History of Jews in Alsace
Encyclopedia
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
is one of the oldest in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. It was first attested in 1165 by Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...
, who wrote about a "large number of learned men" in "Astransbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
", and it is assumed that it dates back until around the year 1000 CE. Although Jewish life in Alsace was often disrupted by outbreaks of pogroms, at least during the Middle Ages, and reined in by harsh restrictions on business and movement, it has had a continuous existence ever since it was first recorded. At its peak, in 1870, the Jewish community of Alsace numbered 35,000 people.
Language and origins
The language traditionally spoken by the Jews of Alsace is Yédisch-Daïtsch or Judeo-Alsatian, originally a mixture of GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
idioms and virtually indistinguishable from genuine Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
. From the 12th century onwards, due among other things to the influence of the nearby Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
school, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
linguistic elements aggregated as well, and from the 18th century onwards, some Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
elements due to immigrants blended into Yédisch-Daïtsch too.
Medieval antisemitism and massacre of 1349
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
Église Saints-Pierre-et-Paul in Sigolsheim
Sigolsheim
Sigolsheim is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, on the roof of the Église Saints-Pierre-et-Paul in Rosheim
Rosheim
Rosheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It lies southwest of Strasbourg, on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains...
and the Église Saint-Léger in Guebwiller
Guebwiller
Guebwiller is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is situated northwest of Mulhouse at the foot of the Vosges mountains...
(both romanesque as well and showing a seated Jew holding a money purse), on Strasbourg Cathedral
Strasbourg Cathedral
Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, France. Although considerable parts of it are still in Romanesque architecture, it is widely consideredSusan Bernstein: , The Johns Hopkins University Press to be among the finest...
and on the gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
Collégiale Saint-Martin
Saint-Martin Church, Colmar
The Église Saint-Martin is the main church and principal Gothic monument of Colmar, Haut-Rhin, France. Because of its past as a collegiate church, is also known als Collégiale Saint-Martin, and because of its large dimensions, as Cathédrale Saint-Martin, although Colmar had never been the seat of...
in Colmar, which shows no less than two different representations of a Judensau
Judensau
Judensau is an image of Jews in obscene contact with a large sow , which in Judaism is an unclean animal, that appeared during the 13th century in Germany and some other European countries; its popularity lasted for over 600 years.-Background and images:The Jewish prohibition of pork comes from...
. Other medieval representations have survived through copies of the Hortus deliciarum
Hortus deliciarum
Hortus deliciarum is a medieval manuscript compiled by Herrad of Landsberg at the Hohenburg Abbey in Alsace, better known today as Mont Sainte-Odile. It was an illuminated encyclopedia, begun in 1167 as a pedagogical tool for young novices at the convent. It is the first encyclopedia that was...
and as architectural fragments in the Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame
The Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame is the city of Strasbourg's museum for Upper Rhenish fine and decorative arts from the early Middle Ages until 1681...
. Frescoes in the Église Saint-Michel of Weiterswiller
Weiterswiller
Weiterswiller is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
and a tapestry in the Église Saints-Pierre-et-Paul of Neuwiller-lès-Saverne
Neuwiller-lès-Saverne
Neuwiller-lès-Saverne is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
also show disparaging representations of Jews in traditional attire.
In 1286, rabbi Meir of Rothenburg
Meir of Rothenburg
Meir of Rothenburg was a German Rabbi and poet, a major author of the tosafot on Rashi's commentary on the Talmud...
, one of the leading Jewish figures of his day, was imprisoned by the German king in a fortress near Ensisheim
Ensisheim
Ensisheim is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.On 7 November 1492, a 250 pound meteorite fell there, and since then it has attracted many meteorite enthusiasts. It was described in detail by the contemporary poet Sebastian Brant.Ensisheim is also the birthplace...
.
In 1349, Jews of Alsace were accused of poisoning the wells with plague. On February 14th, Saint Valentine
Saint Valentine
Saint Valentine is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome. The name "Valentine", derived from valens , was popular in Late Antiquity...
's day, thousands of Jews were massacred during the Strasbourg pogrom
Strasbourg pogrom
The Strasbourg pogrom occurred on February 14, 1349, when several hundred Jews were publicly burnt to death, and the rest of them expelled from the city. It was one of the first and worst pogroms in pre-modern history....
. Jews were subsequently forbidden to settle in the town and were reminded every evening at 10 o'clock by a Cathedral bell and a municipal herald blowing the "Grüselhorn" to leave. Alsatian Jews then settled in the neighbouring villages and small towns, where many of them became cloth merchants ("Schmatteshendler") or cattle merchants ("Behemeshendler").
Early modern times
An important political figure for the Jews of Alsace and beyond was the long-serving "shtadlanShtadlan
A Shtadlan was an intercessor figure starting in Medieval Europe, who represented interests of the local Jewish community, especially those of a town's ghetto, and worked as a "lobbyist" negotiating for the safety and benefit of Jews with the authorities holding power...
" Josel of Rosheim
Josel of Rosheim
Josel of Rosheim Josel of Rosheim Josel of Rosheim (alternatively: Joselin, Joselmann, Yoselmann, , Joseph ben Gershon mi-Rosheim, or Joseph ben Gershon Loanz; c...
. In 1510 he was made the parnas u-manhig (sworn guide and leader) of the Jewish communities of Lower Alsace, before becoming the German Emperor's favourite interlocutor on Jewish matters and the most influential intercessor on the Jew's behalf.
French rule until the French Revolution
With the annexation of Alsace to France in 1681, CatholicismCatholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
was restored as the principal Christian current. However, the prohibition laid on Jews to settle in Strasbourg, and the special taxes they were subjected to, were not lifted. In the 18th century, Herz Cerfbeer of Medelsheim, the influential merchant and philanthropist, became the first Jew to be allowed to settle in the Alsatian capital again. The French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
then admitted Jews back into the town.
Napoleonic times
When Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
created the "Grand Sanhedrin" in 1806, he appointed the Chief Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
of Strasbourg, Joseph David Sinzheim
Joseph David Sinzheim
Joseph David Sinzheim was the chief rabbi of Strasbourg. He was son of Rabbi Isaac Sinzheim of Treves, and brother-in-law of Herz Cerfbeer....
, as its first President.
Dreyfus affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
by and large played out in the capital of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, it had immediate repercussions on the Jews in Alsace. Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
was by birth a citizen of Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
and thus suspected of innate sympathy with the German enemy by virtue of his being Alsatian and Jewish, and put him under suspicion of being thus doubly disloyal. One of the alleged traitor's most stubborn advocates was the fellow Mulhousian Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, a (non-Jewish) chemist, industrialist, politician and philanthropist. Another main player of the Affair, and advocate of Dreyfus' cause, was the Strasbourg-born army general Georges Picquart
Georges Picquart
Marie Georges Picquart , was a French army officer and Minister of War. He is best known for his role in the Dreyfus Affair.-Early career:...
.
1940–1945
In 1940, Alsace was annexed to Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. The evacuation of the Jews of Alsace had started already on 3 September 1939, mostly to Périgueux
Périgueux
Périgueux is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.Périgueux is the prefecture of the department and the capital of the region...
and Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
. On 15 July 1940, the last expulsion of Jews from Alsace took place. 2,605 Jews from Bas-Rhin and 1,100 from Haut-Rhin were murdered during the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. Some were victims of the experiments of August Hirt
August Hirt
August Hirt , an SS-Hauptsturmführer , served as a chairman at the Reich University in Strasbourg during World War II....
at the Reichsuniversität Straßburg
Reichsuniversität Straßburg
The Reichsuniversität Straßburg was founded 1941 by the National Socialists in Alsace while the regular University of Strasbourg had moved to Clermont-Ferrand since 1940. The purpose was to create a continuity to the German character of the German Imperial University of Strasbourg, that had been...
.
Jews in Alsace today
After the Algerian war, Sephardi JewsSephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
came to Alsace in 1962 from North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. In the year 2000, roughly 4,000 Jews in Strasbourg were Sephardic, making up for a little over 25% of the total Jewish population. In the year 2001, roughly 25% of the 500 Jewish families of Mulhouse were Sephardic.
Presentation of Alsatian Jewish history and heritage
Bouxwiller, Bas-Rhin
Bouxwiller is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.Among the city's sight is the Musée Judéo-Alsacien, dedicated to the History of Jews in Alsace, and located in the former synagogue.-References:*...
, in the Musée du bain rituel juif (Mikvah
Mikvah
Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
museum) of Bischheim
Bischheim
Bischheim can refer to the following:*a municipality in the German district of Donnersbergkreis; see Bischheim, Germany*a canton in France; see Canton of Bischheim*a town in this canton; see Bischheim, Bas-Rhin...
, in the Musée alsacien
Musée alsacien (Strasbourg)
The Musée alsacien is a museum in Strasbourg in the Bas-Rhin department of France. It opened on 11 May 1907 and is dedicated to all aspects of daily life in pre-industrial and early industrial Alsace...
and the Musée historique
Musée historique de Strasbourg
The Musée historique de la ville de Strasbourg is a museum in Strasbourg in the Bas-Rhin department of France. It is located in the Renaissance building of the former slaughterhouse and is dedicated to the tumultuous history of the city from the early Middle Ages until the contemporary period.-...
of Strasbourg, in the Musée historique of Haguenau
Haguenau
-Economy:The town has a well balanced economy. Centuries of troubled history in the buffer lands between France and Germany have bequeathed to Haguenau a rich historical and cultural heritage which supports a lively tourist trade. There is also a thriving light manufacturing sector centred on the...
, in the Musée d'Arts et Traditions Populaires of Marmoutier
Marmoutier
Marmoutier is a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in Alsace in north-eastern France. The origin of the place is the former Marmoutier Abbey, of which the abbey church still serves as the parish church. It is a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in Alsace in north-eastern France.-History:In 590 St...
, in the Musée du vieux Soultz of Soultz-Haut-Rhin
Soultz-Haut-Rhin
Soultz-Haut-Rhin is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.Its inhabitants are called Soultziens.-Geography:The town of Soultz-Haut-Rhin has an enclave located northeast of Goldbach-Altenbach....
, in the Musée du pays de la Zorn of Hochfelden
Hochfelden
Hochfelden is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.-Geography:Hochfelden has an area of . Of this area, 43.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 44.9% is forested...
, in the Musée de l'image populaire of Pfaffenhoffen
Pfaffenhoffen
Pfaffenhoffen is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:* -External links:*...
and in the Musée Bartholdi of Colmar
Colmar
Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....
.
The annual European Day of Jewish Culture
European Day of Jewish Culture
The European Day of Jewish Culture is an event celebrated in several countries in Europe. The aim of this day is to organize activities related to Jewish culture and expose them to the public, with the intention that it would reveal the cultural and historical heritage of the Jewish people...
had been initiated in 1996 by the B'nai Brith of Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...
together with the local Agency for developpement of tourism. It now implicates 27 European countries including Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The original aim of the day was to permit access to, and ultimately restoration of, long abandoned synagogues of architectural value like those of Wolfisheim
Wolfisheim
Wolfisheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.- References :*...
, Westhoffen
Westhoffen
Westhoffen is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, Pfaffenhoffen, Struth
Struth
Struth is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, Diemeringen
Diemeringen
Diemeringen is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, Ingwiller
Ingwiller
Ingwiller is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.The commune lies within the North-Vosges natural park.-History:The first known mention of Ingwiller dates from the year 742 a.C...
or Mackenheim
Mackenheim
Mackenheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
.
Notable Jews born in Alsace
- Liliane AckermannLiliane AckermannLiliane Aimée Ackermann was a French Jewish Community pioneer, leader, writer, and lecturer.-Biography:Liliane Ackermann was born on September 3, 1938, in Strasbourg, France, the daughter of Lucien Weil and Béatrice Haas.During World War II, her family took refuge in Voiron, Isère...
- Théophile Bader (born in Dambach-la-VilleDambach-la-VilleDambach-la-Ville is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It lies northwest of Sélestat, on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains.Dambach-la-Ville is known for its quality wines.-Demography:-Wine:...
), co-founder of the Galeries LafayetteGaleries Lafayette- History :In 1893 Théophile Bader and his cousin Alphonse Kahn opened a fashion store in a small haberdasher's shop at the corner of rue La Fayette and the Chaussée d'Antin, Paris. In 1896, the company purchased the entire building at n°1 rue La Fayette and in 1905 the buildings at n°38, 40 et...
. - Hans BetheHans BetheHans Albrecht Bethe was a German-American nuclear physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. A versatile theoretical physicist, Bethe also made important contributions to quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, solid-state physics and...
- Gustave BlochGustave BlochGustave Bloch was a French Jewish historian of ancient history who was born in Fegersheim, a commune in the department of Bas-Rhin...
- Moses BloomMoses BloomMoses Bloom was a Jewish American politician, member of both houses of the Iowa General Assembly, and mayor of Iowa City, United States. Various publications name him as the first Jewish mayor of a major American city.- Biography :...
- Marcelle CahnMarcelle CahnMarcelle Cahn was a French painter and one of the members of Abstraction-Création. She was born in a Jewish family of Strasbourg, Alsace and died at 86, in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The French contemporary artist Richard Conte made an homage to Marcelle Cahn in 1995 at the Nicole Ferry Art Gallery...
- David Léon CahunDavid Léon CahunDavid Léon Cahun was a French traveler, Orientalist and writer.-Life:Cahun's family, who came originally from Lorraine, destined him for a military career. However, owing to family affairs he was compelled to relinquish this, and he devoted himself to geographical and historical studies...
- Isaachar Bär ben Judah CarmolyIsaachar bär ben Judah CarmolyIssachar Bär ben Judah Carmoly was an Alsatian rabbi. At the age of 10, he was sufficiently advanced in his training for the rabbinate to follow the elaborate lectures of Jonathan Eybeschütz...
- Herz Cerfbeer of Medelsheim
- Debré familyDebré familyThe Debré family is a French family including several prominent politicians and physicians. The family's ancestor, rabbi Simon Debré, was born in Westhoffen, Alsace....
- Alfred DreyfusAlfred DreyfusAlfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
- Javal familyJaval familyThe Javal family originated in Alsace. They benefited from Napoleon I's policy of openness toward Jews, and in the nineteenth century experienced a remarkable ascent, with family members becoming prominent bankers, industrialists, physicians, public officials and artists...
- Josel of RosheimJosel of RosheimJosel of Rosheim Josel of Rosheim Josel of Rosheim (alternatively: Joselin, Joselmann, Yoselmann, , Joseph ben Gershon mi-Rosheim, or Joseph ben Gershon Loanz; c...
- Albert Kahn (banker)Albert Kahn (banker)Albert Kahn was a French banker and philanthropist. He was born Abraham Kahn at Marmoutier, Bas-Rhin, France on 3 March 1860, into a Jewish family, one of 5 children of his parents, Louis and Babette Kahn. He died at Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 14 November 1940.In 1879 Kahn...
- Alphonse Kahn (born in KolbsheimKolbsheimKolbsheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.Between June 1974 and January 1983 the commune was merged with Duppigheim.-Geography:...
), co-founder of the Galeries Lafayette - Zadoc KahnZadoc KahnZadoc Kahn was an Alsatian-French rabbi and chief rabbi of France.- Life :In 1856 he entered the rabbinical school of Metz, finishing his theological studies at the same institution after it had been established at Paris as the Séminaire Israélite; and on graduation he was appointed director of...
- Maurice Kriegel-ValrimontMaurice Kriegel-ValrimontMaurice Kriegel-Valrimont was a militant communist who took part in the French Resistance during the Second World War, and a French politician...
- Friedrich Wilhelm LeviFriedrich Wilhelm LeviFriedrich Wilhelm Daniel Levi was a German mathematician known for his work in abstract algebra. He also worked in geometry, topology, set theory, and analysis...
- Alphonse Lévy (1843-1918, born in MarmoutierMarmoutierMarmoutier is a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in Alsace in north-eastern France. The origin of the place is the former Marmoutier Abbey, of which the abbey church still serves as the parish church. It is a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in Alsace in north-eastern France.-History:In 590 St...
), painter - Maurice LévyMaurice LévyMaurice Lévy was a French engineer and member of the Institut de France.Lévy was born in Ribeauvillé in Alsace. Educated at the École Polytechnique, where he was a student of Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant, and the École des Ponts et Chaussées, he became an engineer in 1863...
- Francis LibermannFrancis LibermannFrancis Mary Paul Libermann was a 19th-century Jewish convert to Catholicism who was a member of the Spiritan order. He is best known for founding the Congregation of the Sacred Heart, which later merged with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. He is often referred to as "The Second Founder of the...
- Isidore LoebIsidore LoebIsidore Loeb was a French-Jewish scholar born at Soultzmatt, Haut-Rhin. The son of Rabbi Seligmann Loeb of Sulzmatt, he was educated in Bible and Talmud by his father...
- Marcel MarceauMarcel MarceauMarcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
- Sam MarxSam MarxSamuel Marx, born Simon Marx , was the husband of Minnie Marx, and father of the Marx Brothers.He was born in Mertzwiller, Alsace, France in 1859, and he died on May 10, 1933 in Los Angeles, California. He met Minnie in New York where he was working as a dance teacher. They married in 1884 and had...
- Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne
- Camille SéeCamille SéeCamille Sée was a French politician who was born in Colmar.As the pioneer of the 1880 French law which established Lycées for girls, he also created the École normale supérieure in Sèvres in 1881....
- Isaac Strauss (1806–1888), conductor and arts collectorRegards sur la culture judéo-alsacienne Éditions La Nuée bleue/DNA, Strasbourg, 2001, ISBN 2-7165-0568-3
- Benjamin UlmannBenjamin UlmannBenjamin Ulmann, French Jewish painter, born at Blotzheim in 1829, was a pupil of Michel Martin Drolling and of François-Édouard Picot, and entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1849. He gained the prix de Rome in 1859, and profited much by his studies in Italy...
- Claude VigéeClaude VigéeClaude Vigée is a French poet who writes in French and Alsatian. He describes himself as a "Jew and an Alsatian, thus doubly Alsatian and doubly Jewish".-Life:...
- Pierre VillonPierre VillonPierre Villon was a member of the French Communist Party and of the French Resistance during the war. With his true name of Roger Ginsburger, he was an architect...
- Émile WaldteufelÉmile WaldteufelÉmile Waldteufel was a French composer of dance music.-Life:Émile Waldteufel was born in Strasbourg to a Jewish Alsatian family of musicians....
- Alexandre Weill (1811–1899), writer
- Robert WylerRobert WylerRobert Wyler was an American film producer and associate producer. He was the older brother of the more illustrious William Wyler and a nephew of Universal Studios head, Carl Laemmle....
- William WylerWilliam WylerWilliam Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...