From the Middle Ages to today: a collective work retraces centuries of history of the Jews of Menton

It is a work of remembrance of the centuries-old Jewish history of Menton that was particularly close to his heart.

President of the Jewish Community of Menton from 2013 to 2023, Daniel Bensoussan delved into his roots and memories, but also into local and regional history – with the contribution of Franco-Italian specialists and witnesses still alive – to record all his research in a book, which has just been published – under his direction and that of Pierre Rival – entitled The Jews of the Menton region, between past and present.

And well beyond his family history and a tribute he pays to his father Messaoud Bensoussan (one of the creators of the Menton synagogue), several centuries of history of the Jewish presence in Menton have been traced, like the works History of the Jews in Cannes and its surroundings from the 5th century to the present day, by Nelly Nussbaum and Mendel Matusov, and The History of the Jews of the County of Nice, by Rabbi Alain-Yaïr-Ziri.

The work was all the more tedious and necessary because there were no archives at the Jewish Community of Menton, just the statutes filed at its birth.

But the research undertaken or already carried out by various specialists has made it possible to unravel the thread of the small and... great History.

Filled with photos, drawings and original documents, this comprehensive book shows that the history of the Jewish community of Menton is intrinsically linked to the events that have marked France and Europe over several centuries.

With a local spotlight on the fate, both prosperous and tragic, of this people, between exile, persecution and resilience, who came to take refuge in Menton, in turn a place of help for the "undesirables" and a health resort for its climate...

Menton "frontier of hope"

The history of Jews in this small piece of land in the far southeast goes back several centuries. Traces of Jewish presence can be found in the 13th century, when Menton was part of the County of Ventimiglia (then under the control of the Republic of Genoa, which launched a policy of expelling Jews in 1390), and then when it became part of Savoy and France.

It was in this changing context that a Jewish minority was able to settle, particularly at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, after fleeing persecution in Central and Eastern Europe, then the Italian laws of 1938.

With a preface by Haïm Korsia, Chief Rabbi of France, and historian Georges Bensoussan (the postface is by Serge Klarsfeld), the book includes several historical sequences: "Menton under Italian and then German occupation" during the Second World War, written by the specialist in the region Jean-Louis Panicacci; the Italian historian Paolo Veziano evokes the repercussions of the fascist laws on foreign Jews, forced to flee Italy and make a perilous journey to reach Menton, "the frontier of hope" , before their final destination, Nice.

The "White House" on Place Saint-Roch

As elsewhere, Jews residing in Menton and the French Riviera faced Nazi persecution.

This is the story of the Guetschel family, who ran a well-known store on Place Saint-Roch, open since 1898, the "Maison de Blanc." Bernard, a municipal councilor under Adrien Camaret, was very involved in the life of Menton.

He, his wife Julie, his daughter Simone, and his brother Jules were transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where they were gassed upon arrival. A chapter is devoted to the deported families of Roquebrune and Menton.

At the same time, we also discover the story of people who left their mark on the region, such as Rabbi Chalom Dovber Schneersohn (1860-1920), 5th Rabbi of the Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty, who came from his native Russia for long stays in Menton for medical treatment between 1887 and 1914.

It was in Menton that he wrote in 1912 a series of profound Hasidic discourses which are part of the masterwork of this current of Judaism, recalls the current rabbi of Menton, Rav Chalom Dovber Betito. Or the story of Serge Appenzeller, a Polish Jewish chemist, creator of the Gorbio sanatorium, and that of the surgeon Serge Voronoff told by Enzo Barnabà... Pierre Rival traces the passage of writers like Romain Gary and his friend Joseph Kessel in Roquebrune, Marc Chagall, etc.

A "brit-milah" to strengthen the alliance with Menton

After the war, the Menton community grew with the arrival of Ashkenazi Jews (from Central and Eastern Europe), some of whom were survivors of the Shoah, who came to enjoy the serene climate.

But it was in 1963, thanks to the arrival of Sephardic members (North Africa) – including the three "musketeer customs officers", Daniel Bensoussan's father, as well as Fernand Karsenty and Claude Nakache – that a Jewish community was formed thanks to a religious event in March 1964: the brit-milah ("alliance by circumcision" on the 8th day of birth, Editor's note) of Fernand Karsenty's son. The Cultuelle israélite de Menton then took the name Communauté israélite de Menton in 1969.

The first oratory was located on rue Albert-Ier before moving to the current synagogue on Cours du Centenaire in 1985. Among the generous donors to build this place of worship, Karl Lagerfeld acted with a view to repairing his country's history.

A presentation of the book will take place tomorrow at 3 p.m. at the Menton library "L'Odyssée," in the presence of the contributing writers.