European Studies Centre Oxford University

Professor Jacques Semelin (Sciences Po, Paris) presents a multifactorial analysis which can explain the survival of Jews in occupied France, without forgetting the dead. Professor Kalypso Nicolaidis (St Antony's College, Oxford) chairs. Between the French defeat in 1940 and liberation in 1944, the Nazis killed almost 80,000 of France's Jews, both French and foreign. Since that time, this tragedy has been well-documented. But there are other stories hidden within it--ones neglected by historians. In 1940, the Jewish population stood at 300,000. In other words, 75 per cent of France's Jews escaped extermination. While 45% of the Jews of Belgium perished, and in the Netherlands only 20% survived, close to 90% of Jewish French nationals outlived the war. The Nazis were determined to destroy the Jews across Europe, and the Vichy regime collaborated in their deportation from France. So what is the meaning of this French exception?
In my talk, based on quantitative and qualitative data, I wish to shed light on this 'French enigma', painting a radically unfamiliar view of occupied France without minimizing antisemitism. I will present a multifactorial analysis which can explain the survival of Jews in occupied France, without forgetting the dead.

Jacques Semelin is Professor Emeritus of History and Political Science at Sciences Po, CERI, CNRS, Paris, focusing on the Holocaust and mass violence, as well as civil resistance and rescue. He is the author of the classic Unarmed Against Hitler: Civilian Resistance in Europe, 1939–1945 (Praeger), and Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide (Hurst/Columbia University Press).

This seminar originally took place on Tuesday 30th April at 5pm at the European Studies Centre

Lecture with Kalypso Nicolaidis (St Antony’s College). Respondent: Anand Menon (King’s College London) Convenors: Timothy Garton Ash and Kalypso Nicolaidis (St Antony’s College). The event was co-sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) and the Centre for International Studies at DPIR. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Richard von Weizsåcker Lecture with Paul Nolte (Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow St Antony’s College), the chair is Paul Betts (St Antony's College).

ESC Lunchtime Seminar. A talk given by Robert Howse (NYU Law School), Kalypso Nicolaidis (St Antony’s College)on 13th January 2017. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Professor John Connelly (UC Berkeley) gives the 2016 Annual Kolakowski lecture for the Programme on Modern Poland. Chaired by Mikolaj Kunicki (St. Antony's College). "It's often said that Polish nationalism involved extremes: that it was immoderate in its passions, sacrifices, and demands for territory; that it made excessive claims upon the individual Pole; that it was extravagantly short-sighted and parochial but also intensely concerned with the welfare of humankind. In direct contrast to nationalisms in Poland's neighborhood – Serb, Czech, Hungarian and others – I assess the truth of such claims, and ask where Poland fits in the New Europe. Just how strange is it really?" (Professor John Connelly)

Prof Dariusz Stola, Director of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, gives a talk for the Programme on Modern Poland on 4th February 2015. Introduced by Professor Tim Garton Ash and Dr Mikolaj Kunicki.