The General Committee for the Defense of the Jews (CGD), established in 1943 at the initiative of the Jewish communists of the UJRE, was the organization that brought together all factions of the Jewish Resistance.
Aware that deportation threatened all Jews—whether French or immigrants, communists or not—the UJRE had repeatedly reached out—without success—to the various factions of the Jewish Resistance. But in the summer of 1943, a meeting took place in Grenoble between the Jewish Communist Resistance and other Jewish Resistance groups.
Despite a disagreement over the joint organization of the armed struggle, unity prevailed on all matters concerning aid and protection for the Jews. A compromise led to the creation of a Single Jewish Defense Committee and then a General Defense Committee, led by Léo Glaeser and Henri Adam, which set as its goal the defense of French Jews and Resistance to deportations.
The legalistic Consistory (religious body) remained aloof from the Jewish Defense Committee. It was not until December 1943, after the arrest of its president, that it agreed to meet with representatives of the CGD, which was composed mainly of Jews from Eastern Europe.
The Consistory then joined the CGD, a joint organization of the Jewish Resistance.
Having become an iconic institution of France’s Jewish community, it was renamed the Representative Council of French Jews and later the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF).
References:
– Rayski, Adam, 1992, *The Choice of the Jews Under Vichy*. Published by La Découverte.
– Adler, Jacques, 1985, *Facing Persecution: Jewish Organizations in Paris from 1940 to 1944 *. Calmann-Lévy
