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Remembering Gilbert Mazuz za"l
Dec. 9, 1942 – Death of Gilbert Mazuz, za”l, shot in N**i-occupied Vichy Tunisia, in The Shoah in France: The First Round Up of the Jews in N**i-occupied Vichy Tunisia. Context:
Today, it is difficult to visualize the three Arab North African Arab countries of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco as part of France, and the persecution of the Jews there as part of the Shoah in France, as correctly described by Yad Vashem’s academic advisor Yehuda Bauer in his book The Holocaust. The fact is that “France” was, and still is, a transcontinental empire nation consisting of metropolitan France (la Metropole), located in continental France, and its oversea empire called “Overseas France” (France d’Outre-Mer; that’s why France in German is called Frankreich).
Thus, during the Shoah, the close-by French territories in North Africa, called “France on the other side of the Mediterranean,” were part of Europe, a political imperial Europe. And Hi**er defined Europe as “the European nations and their colonies.” The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure appropriately states the Holocaust occurred in “Europe, including the North African colonies.” And it is INCORRECT to write and talk about “the Shoah in North Africa,” BUT one must write: THE. SHOAH IN FRANCE, INCLUSIVE OF THE JEWS IN FRANCE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, in Vichy Tunisia, Vichy Algeria, and Vichy Morocco.
Indeed, following the 1940 French-German armistice during World War II and the Shoah in France, Field-Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain, the head of the new French Vichy regime, governed the southern part of France in continental Europe (metropolitan Vichy), and French North Africa as the unoccupied territories of Vichy Tunisia, Vichy Algeria, and Vichy Morocco, while most of the northern part of Metropolitan/continental France came under direct German military administration.
Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acknowledge that French North Africa was an integral part of Vichy France. Therefore, during the Shoah in France, 700,000 Jews (300,000 in metropolitan France and 400,000 in Vichy North Africa) came under the German sphere of influence, because Pétain decided to collaborate with Hi**er.
“In the name of France and state antisemitism,” and to solve “the Jewish question,” collaborationist Pétain enacted two antisemitic Statut des Juifs (October 1940 and June 1941) to be applicable, de facto and de jure, not only in metropolitan France, but also in Vichy Tunisia, Vichy Algeria, and Vichy Morocco.
Persecuted by the same pro-N**i ruler, the Vichy Jews living on France’s both sides of the Mediterranean Sea suffered the same fate. They were identified, counted, ostracized, isolated, systematically discriminated, objectified, incarcerated, diabolized and deprived of their civil rights and property – the preparatory measures that laid the foundation for an annihilation. The bureaucracy and the machinery to implement the “Final Solution” were set for them. – one people, one destiny. Ahdut am, ahdut goral.
On November 8, 1942, Operation Torch began, to open a second front in the European theater of the war, at the request of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. US and British forces, led by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe, landed on the beaches of of the French territories of Vichy Morocco and Vichy Algeria. Eisenhower wrote the story in his memoir Crusade in Europe.
The Allies successfully fought against Vichy France forces. On November 10, they started to advance toward Tunis, in order to invade Italy and continue to N**i Germany.
But, the Allied landings during Operation Torch triggered the simultaneous invasion of Vichy metropolitan France and Vichy Tunisia by Hi**er’s forces, on November 10 and 9, respectively. An Einsatzkommando unit (an SS task force, a unit of the Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads in charge of annihilating Jews) led by SS commander Walter Rauff, who was responsible for the murder of Jews in N**i-occupied Eastern Europe using mobile gas vans, also entered Tunis, prepared to continue to implement the “Final Solution,” started by Vichy France.
He was empowered to “take executive measures against the civilian population” – N**i jargon for robbery, murder and enslavement.” During its six months of occupation, the ruthless N**i regime forced the creation of local Judenrat, and imposed antisemitic policies, including fines, confiscation of property and the forced wearing of the yellow badge (Star of David) by Jews, especially in Mahdia, Nabeul, Sousse and Sfax. About 5,000 Jews were sent to more than 30 forced labor camps.
ON DECEMBER 9, a German soldier shot in cold blood the first Shoah victim, Gilbert Mazuz, a young handicapped man who couldn’t anymore march to the slave labor camp. At its Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, where it records the Shoah victims, Yad Vashem has a Page of Testimony for him.
In May 13, 1943, the Allies involved in Operation Torch liberated the 100,0
00 Jews of N**i-occupied Vichy Tunisia where about 700 are known to have died. So, like the Jews of Denmark, who were evacuated to neutral Sweden, a total of about 100,000 Vichy Jews were spared the deadly mass deportations that took place in the rest of N**i-occupied Europe, because of Operation Torch.
Today, the Jews of the French protectorates of Tunisia and Morocco, and of the three departments of French Algeria, who suffered during N**i occupation of France, receive Holocaust compensation payments, just as the Jews of mainland France do.
Edith Shaked, a specialist of the Shoah in France. She is a member of the advisory board of H-Holocaust, an international academic consortium/H-Net’s network for scholars of the Holocaust.
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This One-of-a-kind book begins with a grandson/grandfather interview and goes through the full life experience of two Holocaust Survivors. Available in paperback, Kindle, Kindle Unlimited. Here's a summary;
My grandparents, Jack and Genia Grinbaum, managed to Survive and Thrive under the most cruel of circumstances. Born in Poland in the 1920's they were on their way to a hard-working and fulfilling family-oriented lives. While Anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions were a part of day-to-day life in their Polish villages, their families had lives that were filled with meaning and purpose. And then came the Holocaust.
Grandpa Jack lost his mother, his father, two brothers and countless other family members and friends. He survived the Miechow Ghetto, several Concentration Camps (escaping twice, once from Plaszow, the Camp shown in Schindler's List) and another near death experience at a Pogrom in Kelce, Poland. While this would have been enough to break most men, Grandpa Jack survived...and then he thrived. While in Kelce he married Genia, went to another Displaced Persons Camp (Regensberg) and found a way to enter Belgium illegally and use his tailoring skills to impress enough people to be granted a Green Card. He paid for his wife, her only surviving sister and her new husband to join him in Belgium. Success, on a grand scale, was just around the corner for Grandpa Jack, first in Belgium and then in the United States. It was an unusual, inspiring journey for Milwaukee, Wisconsin's premier retailer of men's formal wear.
My Grandma Genia was a partner through it all. She came from a religious family in Maczki, just outside of Sosnoweic, Poland. She witnessed the murder of her parents and four of her sisters. She also lost her brother in Auschwitz. Grandma Genia suvived well over four years of pure hell, almost all of it at Parschnitz Concentration Camp. While she re--united with her only surviving sister and a few distant cousins, her life was destroyed. While Grandma Genia had moments of happiness and joy after the war, the PTSD symptoms and bi-polar symptoms would haunt her until she would pass away. Grandma Genia was a true angel who suffered through unspeakable horrors that go beyond description. Despite living with a heavy heart, she raised a daughter and had two grandchildren and was the most wonderful, kindest human being that I have ever known.
This book begins with a grandson/grandfather interview. This was primarily taken from my 2011 interview with Grandpa Jack but pieces were also taken from previous interviews in the late 1980's, 1990's and one from 2009. The Grinbaum's were incredibly generous to share these experience with me so that others could learn about the good and the unspeakably evil that lurks in human souls. This book then has inspirational, funny stories about the Grinbaums as well as some suggestions for what "we" should do to carry on the Legacy. There are interviews with people who knew the Grinbaums before the war, dozens and dozens of pictures and much more. This book will leave you inspired and help you gain a new perspective of "what's possible" in both good and bad ways.
Whether you are new to the study of the Holocaust or whether you have read a lot of books on this topic, this book will provide you with a unique perspective, knowledge of time period and a sense of the Survivor-Spirit.
Hi I am a writer from western NY (Attica). Last year a young man asked me ‘what’s the Holocaust?’ I was stunned of course so I wrote the book ‘This is Mauthausen’ for those with little knowledge of the Holocaust. The S W Center (E. Zuroff) and Yad Vashem were key in answering some key questions for me. I am working on 2 projects now one on the 72 Olympics and the other on camp Madjanek and am seeking to expand my contacts…peace Rob
Handel Educators with Megan Chabalowski Program Officer, Public Education, U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington D.C.
