Jules Isaac (18 November 1877 in Rennes – 6 September 1963 in Aix-en-Provence) was "a well known and highly respected Jewish historian in France with an impressive career in the world of education" by the time World War II began.“A short introduction to Jules Isaac”
Internationally, Isaac was most well known for his tireless work after the Second World War in the field of Jewish-Christian relations, starting with his book Jésus et Israël, which was written during the war and made him a protagonist in the Seelisberg Conference of 1947, culminating in his decisive key role in the origin of the groundbreaking declaration Nostra Aetate during the Second Vatican Council.“A short introduction to Jules Isaac” In the 1950s, Isaac had an international reputation for his work in Christian and Jewish relations.Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.”
Life Jules Isaac (full name Jules Marx Isaac) was born in Rennes on November 18, 1877. He was born into "an old Jewish family." Isaac's paternal grandfather served in the Grand Army and fought in the Battle of Waterloo. His father was a French career military officer and was appointed squadron leader during the Second French Empire. Both were awarded the Legion of Honour.Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016. and Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.”
When Isaac was age twelve, both parents died a few months apart. After that, he entered Lakanal high school in Sceaux.Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016. and Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.” His philosophy teacher in high school was Henri Bergson.
Charles Péguy
In 1897, when Isaac was twenty, he met Charles Péguy. This began "a long friendship" in which Isaac was influenced by Péguy. Together they created the French magazine Cahiers de la Quinzaine. Péguy was a Christian. He and Isaac were friends for seventeen years, until Peguy died on 5 September 1914. They worked as a team for "reconciliation between Jews and Christians." In doing so, they faced anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism in France had been promulgated by Édouard Drumont in his widely read La France juive.“Charles Peguy link between Jews and Christians in France”/(2014). and Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
Dreyfus affair Isaac was seventeen when the Dreyfus affair broke in 1894. He and his friend Péguy supported Dreyfus until its resolution in 1906. Isaac had already become a founder of the Socialist Liberal journal The Fortnight and was dedicated to fight injustice. Isaac supported Dreyfus, not only because Dreyfus was, like him, Jewish. His support for Dreyfus was grounded on "his deep passion for the liberating qualities of truth."Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.” and “Charles Peguy link between Jews and Christians in France”/(2014).
Career In 1902, Isaac received the . The same year he also married the painter Laure Ettinghausen.Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016. Together they had one daughter, Juliette (b. 1903), and two sons, Daniel (b. 1907) and Jean-Claude (b. 1918).
Isaac was a professor for more than 30 years. In 1906, Isaac began teaching history at Nice, then at Sens. He possessed a genius at making history "understandable."Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.” and Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
As a writer of history texts, known as Malet-Isaac, Isaac was closely associated with the Hachette Book Group. The Hachette Book Group was and still is a major publisher of France's school history texts and other history books. Another French historian, Albert Malet, had been writing history texts for Hachette. The two historians never met. Malet died in 1915, fighting in World War I. Isaac began revising the texts that Malet had written. However, Hachette, required that Malet be named as the coauthor. The publisher feared that Isaac's Jewish name would hinder sales of the texts to Catholic schools.Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XV.” and Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016. Hachette published a 21-page pamphlet Cours d'histoire Malet-Isaac (Classiques Hachette, 192?) listing all the text books which named Malet and Isaac as coauthors .
One of Malet's texts was considered the "classic text" on French history. The classic text was Nouvelle histoire de France: l'Antiquité, le Moyen âge, les Temps modernes, la Révolution, l'Empire, la France contemporaine (New history of France: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times, the Revolution, the Empire, contemporary France). After the war, Isaac expanded and updated Malet's history by "adding a chapter of 100 pages as a separate volume on the history of the war."Jay Winter and Antoine Prost, The Great War in History: Debates and Controversies, 1914 to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 9, 82. Malet was named as the coauthor of Isaac's revision.Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XV.” To reflect Isaac's addition, the title of Malet's text was changed to Nouvelle histoire de France : l'Antiquité, le Moyen âge, les Temps modernes, la Révolution, l'Empire, la France contemporaine, la Grande Guerre (New history of France: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times, the Revolution, the Empire, contemporary France, the Great War).
Military service in First World War
During the First World War, Isaac was mobilized into the French army in August 1914 at age 37. He served as an infantryman for thirty-three months before being wounded in the Battle of Verdun on June 17, 1916. During his military service, Isaac and his wife Laure carried on a regular correspondence in which Isaac described his wound and the barbarism of the war.Description Jules Isaac, un historien dans la grande guerre: Lettres et carnets, 1914-1917 book. Based on Google translation. Retrieved August 26, 2016. and Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016. and Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.”
In the Battle of Verdun, the Germans took Fort Vaux from the French on June 7, 1916. After that, rain slowed the German advance towards Fort Souville (another fort protecting the city of Verdun). On June 23 the Germans attacked again. In that period, both sides attacked and counter-attacked with no major offensive.David Mason, Verdun (Windrush Press, 2000), 299. and Robert A Doughty, Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War (Harvard University Press, 2009), 288. It was during this time that Isaac was wounded on June 17, 1916.
After discharge from the army After being discharged from the army, Isaac returned to education.Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.” He was a teacher at the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris from 1921 to 1936.Isaac, Jules (1877-1963).
In French universities, at the time of World War I (the Great War), there were only fifty-five professors of history. However, the dearth of history courses in the universities was "balanced by the exceptional importance given to the teaching of history in high schools." History courses were required in French secondary schools. The courses were "taught by specialized teachers, who numbered 620 in 1914." When teaching about the Great War became part of the high school curriculum in 1928, a textbook by Isaac was available. In 1921, he had added a chapter of 100 pages as a separate volume on the history of the war to the "classic text" of Albert Malet, who in 1915 had been killed in the war.Jay Winter and Antoine Prost, The Great War in History: Debates and Controversies, 1914 to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 9.
In October 1936, Isaac was appointed Inspector General of Public Education in France.André Chouraqui, “Tribute to Jules Isaac” (17 December 1963) At that time, Inspector General "was the highest position" in the French department of education and science.“A short introduction to Jules Isaac”
Isaac became a member of the League of Human Rights and the Vigilance Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals. He devoted himself to promoting "better understanding between France and Germany," especially in the text books he wrote or revised. He hoped that by doing this there would be less likelihood of another war between France and Germany.Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.”
In 1939, Isaac became the president of the Jury of Aggregation of History. He was, by then, "considered one of the most prominent historians of his time.""Tribute to Jules Isaac". André Chouraqui (17 December 1963). Based on Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016. However, "it was his history text books that made him famous." Isaac's textbooks clarified historical events and "brought students into contact with the original source materials."Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.”
World War II When World War II broke out with the German invasion of Poland beginning on September 1, 1939, Isaac was a "highly respected historian in France."“A short introduction to Jules Isaac” By June 10, 1940, France was completely occupied by the Germans.Fall of France 1940. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
Within four months, the Act of October 3, 1940, of the German-controlled Vichy government began "a series of discriminatory laws against Jews."Act of October 3, 1940 on the status of Jews. Retrieved August 29, 2016. By this Act, Isaac (as were all Jews) was removed from the governmental positions in education he held.“A short introduction to Jules Isaac” and “Charles Peguy link between Jews and Christians in France”/(2014). On November 13, 1942, the academician Abel Bonnard wrote in the Gringoire newspaper Gringoire that "it was not possible that France's history should be taught to young people by an Isaac".Cited by Michel Winock, La France et les Juifs, (Seuil Collection Histoire, 2004), 221.
This experience of persecution led Isaac to say,If only by grievous and ever worsening persecution, the Jewish question forced itself upon my mind and Jewish solidarityupon my heart and conscience. I was part of this hated, slandered, scorned Israel; facing the persecutors, I fully acceptedbeing part of it. I also had to take on a new struggle, to deal with the unfair complaints they heaped upon us.
Isaac took refuge from the Germans in the Free Zone in Aix-en-Provence in 1941 and 1942, The Free Zone was occupied in 1942.« Invasion de la zone libre », histoire-en-questions.fr. Retrieved 4 September 2008. When the Free Zone was occupied, Isaac moved first to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, then to Riom, near his daughter and his son-in-law.
On October 7, 1943, Isaac's wife, daughter, son-in-law, and one of his sons were arrested in Riom by the German Gestapo. His son escaped from a camp in Germany, but the other three were killed by the Germans. Isaac escaped the arrest because he was out for a walk during the raid.“A short introduction to Jules Isaac” Isaac protested their arrests to the Nazi government. He argued that he had "never sought war with Germany." Furthermore, he said that he had wanted "understanding and peace with Germany." Isaac's protest saved himself, but not his wife and daughter. They were later killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Isaac avoided another arrest by "fleeing from one hiding place to the next" until the Germans retreated from France.“A short introduction to Jules Isaac” and Judith Rice, “Jules Isaac & Pope Benedict XVI.” and Jules Isaac, 1877 -1963. Based in Google translation. Retrieved August 23, 2016.