Death of Robert Badinter
Born in Paris in 1928 to a Jewish family originally from Bessarabia, Robert Badinter was a fervent defender of the French model of integrating Jews into the nation. He died on the night of 8 to 9 February.
Robert Badinter, 2007, wikicommons
Robert Badinter has just left us. Born in Paris in 1928 into a Jewish family from Bessarabia, an orphan of the Shoah - his father was deported and murdered at Sobibor in March 1943 - and a fervent defender of the French model of integrating Jews into the nation, he was close to the mahJ and a loyal donor. The fight against anti-Semitism was at the heart of his battles. He is the author of a major work, both legal and historical, including Libres et égaux. L'émancipation des Juifs, 1789-1791 (1989), Un antisémitisme ordinaire. Vichy and Jewish Lawyers, 1940-1944 (1997), Idiss (2018).
The entire museum team sends its heartfelt condolences to Elisabeth Badinter, his wife.
Listen to Jacques Chancel's fascinating Radioscopie programme on 15 June 1989, in which Robert Badinter talks about his book Libres et égaux: l'émancipation des Juifs (1789-1791). He explained what this emancipation actually meant from the point of view of Jews and Christians and expressed his desire to pay tribute to the men of the Revolution who fought for the emancipation of the Jews. Robert Badinter distinguishes between anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism and explains how the Revolutionaries approached the Jewish problem, using Clermont-Tonnerre's words: "We must deny the Jews everything as a nation and grant them everything as citizens".