
Records From Before the French Revolution. Jewish communal archives, especially vital records, have been badly preserved. The few that exist usually have incomplete documents, but some specific, historical Jewish files dating from before the French Revolution are preserved in National or Departmental Archives. This includes vital records since the 18th century, especially from Metz and the four carrières5 in the Comtat Venaissin, some memorbuch, and many lists and surveys designed to collect special taxes, such as the 1784 survey of the Jews of Alsace. Some documents relate to trials or conversions and to the arrival of Jews. The most important sources are the notarial records and cemetery records.
Records After the Revolution. Departmental archives hold the documents related to the Napoleonic decrees of 1808, especially the lists of new names taken in relation to the old names carried by the Jews, an invaluable document for linking individuals to documents from the earlier period. The Paris Consistory preserves ketubot (marriage contracts) since 1823, but with no details other than name and address until 1872. After this date, the place and date of birth is added. Here also are some lists of deaths since the end of the 19th century. The Paris Consistory also has two censuses, one from 1809 related to Napoleon’s Decree, and another from 1872. An 1851 census, also in the Paris Consistory Archives, lists only heads of households. To that, one must add some electoral lists or lists of children in the Jewish schools.
The Bas-Rhin Consistory recently has begun to arrange and index all its documents, including some burial registrations and lists of the deceased. Some archives of Jewish communities may also have been entrusted to municipal archives, as is the case for Metz, Nancy and Rouen.
An important and little-known private archival repository is that of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. As mentioned above, France as a country that influenced many other countries. One example is the Jews of France who wanted to export their educational model to Jewish communities abroad and opened numerous overseas schools from 1851 onward in order to convey the French Enlightment. More than one million documents from 70 countries on all continents reflecting the actions of the Alliance may be consulted in the Alliance library in Paris. Also there are the private papers of such individuals as Pierre Mendes France or René Cassin and of Jewish associations such as Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF) or Organisation de Secours à l’Enfance (OSE) who had an important role in hiding children during World War II. Another library, the Medem Library, has a huge Yiddish archives. It holds musical archives as well as the personal archives of eminent writers. Some archival resources for artists and newspapers may be found in the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme.
The Holocaust Memorial in its documentation center preserves documents on the history of World War II, anti-Semitism, Jewish communities in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the Holocaust. It holds the original documents of the Vichy “Jewish file” mentioned above. It has a library of more than 90,000 photographs, posters and other images and a searchable database with the names of deportees and members of the Resistance.
Over the past 30 or 40 years, French historians and genealogists have worked hard to create an inventory of all these sources, to copy and cross-check specific documents held in each region and to extract data about the Jews, such as notarial or vital records, from all archives. They also inventoried Jewish cemeteries and Jewish plots in the larger cemeteries. They produced publications or specific databases for both France and North Africa. Most of the documents have been published by the Cercle de Généalogie Juive and are in its library and sometimes online on its website for its members, or on specific websites such as the website opened for the St. Eugen Cemetery in Algers.6 Some other associations such as the Association culturelle des Juifs du Pape7 and the Judaïsme alsacien et lorrain8 have useful websites and databases.
How to Prepare for Onsite Jewish Genealogical Research in France
Begin with the online catalog of the Library of the Cercle de Généalogie Juive, http://www.genealoj.org/ENtexte/page053.html, to see if desired information has been studied or published and if the society has it. This document is available online for our members, and readers may want to join the society. If the document exists, but cannot be accessed online, ask for a copy to be mailed. If it is too heavy to be copied and sent, a member of the Cercle may look at it for you even if you are not a member. If you ever plan to come to Paris, you might contact the Cercle librarian by e-mail in order to have the document ready when you arrive, either in the Cercle library. If the desired document is not in the Cercle library, take the following steps:
Vital records and censuses more than 100 years old are partially online. For those from overseas territories, go to: http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/. Most, but not all, departments in metropolitan France have posted their archives, and not all for the same periods. Some websites are free; others charge a fee. Some municipalities supply only the decennial tables; others provide the full proceedings. The situation is constantly changing. To know if the vital records are online for the city or the department of interest, go to the website of the National Archives, http://www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/ressources/en-ligne/etat-civil, click on the name of the department and access the data. The same website also provides details of all the online resources of the French public archives, very useful, but unfortunately written only in French.
Vital records less than 100 years old must be requested from the relevant town hall. This may be done by completing an online form at http://www.acte-etat-civil.fr/DemandeActe/Accueil; it also is written only in French.
Many websites give access to searchable databases. One created by the Ministry of Culture, http://www.culture.fr/fr/sections/collections/genealogie, offers nine databases, searchable by name, free of charge. Some commercial websites may tell if a file exists. Among the websites where researchers may conduct online research in numerous databases are http://geneanet.org, http://francegenweb.org or http://genealogie.com. They will tell if they find something, but charge a fee to tell more.
Most databases include individuals who died through deportation or were killed in combat. For free access to this data, go directly to the website of the memorial de la Shoah, http://tinyurl.com/3hlxxhl, or to the website created by Ministry of Defense, http://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr.
To view a naturalization file in the National Archives, one must know the reference number of the file, which is difficult to research from outside the archives. Some of these commercial databases include research in the “list of people who acquired French citizenship” that exists only since 1900 and will then provide the reference number needed to ask for the file in National Archives. The Cercle de Genealogie Juive (CGJ) has purchased the CD-ROM that includes the information for all French naturalizations between 1900 and 1960 and will also help genealogists to obtain this reference number. For naturalizations from before 1900, the only online searchable database that includes at least part of the content of the file, however, is the NAT database created by the National Archives, www.archives nationales.culture.gouv.fr/arn. It covers the period 1814–54. Between 1854 and 1900, the research for the reference number is much more difficult and cannot be done online. A volunteer of the CGJ can help you. With the reference number, one may ask the reproduction service of the archives, http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr for a microfilm or a copy of the file, but the fee is high. Alternatively, one may join the CGJ; for members, volunteers will go to the National Archives and copy the files for a nominal fee.
An interesting database for those interested in Alsace is the one created by the Centre Départemental d’histoire des Familles (CDHF) in Guebwiller, http://www.cdhf.net/fr/index.php?t=bases&h=bases/aide. In this database, one may search for a name in 25 different databases (births, marriages, deaths, but also lists of professionals and many other categories). The database continuously adds new information. A fee is charged for the documents.
Finally, an unexpected way to trace lost ancestors in Gallica has been created by the National Library at http://gallica.bnf.fr/. In the tab marked “All Gallica” write the name of interest. Each page of a newspaper, magazine or book that has been digitized in which that name appears, whether in an announcement of marriage or death, in an ad, or in an article will appear online.
Much data still is not online and even when some information is online, the thorough researcher still will want to view the entire document. Before coming to France, look at online inventories, where they exist. Concerning consistorial archives, you will find, for instance, an online inventory of the Archives of Nancy, http://www.nancy.fr/documents/pdf/archives/352_definitif.pdf, as well as an online inventory of the archives of the Bas-Rhin, http://judaisme.sdv.fr/cibr/archiv/index.htm, which will also tell about consistorial archives. An appointment will be necessary to obtain the documents unless they have been entrusted to departmental or city archives. An appointment also must be made to research the archives of the Alliance Israélite. Its online inventories are at www.archives-aiu.org/aiu/index. htm. The Medem Library and the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (MAHJ) also provide online inventories: www.yiddishweb.com/medem/archives.htm, and http://catalogue.mahj.org.
For all French archives or libraries, check whether it is possible to reserve documents in advance (as is the case in Aix-en-Provence) and be mindful of possible closing dates for holidays.
Notes
1 Adolphe Cremieux (April 30, 1796 – February 10, 1880) was a French lawyer and statesman born in Nimes to a Jewish family from the papal enclave of Carpentras. As a member of the government of national defense, after September 4, 1870, he secured full citizenship for the Jews in French-ruled Algeria through a 1870 decree known as Décret Crémieux This explain why, after the Algerian War of Independence, most Algerian Jews–whose ancestors had lived there for at least 2,000 years—had to emigrate to France.
2 See below.
3 A law enacted June 2, 1942, ordered every Jew to declare their personal and financial situation to the town hall or the police. This census included questions about the place of birth of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
4 A popular uprising that followed the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It lasted two months from March 18 to the “bloody week” of May 21 to 28. During this time the Revolutionaries organized a self-managed government. Many public monuments were destroyed by the fire. Because of these fires, the two registers of Paris vital records (one in the district court and one in the town hall) were destroyed.
5 The “carrière” was the street or the part of the town where the Jews lived in Comtat-Venaissin.
6 http://www.cimetiere-steugene.judaismealgerois.fr/
Appendix: Online resources for researching the Jews of France
Overseas and Diplomatic Archives
In Paris: Vital records for Morocco and Tunisia more than 100 years old.
In Aix en Provence: Vital records for Algeria and other former French colonies. Records for overseas French territories. There is an online database at http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr.
In La Courneuve: French citizens in foreign countries. Control of foreigners in France. People in foreign countries protected by French consulates.
In Nantes: Vital records less than 100 years old for all the above categories (except for contemporary French territories).
Consistory Archives
Consistory archives are not well preserved. Paris and the Bas Rhin have classified archives; an advance appointment is required to conduct research in these archives. The catalogue of Bas-Rhin consistory archives is online at http://judaisme.sdv.fr/cibr/archiv/index.htm. Some Jewish communities have entrusted their archives to departmental or community archives. This is the case for the Nancy Jewish community whose catalogue is online at http://www.nancy.fr/documents/pdf/archives/352_definitif.pdf.
Archives of Alliance Israélite Universelle
More than one million documents; most concern the schools (pupils and teachers). Seventy countries on all continents. Many private collections from Jewish notables and associations. An advance appointment necessary. Online catalogue at http://www.archives-aiu.org/aiu/index.htm
Medem Library and the Musée d’art et d’histoire dujudaisme (MAHJ)
Medem; One of the most important Yiddish libraries in the world includes a musical archives and private archives of writers. An online catalogue is at http://www.yiddishweb.com/medem/archives.htm.
MAHJ: Data on artists, newspapers and photos http://catalogue.mahj.org/
Vichy Administration Documents (Census of the Jews) in Departmental Archives
- Series W (administrative documents after 1940). References are not the same in all departments.
Memorial of the Holocaust
- Documentation center concerning World War II, anti-Semitism and Jewish communities in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Library of more than 90,000 photographs, posters and other images.
- Searchable database with names of deportees and resisters: http://www.memorialdelashoah.org/b_content/getContentFromNumLinkAction.do?itemId=170&type=1.
Cercle de Généalogie Juive
- The French Jewish Genealogical Society has a library with hundreds of vital records, cemetery lists, deeds, census records, genealogies and the 1808 lists. The online catalogue is at http://www.genealoj.org/ENtexte/page053.html. Also numerous publications of census or vital records concerning France and North Africa. The website has a searchable database and online documents for members only, http://www.genealoj.org/New/Accueil_gb.php.
More Useful Websites
- www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/ressources/en-ligne/etat-civil/
- To ask for a recent record: https://acte-etat-civil.fr/DemandeActe/Accueil.do
- For records from Alsace: www.cdhf.net/fr/index.php?t=bases&h=bases/aide
- Searchable database specific for French archives:
- Naturalizations (1814-1854) and Légion d’Honneur archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/arn/
- Ministry of Defense memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/
- National Library http://gallica.bnf.fr/
Very interesting..