Review of the Jewish Museum in Paris, France

With the Jewish holidays approaching, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, the high holy days of Judaism, I thought I'd write about a museum in Paris my husband and I had the extreme and heartfelt experience of visiting on our last trip to France...

I had read about Musee de et'histoire de Judaisme in various travel books and magazines before our trip and knew this would have to be a place that we would really like to see...we were not disappointed in the least bit, just the opposite.

Located in the Marias quarter of Paris, which has the highest Jewish population in the city once again and since more Jews live in France than any other country in Europe, this museum honors their history in a very unique way...when the museum was opened the then president of France, Jacque Chirac, made an impressive speech and apologized for the Pro-Nazi Vichy regime, which persecuted so many Jewish people during the war...more than 78,000 French Jews were deported during that period and I have to say I was a bit surprised that this museum didn't truly address that fact in a major way but, there is a giant wall sculpture, that stands more then 3 stories high and can be seen from almost every window in the building which overlooks the courtyard....looking out at it you can't miss seeing the names of those who had lived in that quarter and who had been deported by the Germans during those tragic years, each one etched into the huge stone

This museum is housed in a palatial mansion, which was built in 1650 for the minister of France, and it certainly is impressive as well as very beautiful...At one time it was the city hall of the 7^th district after changing hands many times, then the building got a bit rundown while it was being used as a workshop by Jewish craftsmen housing all sorts of odds and ends... in 1962 it was bought by the city of Paris who then did a massive restoration and converted it into The Museum of Jewish Art and History, financed by the Ministry of Culture and Communication.