The National Movement Against Racist Barbarism, conceived in the spring of 1941, laid the groundwork for the National Movement Against Racism(MNCR), which was established in the summer of 1942 at the initiative of the clandestine Jewish section of the M.O.I. In particular, the MNCR provided assistance tothe Union of Jewish Women “ ” (UFJ), affiliated with “ “Solidarity,” the Jewish section’s clandestine mutual aid and Resistance organization. The Movement published numerous periodicals, including *J’accuse* in the north and *Fraternité* in the south. In its first issue, *J’accuse* featured this quote from Zola: “My duty is to speak out; I do not wish to be an accomplice.”
As early as late August/September 1942, “Solidarité” and the MNCR jointly published a document that bore witness to the early stages of the genocide by revealing the atrocities of that “dark Thursday,” July 16, 1942, at the Vel’ d’Hiv. On November 20, 1942, Jewish Communist resistance fighters were the first to reveal that 11,000 Jews deported from France had been gassed upon their arrival at Auschwitz. The Resistance’s underground press picked up on this information, particularly the MNCR’s publications aimed at university students.
The MNCR aims to encourage the French public to show solidarity with the Jews. It relies primarily on Jewish communists and Christian activists. To rescue Jewish children, the MNCR and the Jewish section of the M.O.I. carried out joint operations with non-Communist Jewish organizations, such asthe Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants(OSE), the Amelot Committee, and the Éclaireurs Israélites de France ( EIF). They also partnered with the group formed around the clandestine publication *Témoignage Chrétien*. For its part, the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) also organized rescue operations.
The Catholic Church as a whole supported the Vichy regime, but some priests and nuns—whether out of defiance or compassion—came to the aid of Jewish children. A few high-ranking clergymen publicly spoke out against the anti-Jewish measures imposed by the ruling regime.
In mid-August 1942, Charles Lederman, a member of the Resistance and co-founder of the MNCR, was then in charge of the Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants office in Lyon. On behalf of the OSE and with the approval of the Jewish section of the M.O.I., of which he was one of the leaders, Lederman met with Monsignor Saliège, Archbishop of Toulouse, and informed him of the situation of the Jews in the internment camps. He also revealed to him the deportations of which Jews were the victims. Archbishop Saliège quickly had a pastoral letter in support of the Jews circulated. The text was read in all the churches of his diocese.
Contacted by members of the Resistance, at the initiative of Charles Lederman, Monsignor Théas, Bishop of Montauban, also had a pastoral letter read in his diocese calling on Christians to support their “Jewish brothers.”
Thanks to the joint efforts of the MNCR and the Jewish section of the M.O.I., and to the intervention of Monsignor Saliège, Father Glasberg, and Father Pierre Chaillet, convents were opened to the children. The Protestant Church was also active, particularly in the south, in protecting the persecuted; many Protestant pastors, such as Marc Boegner and André Trocmé, took Jewish children under their care.
1,016 Jews who had been rounded up in the region were gathered in August 1942 at the Vénissieux camp near Lyon. The largest rescue operation of Jewish children undertaken in France during World War II was then being organized. Thanks to an incredible network of Jewish and non-Jewish rescuers (OSE, EIF, UFJ, L’Amitié Chrétienne, La Cimade, the Social Service for Foreigners (SE), the Traminots of Lyon, and others), all 108 children from the camp were saved.
Resistance organizations in the southern zone linked to the clandestine Jewish section of the M.O.I. support these actions and take part in them.
