FRANCE HELSINKI COMMISSION TESTIMONY

"As I left synagogue, 3 young North Africans surrounded me screaming 'Dirty Jew, f--- your mother, we'll burn your synagogues" they then threw stones at me as I ran away. I went to the Police Station, where I was told that they do not take complaints of this type...." -- Yves Sellam

"Two of the schools officials were attacked by Arabs.They screamed, 'Vive Hitler... Death to the Jews... To the (gas) showers'." -- Alliance Jewish High School

"My son, Noam, is a member of a municipal sports club... on arrival at the pool he was refused entry and told by the official that no Jew could enter or practise sport. This was followed by death threats. The child is in shock." -- Fabienne Dahan

"I took my husband home by taxi from the hospital... The driver called me 'Dirty Jew' and drove off fast with me in the car, leaving my husband in the street... She said 'I am taking you to my son who will kill you'... All my family perished in Auschwitz, I survived." -- Josiane Friedman

The continuing attacks on Jews in France, which have been more numerous than in any other Western country, are being carried out against the background of alarming indifference, with citizens and government leaders turning a blind eye. This indifference, coupled with the threat of antisemitism and the verifiably documented acts of violence, are prompting a continued feeling of utter abandonment within France's Jewish community.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center Europe, through its Paris-based office, has taken an active role in combating the growth of antisemitism in France by financing and co-sponsoring a grass-roots project, the SOS Truth and Security Organization. On June 11, 2002, the S.O.S. project will formally be launched with the release of testimony of the victims of these crimes.

The S.O.S. established by a former police commissioner, together with nineteen Jewish suburban communities of Paris, will assist victims of these antisemitic attacks. Volunteer lawyers will accompany each victim to the police and local Town Hall, and social workers will address their trauma. A hotline has also been established. Data on these incidents will be generated and then analyzed by Wiesenthal Center researchers.

For updates on the Center's hands-on efforts in combating French antisemitism go to www.wiesenthal.com

Click here to read a report of antisemitic attacks in France submitted by the Center's European Director, Dr. Shimon Samuels, to the Helsinki Commission in Washington.

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