Figure 1.--This is a Paris primary school in 1942. Paris was in the German occupied zone, but the Vichy regime administered schools in both the occupied and unoccupied zone. We know the portrait was taken in 1942 because the one Jewish boy is wearing the Jewish badge ordered by German authorities (June 1942) and he has not yet gone into hiding. (Notice how his expression differs from tht of the other children.) The badges were ordered to make it easier to round up Jews. The NAZI death camps were operating by 1942 and the Germans had begun to round up Jews and transport them to the camps. Unless the boy here was wearing the Juif badge, there would have been no way of knowing he was Jewish.

This is an unidentified Paris primary school in 1942. Paris was in the German occupied zone, but the Vichy regime administered schools in both the occupied and unoccupied zone. We know the portrait was taken in 1942 because the one Jewish boy is wearing the Jewish badge ordered by German authorities (June 1942) and he has not yet gone into hiding. Notice how his expression differs from that of the other children. You don't get an expression like tht unless he had already seenterrible things. The badges were ordered to make it easier to round up Jews. Vichy authorities did not rigorously enforce the German edict, but the German authorities in the occupied zone did. Of course, the Germans after the Allied invasion of North Africa, occupied the unoccupied zone (November 1942). The NAZI death camps were operating by 1942 and the Germans had begun to round up Jews and transport them to the camps. Unless the boy here was wearing the Juif badge, there would have been no way of knowing he was Jewish. A reader writes, "What a fantastic picture of French children in World War II. There is a mixture of boyhood school fun and the chilling reality of the NAZI occupation. Notice the cheeky little monkeys at the front. A more thoughtful boy on the right. The older boys look concerned. The Jewish boy is scared half to death. If it was not for the Juif star I would not have known he was Jewish. That of course was why they were forced to wear them. The best boy is giving the thumbs up. His spirit is strong. There could be another Jewish boy but he is so positioned that the star is hidden by the boy standing next to him. A very valuable historical document." What we do not know from the photograph is how the other boys reacted to the Juif star. A reader tells us, " The novel A Sack of Marbles suggests that some boys taunted or even roughed up Jewish children but others continued to play with them. The story has a non Jewish boy swopping his marbles for the Jewish boy's star. Both boys go home excited with their 'treasure'."

Created: 8:57 PM 9/5/2017
Last updated: 3:57 AM 9/6/2017