Récupérer les enfants cachés : un impératif des œuvres juives dans l’après-guerre
Katy Hazan
It was an obsessing concern with the Jewish institutions as soon as the Liberation occurred, to find the Jewish children who had been scattered and hidden during the Second World War and to have them belong again to Judaism. This quest, because it was impeded by the splits within Judaism – be it consistorial, traditionalist, communist or zionist – it dealt with by many rival organizations and on the other hand they all encountered juridical, administrative, geographical or mental deadlocks : cumbersome Justice procedures, the fact that the children were so far away from their surviving families, the reluctance of the Catholic Church, the unawareness of the French people because of their links with Christianity or with republican secularism. The case of the Finaly children must be thought of confronting this complicated environment, a case which, at first before the children were abducted and the ensuing press campaign, was just a file about hidden children amongst many others.
• Rassembler les enfants : une nécessité aux enjeux multiples
• Rechercher les enfants : les moyens mis en œuvre
• Les réticences de l’Église
• Récupérer les enfants : les principes et la réalité