History of the Jews in France
The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but persecution increased over time, including multiple expulsions and returns. During the French Revolution in the late 18th century, on the other hand, France was the first European country to emancipate its Jewish population. Antisemitism still occurred in cycles and reached a high in the 1890s, as shown during the Dreyfus affair, and in the 1940s, under Nazi occupation and the Vichy regime.
Funerary stele from Narbonne at the 7th-century beginning of the reign of Egica. The text begins with the Latin phrase requiescunt in pace and includes the Hebrew phrase שלום על שראל, 'peace be upon Israel'. In various sources it is described as a Jewish inscription dated with the local calendar—the regnal year of Egica—rather than the Hebrew calendar, an "inscription relating to the Jews of France", or as a "Christian inscription".
Costumes of medieval French Jews, as reimagined in a 1906 encyclopedia
Woodcut of Rashi (1539)
A miniature from Grandes Chroniques de France depicting the expulsion
Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, e.g. Jewish quotas, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It included efforts within the community to integrate into their societies as citizens. It occurred gradually between the late 18th century and the early 20th century.
An 1806 French print depicts Napoleon Bonaparte emancipating the Jews
The 1791 law proclaiming the Emancipation of the Jews – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
