List of French Jews

Template:JewsByCountry Jews have lived in France since Roman times, and since the French Revolution (and emancipation) have contributed to all aspects of French culture and society. A significant number perished in the Holocaust, deported to Nazi death camps by the French Vichy government. After the war, France served as a haven for Jewish refugees, and an influx of immigration (mostly of Sephardi Jews from North Africa) saw the Jewish population triple to around 600,000, making it the largest Jewish community in Western Europe at the present time.

The following is a list of some prominent French Jews and people of Jewish origins (not all of them practice, or practiced, the Jewish religion).

Historical figures

Politicians

Robert Badinter, Justice Minister (1981-6; abolished the death penalty)
Léon Blum, Prime Minister (1936-7, 1938, 1946-7)
Adolphe Crémieux, Justice Minister (1848, 1870-1)
Michel Debré, Prime Minister (1959-1962; leading Gaullist) (Jewish father)
Laurent Fabius, Prime Minister (1984-6) (Jewish father)
Bernard Kouchner, politician and doctor (Jewish father)
Georges Mandel, Interior Minister (1939)
René Mayer, Prime Minister (1953)
Pierre Mendès-France, Prime Minister (1954-5; withdrew from Indochina)
Jules Moch, Transport Minister (1945-7), Interior Minister (1947-50), Defense Minister (1950-1)
Simone Veil, Health Minister (1974-6; legalized abortion), President of the European Parliament (1979-82)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Finance Minister (1997-9)

Activists

René Cassin, drafted Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Nobel Peace Prize (1968)
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, student leader and Green MEP
Alain Geismar, student leader
Bernard Kouchner, politician, founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (Jewish father)
Alain Krivine, student leader and Trotskyist MEP

Clergymen

Jean-Marie Lustiger, former archbishop of Paris and cardinal (born Jewish; converted to Roman Catholicism)

Military

Denise Bloch, WW2 Spy
Paul Bloch, resistance general (brother of Marcel Bloch, aka Marcel Dassault, see below)
Alfred Dreyfus, military officer
Manouchian Group, French Resistance group (mostly Jewish)

Academic figures

Scientists

Hippolyte Bernheim, hypnosis pioneer
Georges Charpak, Polish-born physicist, Nobel Prize (1992)
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, physicist, Nobel Prize (1997)
Mikhail Gromov, Russian-born mathematician, Wolf Prize (1993)
Alexander Grothendieck, German-born mathematician, Fields Medal (1966) (Jewish father)
Jacques Hadamard, mathematician
Henri Kagan, chemist, Wolf Prize (2001)
Francois Jacob, microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1965)
Paul Lévy, mathematician
Gabriel Lippmann, physicist, Nobel Prize (1908)
André Lwoff, microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1965)
Benoît Mandelbrot, Polish-born mathematician, Wolf Prize (1993)
Szolem Mandelbrojt, Polish-born mathematician (uncle of Benoît)
Henri Moissan, chemist, Nobel Prize (1906) (Jewish mother)
Olinde Rodrigues, mathematician & social reformer
Laurent Schwartz, mathematician, Fields Medal (1950)
Haroun Tazieff, Polish-born geologist and vulcanologist
André Weil, mathematician, Wolf Prize (1979)

Social scientists

Raymond Aron, sociologist
Jacques Attali, economist, writer
Julien Benda, philosopher & novelist
Émile Benveniste, linguist
Henri Bergson, philosopher, Nobel Prize (1927)
Marc Bloch, historian & Resistance leader
Léon Brunschvicg, philosopher
Hélène Cixous, feminist critic
Hartwig Derenbourg, arabian linguist. osn of Joseph Derenbourg
Jacques Derrida, philosopher
Émile Durkheim, sociologist
Alain Finkielkraut, essayist
André Glucksman, philosopher
Gersonides, philosopher
Georges Gurvitch, sociologist, jurist
Maurice Halbwachs, sociologist
Robert Hertz, sociologist
Bernard-Henri Lévi, philosopher
Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, philosopher & anthropologist
Emmanuel Levinas, philosopher
Gabriel Marcel, philosopher (Jewish mother)
Marcel Mauss, sociologist
Nostradamus, astrologer & seer (family forced to convert to Catholicism)
Rashi, religious commentator
Maxime Rodinson, historian
George Steiner, literary critic (French-born)
Simone Weil, philosopher & mystic

Cultural figures

Film and stage

Alexandre Arcady, director
Anouk Aimée, actress
Richard Anconina, actor
Pierre Arditi, actor (Jewish father)
Arthur, radio and TV host, producer
Yvan Attal, director & actor
Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor (Jewish father)
Jean-Pierre Bacri, actor
Harry Baur, actor (Jewish father)
Jean Benguigui, actor
Jean Benoit-Lévy, producer and director
Edmond Benoit-Lévy, film pioneer
Sarah Bernhardt, stage actress (Jewish mother)
Claude Berri, director
Richard Berry, actor
Michel Boujenah, actor, director, humorist
Caprice Bourret, model (French parents)
Patrick Bruel, actor and singer
David Charvet, TV actor
Elie Chouraqui, director
Nina Companeez, director
Henri Diamant-Berger, director and producer
Gad Elmaleh, humorist, actor
Daniel Emilfork, actor
Charlotte Gainsbourg, actress (Jewish father)
Judith Godrèche, actress
Eva Green, actress
Vanessa Guedj, actress
Roger Hanin, actor and director
Agnès Jaoui, director & actress
Elie Kakou, humorist
Marin Karmitz, producer
Mathieu Kassovitz, director & actor (Jewish father)
Cédric Klapisch , director
Véra Korène, actress & stage director
Diane Kurys, director
Claude Lanzmann, director
Claude Lelouch, director
Raoul J. Lévy, Belgian-born film producer
Marcel Marceau, mime artist
Lazare Meerson, film artist
Jean-Pierre Melville, director and screenwriter
Raphaël Mezrahi, humorist
Serge Moati, director, TV host
Marcel Ophuls, director
Gérard Oury, director
Rachel, stage actress
Ida Rubinstein, Belle Epoque icon
Elie Semoun, humorist, actor
Simone Signoret, actress (Jewish father)
Patrick Timsit, humorist, actor
François Truffaut, director (Jewish biological father - Lévy - whom he never met)
William Wyler, director
Elsa Zylberstein, actress (Jewish father)

Musicians

Adolphe Adam, composer
Charles-Valentin Alkan, composer & pianist
Richard Anthony, singer
Barbara, singer
Michel Berger, singer, composer
Gérard Berliner, singer
Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg, musical writers
Jean-Claude Bramli, singer
Mike Brant, singer
Dany Brillant, singer
Patrick Bruel, singer, actor, world poker champion
Jacques Canetti, music producer (brother of writer Elias Canetti)
Claude Challe, club impresario and DJ
Philippe Cohen Solal, member of Gotan Project
Joe Dassin, singer (Jewish father)
Sacha Distel, singer (Jewish mother)
Paul Dukas, composer
Michel Emer, composer
Laïka Fatien, jazz singer (Jewish mother)
Jean Ferrat, composer, singer
Serge Gainsbourg, singer-songwriter
Richard Gotainer, singer
Jean-Jacques Goldman, singer, composer
Ludovic Halévy, librettist
Michel Jonasz, singer
Joseph Kosma, film composer
Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist
Jacques Lanzmann, lyricist; brother of Claude Lanzmann
Francis Lemarque, singer
Enrico Macias, singer
Didier Marouani, composer
Darius Milhaud, composer
Mireille, singer, composer
Pierre Monteux, conductor
Georges Moustaki, composer, singer
Jacques Offenbach, composer
Régine, Belgian-born singer
Catherine Ringer, singer, actress (Jewish father)
Sapho, singer
Alexandre Tansman, composer, pianist
Emil Waldteufel, composer
Rika Zaraï, Israeli-born singer

Artists

Balthus, painter (Jewish mother)
Claude Cahun, photographer
André François, cartoonist
René Goscinny, writer of comics (Astérix, Lucky Luke) and novels (Le Petit Nicolas)
Marcel Gotlieb, cartoonist
Michel Kikoine, painter
Moise Kisling, painter
Pinchus Krémègne, painter
Jules Pascin, painter
Camille Pissarro, painter
Sonia Rykiel, fashion designer
Joann Sfar, cartoonist
Chaim Soutine, painter
Pauline Trigère, fashion designer
Ossip Zadkine, sculptor

Writers and poets

Tristan Bernard, playwright & novelist
Paul Celan, poet
Jerome Federman, writer
Romain Gary, novelist
Françoise Giroud, journalist, L'Express co-founder
René Goscinny, comics writer and novelist; father of Asterix and Iznogoud
Eugène Ionesco, playwright (Jewish mother)
Max Jacob, poet (later converted to Catholicism)
Edmond Jabès, poet
Gustave Kahn, poet & art critic
Joseph Kessel, novelist & journalist
Jacques Lanzmann, writer
Bernard-Henri Lévy, writer & philosopher
Justine Lévy, novelist
André Maurois, author
Albert Memmi, novelist & sociologist
Patrick Modiano, writer (Jewish father)
Michel de Montaigne, essayist (Jewish - or at least converso - mother)
Georges Perec, novelist
Marcel Proust, writer (Jewish mother)
Yasmina Reza, playwright
Claude Sarraute, journalist, writer
Nathalie Sarraute, writer
Jean-Jacques Schuhl, writer
Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, journalist, co-founder L'Express
Anne Sinclair, political journalist; wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Tristan Tzara, poet

Business figures

Marcel Bleustein & Maurice Lévy, founder and head of Publicis Groupe
Isaac & Daniel Carasso, founders of Danone
André Citroën, founder of Citroën
Marcel Dassault (born Marcel Bloch), aerospace industrialist
Michel David-Weill chairman of Lazard LLC Partners
Maurice Girodias, founder of Olympia Press (Jewish father)
Philippe Kahn, founder of Borland
Alexandre, Simon & Elie Lazard, founders of Lazard
Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, billionaire owner of Louis-Dreyfus & Co. (Jewish father)
Armand, Georges, Maurice & Paul Marciano, founders of GUESS
Jean-Pierre Meyer Deputy Chairman in L'Oreal cosmetics
Pierre Wertheimer, co-founder of Chanel
Alain & Gerard Wertheimer, billionaires owners of Chanel

Sport figures

Jean Afanazieff,mountaineer: first french at the summit of Everest (8848m) in 1979
Alain Calmat, figure skater
François Cévert, racing driver (Jewish father)
Robert Cohen, boxer: World Bantamweight Champion
Pierre Darmon, tennis player
René Dreyfus, racing driver
Alphonse Halimi, boxer: World Bantamweight Champion
Maurice Herzog, mountaineer : first 8000 m : mountain Annapurna (1950)
Savielly Tartakower, chess grandmaster