International, Politics, Religion, Society

“La Mort aux Juifs”: Leading Jewish Group Demands Change In Town’s Name of “Death to Jews”

Rashi_woodcutAnd you thought the Redskins controversy was bad.

There are reports this week is of a bizarre confrontation where the Simon Wiesenthal Centre has asked the French government to rename a small village in central France that is currently called “Death to Jews” (La Mort aux Juifs). However, the town is resisting the efforts to change the name that dates back to the 11th Century.

The conflict has some strong similarities with the Redskins controversy to the extent that defenders are insisting that the name is now a harmless historic relic. Marie-Elizabeth Secretand, deputy mayor of Courtemaux (a village of 289 people that oversees the contested hamlet), insisted that “It’s ridiculous. This name has always existed,. No one has anything against the Jews, of course. It doesn’t surprise me that this is coming up again. Why change a name that goes back to the Middle Ages or even further? We should respect these old names.”

What the town views as historical, others view as genocidal. The Center’s director Shimon Samuels asked the French government to step in to change the name. That raises a question of who makes such a decision. In the United States, this would be entirely a local matter but in France it appears that the federal government may have more authority to force such a change.

philippe_ivThe name could reflect a particularly infamous period in France when Jews were expelled on July 22, 1306 by King Philip IV — known incongruously as Phillip the Fair. (They had actually been expelled in 1182 from France by the earlier King Philip but they had returned) In 1290, Jews were expelled from England by King Edward I and many moved to France. Then the Lateran Council of 1215 summoned by Pope Innocent III forbade the living or working together and trading between Jews and Christians. In 1242, the people even burned 20 cartloads of the Torah in Paris in 1242.

This name is unfortunately not unique. Just a couple of months ago, a Spanish town named Castrillo Matajudios (Little Hill Fort of Jew Killers) changed its name to Mota de Judios (Hill of the Jews).

Putting aside such curious questions like the mascot for the local schools in such places, there remains the fact that the name of these towns clearly contain a genocidal message. Where Redskins is viewed as offensive, these towns are named after homicidal religious pogroms. Perhaps it is time for a new history to be written?

Source: Time

82 thoughts on ““La Mort aux Juifs”: Leading Jewish Group Demands Change In Town’s Name of “Death to Jews””

  1. Nick got there before I did.
    With the rising anti-Semitism, with countries saying they want to get rid of Israel and they want to get rid of Jews as well this is not merely an historical name or a monument to the persecution as one posted here suggested.
    Were it A:mort pour le français (Death to the French) there would be no controversy I would imagine, they would change it lickety split)

  2. With the new wave of anti-Semitism sweeping Europe and the US I expect more towns changing their names to La Mort aux Juifs. If you understand history you know increased anti-Semitism often precedes very bad times in our time on earth.

  4. Here is some history of France from wikipedia:

    Vichy France, officially the French State (État français), was the government of Marshal Philippe Pétain’s regime during France’s occupation by Nazi Germany in World War II. From 1940 to 1942, while nominally the government of France as a whole, Vichy only fully controlled the unoccupied zone in southern France, while Germany occupied northern France. Following the Allied landings in French North Africa on 8 November 1942, southern France was also occupied by the Axis on 11 November 1942 through the enactment of Case Anton. The Vichy regime remained in existence, but was reduced to a puppet government.

    After being appointed Premier of France by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain and his supporters signed the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940 with Germany and established an authoritarian regime by gaining full powers on 10 July 1940 to replace the French Third Republic that was dissolving due to the fall of France earlier in 1940.

    The newly formed French State maintained nominal sovereignty over the whole of French territory as defined by the armistice, per standard international law, and full sovereignty only in the unoccupied southern zone libre (“free zone”). It had limited authority in the northern zones under military occupation. The occupation was to be a provisional state of affairs pending the conclusion of the war, which at the time appeared imminent, and presented advantages such as keeping the French Navy and the colonial empire, and avoiding full occupation of the country, thus maintaining a meaningful degree of independence and neutrality.

    Germany kept two million French soldiers in Germany as forced labourers to enforce its terms, which included a drastic reduction of the French army and air force, a heavy tribute, and numerous other economically and military favourable conditions for the Axis. Vichy authorities were brought in to round up Jews and other “undesirables” such as communists and political refugees. Much of the French public initially supported the new government despite its undemocratic and pro-Axis policies, often seeing it as necessary to maintain a degree of French autonomy and territorial integrity. In November 1942 however, the zone libre was also occupied, leading to the disbandment or scuttling of what remained of Vichy military forces and ending any semblance of independence, with Germany now closely supervising all French officials.

  7. Jonathan: Consider recent history. America wanted a close ally when WWII was over and we were facing down the Soviets. So we forgot some pirate territory named Vichy France. Yes. Marshall Petain was the President. It was a large portion of France in the West during the Hitler occupation of the rest of France. The Vichy government helped in the Holocaust, rounded up Jews for extermination and killed a good many directly themselves. So, if anyone has a drone, please fly it over this Vichy, Nazi town in France and bomb it. I swear, you folks in America have distorted recollections of recent past genocidal events.

  8. “Perhaps it is time for a new history to be written?” – JT

    “Scientists have discovered that ‘the present’ has always existed, but they are not sure about ‘the past’ and ‘the future’.” –Dredd

  9. “… the town is resisting the efforts to change the name that dates back to the 11th Century.” – JT

    Some folks like old words.

  10. Yes, of course such names should be changed. I wonder why it too so long to do it.

  11. It’s unclear what the origins of the term were. The name could very well be a memorial to the time when Jews were persecuted and expelled, rather than a hortatory exclamation, the way the press and blogs are reporting it.

  13. I agree with you, Professor: They should change it. It is offensive, especially at this time when there is righteous anger about the war making on Gaza which I think can be legitimately understood as genocide whether Netanyahu thinks of it that way or not. His actions speak louder than his words and very often his words admit as much. However, the name is hurtful to Jews, who have a magnificent achievement of moral teaching and care for the less fortunate, which the right wing in Israel are betraying. It should also be offensive to all those who are against the ideas that stand behind such names.

  15. Might such name-changing tend to transform the faint cry of social conscience, “Niemal wieder, vergesse nicht!” into a boisterous “Immer wieder, immer vergessen…”?

    Santayana? “Ingorance of history…”?

  16. I am offended by the term Honky Tonk. (Being [1/4] Bohunk [the origin of the slur “honky”] I take offense.)

  18. Let’s be ecumenical and include Matamoros, Mexico, which means kill Moors. I think it is silly to have to change names after so long.

  19. I grew up in SE Texas – the Beaumont-Port Arthur area. Just to the north in Orange County there is a road named Jap Lane with an official road sign to that effect. A road with a similar name and road sign existed in Jefferson County until the last few years. At some point that road’s name was changed to Boondocks Road, but Google Earth will find it by entering the name Jap Road.

    Both names resulted, apparently, from families of Japanese ancestry locating to those areas to engage in rice farming. The Orange County road was so named about a hundred years ago. I know less about the date of origin of the Jefferson County name. As a child, I found it curious. As an adult, I find the names offensive as a slur on Japanese-Americans.

  20. The French Government is often quite sensitive about changes to their language or wording or influence from imported foreign languages. They have a commission for handling this: The Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France

    Given the disposition of the French Government to protect their language based upon historical usages and preserve dialects indigenous to France, I would suspect that approach might be used toward the name of this town as well.

    The same resolve might apply accordingly with that this same delegation curtails foreign words from importation by defining an etymology original to France as official, rejecting the foreign word. I believe it is likely they will view the outside demand to change place names also.

    Timing might be not ideal to voice such concerns as presently there has been some rather disturbing anti-Semitism incidents in the country, certainly not on an official level, but it is there none-the-less.

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