Genealogy Guide: France

Though none of the Center partner organizations is specifically devoted to research on French Jewry, both the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Leo Baeck Institute have archival collections and library materials that can be helpful in French-Jewish genealogical research. Additional resources are available in the Genealogy Institute and in the Reading Room.

Abensur-Hazan, Laurence. Rechercher Ses Ancêtres Juifs. Paris: Autrement, 2006. Genealogy Institute  CS596 .J4 A34 2006

Becker, Jean J., and Annette Wieviorka. Les Juifs de France: De la Révolution Française à Nos Jours ( Paris: Liana Levi, 1998). YIVO   000092213

Benbassa, Esther. The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999).  American Sephardi Federation   DS 135 .F8 B3613 1999 

Berg, Roger, Chalom Chemouny, and Franklin Didi. Guide Juif de France. Paris: 1971. Reading Room   DS 135 .F8 .G8 1971

Beth Hatefutsoth. Guide des Patronymes Juifs (Arles, France: Solin, 1996).  Reading Room   CS 3010  .G8 1996

Blumenkranz, Bernhard, and Monique Lévy. Bibliographie des Juifs en France (Paris: E. Privat, 1974). Listings include published community histories, institutional histories, family histories, and biographies. Reading Room   Z 6373 .F7 B5 1974

Caron, Vicki. Between France and Germany: The Jews of Alsace-Lorraine, 1871-1918 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988). Leo Baeck Institute   DS 135 F85 A52 C27 and YIVO   000082056

Etsi: Revue de Généalogie et d'Histoire Séfarades (Paris: Etsi, 1998-2009). Includes information about French Sephardim. Genealogy Institute   CS 956 .J4 E87

Gasnault, François, and Bernard Vuillet. Sur les Traces de Vos Ancêtres à Paris: La Recherche des Origines: Guide des Recherches Biographiques et Généalogiques aux Archives de Paris (Paris: Archives de Paris, 1997). Genealogy Institute   CS 597 .P4 A57x 1997

GenAmi. Bulletin Trimestriel (Paris: GenAmi, 2000-). The journal of L'Association de la Généalogie Juive Internatiionale (International Jewish Genealogy Association). Genealogy Institute   CS 31 .B857

Ginger, Basile. Guide Pratique de Généalogie Juive en France et à l'Etranger (Paris: Cercle de Genealogie Juive, 2002). Genealogy Institute   CS 596 .J4 G56 2002

Ginger, Basil. “France,” in Sallyann Amdur Sack and Gary Mokotoff, eds., Avotanu Guide to Jewish Genealogy (Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2004), pp. 320-343. Genealogy Institute   CS 21 .A98 2004

Hyman, Paula E. The Jews of Modern France (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998). YIVO   000095202

Lifshitz-Krams, Anne. “Jewish Genealogical Resources in France.” in Avotanu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy (Teaneck, NJ: G. Mokotoff, 1985-), Vol. XXVII, No. 3 (Fall 2011): pp. 28-33.  Genealogy Institute

Bulletin du Cercle de Genealogie Juive (Paris: Le Cercle, 1985-). The journal of the French Jewish Genealogical Society.  Genealogy Institute   DS 135 .F8 A38

Winock, Michel. La France et les Juifs : De 1789 à Nos Jours (Paris: Seuil, 2004).  YIVO   000118129

France 1. Materials of Jewish cultural and social welfare organizations and landsmanshaftn (hometown organizations) of Yiddish-speaking immigrants to France from Poland. Groups include the Societe des Israelites Polonais, Kultur Lige, and Workmen’s Circle Paris. YIVO   RG 116 - France 1

Union Generale des Israelites de France (UGIF), 1940-1944. This administrative body represented all Jews in the occupied and free zones of France. Occupied France was considered the Northern Zone and free France the Southern Zone. Included among Group II of the records of the Northern Zone are 65,000 cards of Jews who registered with the UGIF. Also included is a census of the Jews in France in 1943 (not including Paris). YIVO   RG 210

HICEM Main Office in Europe, 1935-1953. HICEM was formed in 1927 by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and several other organizations to run European immigration operations. In 1943, it was incorporated into the main office of the Union Generale des Israelites de France. Records include the case files of individual refugees whose cases were processed by the main office during World War II. These are currently housed off-site and take some time to access. Ask the YIVO archivists for further information. There is an inventory in English. YIVO   RG 245.5

Records of organizations that aided French-Jewish children during World War II and its aftermath, such as Kehillat HaHaredim, known in French as the Association des Israelites Pratiquants (YIVO   RG 340), and Rue Amelot (YIVO   RG 343). Includes letters from children and lists of children with notes on their condition.

Alsace and Lorraine Jewish Community Collection, 1809-2000. This collection includes census records from various towns, the personal papers of individuals (genealogies, marriage contracts, correspondence), documents related to the religious life of the communities (synagogue construction and management, rabbinic correspondence), and an inventory of the archives of the Consistoire Israelite de Bas-Rhin, 1808-1945. Leo Baeck Institute   AR 2863 (Microfilm: MF 220 & MF 509 reels 1-3)

Fraenckel, Andre A. Memoire Juive en Alsace: Contrats de Marriage au 18th Siecle (Strasbourg: Editions du Cédrat, 1997). This book of abstracts of ketubot of Jews in Alsace in the 18th century is arranged by town. There is an accompanying surname index by Rosanne and Daniel Leeson. Reading Room   DS 135 .G32 .F73 1997 and Reading Room   DS 135 .G32 .F73 1999

Klarsfeld, Serge. Memorial to the Jews Deported from France, 1942-1944: Documentation of the Deportation of the Victims of the Final Solution in France (New York: Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1983). Lists the Jews deported from France in order of transport, Jews who died in French internment camps, and Jews executed in France (in pogroms and resistance). [See also supplementary volumes below.]  Genealogy Institute   DS 135 .F83 K4313 1983

Klarsfeld, Serge. Additif au Mémorial de la Déportation des Juifs de France (Paris: Les Fils et filles des déportés juifs de France, 1980). Surname index for Memorial to the Jews Deported from France (convoys 1-45); photographs and clippings.  American Jewish Historical Society   DS 135 .F83 K42 or YIVO   000076780

Klarsfeld, Serge. Le Memorial des Enfants Juifs Deportes de France (Paris: Les Fils et filles des déportés juifs de France, 1994). Lists the Jewish children deported from France. YIVO   000087687

Leeson, Daniel N. Four Indices to the 1784 Census of Alsatian Jews (Teaneck, NJ: Avotaynu, 1992). Documents some 20,000 Jews who were enumerated in this census. In four sequences: by surname; by given name; by town; for married women, by maiden name. Genealogy Institute   Avotaynu Microfiche Box

Meyer, Pierre-André. Tables du Registre d'État Civil de la Communauté Juive de Metz: 1717- 1792 (Paris: P.-A. Meyer, 1987). Civil birth registers of the Jewish community of Metz (1717- 1792). Includes an index. Leo Baeck Institute   DS 135 F85 M4 M41 1987

Muller, Auguste. Le Cimetière Juif et la Communauté Israélite de Wissembourg (Unpublished manuscript, 2005). Study about the cemetery of the Jewish community in Wissembourg (Weissenburg) in Alsace. Includes a CD primarily containing photographs of the tombstones. Leo Baeck Institute   Archives MS 891