Presentation of the book "Appartements témoins. The spoliation of Jewish tenants in Paris, 1940-1946".

The session will be moderated by Simon Perego (CERMOM, Inalco)

Appartements témoins. La spoliation des locataires juifs à Paris, 1940-1946
Isabelle Backouche, Sarah Gensburger, Eric Le Bourhis
Editions La Découverte, February 2025

With the help of previously unpublished archives, this book tells the story, neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street, of a forgotten spoliation. During the Occupation, thousands of Parisian tenants were evicted from their apartments because they were identified as Jews. From 1942 onwards, various procedures and policies orchestrated by the Vichy authorities, with the support of the occupying forces, seized this housing stock to satisfy a Parisian population in need of housing. The arsenal of Jewish exclusion was put at the service of a large rental market where owners, civil servants, disaster victims, neighbors, concierges and "recruited" candidates all came together - in short, Parisian society in all its diversity. This book recounts this massive eviction, at the crossroads of the history of the Holocaust and that of housing.

At the Liberation, returning survivors found their apartments occupied. A virulent anti-Semitism was then publicly expressed, at the foot of the buildings, the return of the Jews disrupting the arrangements of the time of the Occupation. The restored Republic would eventually work to make their eviction definitive. These re-rented apartments bear witness to the mechanisms by which Jews were eliminated from Parisian society. This book finally gives them a voice, through narrative writing and a stroll through the streets of the city.