The “Jewish Registry” is the generic term given to the various registers established to systematically record Jews in France during World War II, which served as the basis for the roundups.
This file actually comprises several records created between 1940 and 1944 at the initiative of the Vichy government. This registration process was sometimes initiated by the German authorities and carried out by the French administration and police in both the occupied zone and the southern zone. It began with the German ordinance of September 27, 1940, which required Jews in the occupied zone to report to the subprefect of their district to be registered in a special registry. They reported to police stations to be registered between October 3 and 19, 1940.
A file—known as the “Tulard file,” named after the high-ranking French official who created it—was thus compiled based on the declarations of French and foreign Jews residing in the Seine department.
The French law of June 2, 1941, mandated a census of Jews, which was extended to the whole of France. Membership in the Jewish “race” was defined in a law passed on the same day. It was based on descent linked to religion (Jewish ancestors), even in the absence of religious belief or practice on the part of the person concerned.
Virtually all Jews were registered. It is estimated that only about ten percent of the population failed to comply with the Vichy regime’s order.
The Nazis conducted censuses of Jews in all occupied countries, but in France, the Pétain regime proved particularly zealous, and the records served as tools for roundups.
References:
— Denis Peschanski, 1997, “The Jewish Registry ” (article, *Gazette des Archives*). Published by La Table Ronde.
— Combe Sonia, 2001, *Forbidden Archives: Confiscated History*. 2nd ed. pp. 194–232. La Découverte,
— Joly, Laurent, 2011, *Office Antisemitism: An Investigation into the Paris Police Prefecture and the General Commission for Jewish Affairs (1940–1944)*. Grasset,
