Zuccotti, Susan : The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews

Many recent books and movies have documented the collaboration of the French authorities with anti-Jewish German policies, yet more than three-quarters of France's Jews survived. How is this remarkable feat explained? Giving the full account of the French response to the Holocaust, this book examines the popular response, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to the Nazi persecution. It shows that it was precisely the French indifference to the Jews' plight that enabled so many to disappear into the countryside and survive. Correcting the historical record, the author argues, however, that the French reaction to the Holocaust, when judged by the awful standards of the rest of the world, may not have been quite as reprehensible as it has been portrayed. Susan Zuccotti won the National Jewish Book Award for Italians and the Holocaust.