Facing Catholic Antisemitism In Post-War France, The Finaly Affair: 1945-1953

Abstract

In February 1944, Dr. Fritz and Anni Finaly, Jewish Austrians who had fled the Nazi regime for France in 1939, made a desperate decision. To protect their sons Robert and Gérald from persecution, they placed them in the care of others. The boys were eventually confined to a municipal nursery run by Antoinette Brun in Grenoble, France. After the war, Brun’s refusal to return the children to their relatives led to protracted court proceedings, rendering what came to be called the Finaly Affair, the most highly publicized post-war custody case in France. This thesis will analyze how the press coverage of the guardianship, baptism, and abductions of the Finaly brothers bolstered the interests of Catholics and Jews alike. I will illustrate how the press became a key element in disseminating new forms of post-war antisemitism involving the Catholic Church and its doctrine. The coverage also promoted early and subtle forms of Holocaust memory on behalf of its Jewish victims. Jews and supporters of the Finaly children’s restitution evoked memories of the Holocaust while leveraging the press as a platform to state their positions. My analysis reveals that French Jews did not remain silent about the events of the Holocaust in the early post-war years.