Géo Gras Group: Difference between revisions

 

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==Origin and operation==

==Origin and operation==

The abolition of the [[Paul Marchandeau|Marchandeau]] Decree on August 16, 1940, allowed the ultra-right [[French Popular Party]] led by [[Jacques Doriot]] to maintain anti-Semitic unrest in Algiers. The windows of Jewish-owned stores were smashed during the night of 11 September 1940. On 7 October 1940, the Vichy regime rescinded the [[Crémieux Decree]] of 1870, a law that gave French citizenship to [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Algerian Jews]]. 120,000 Algerian Jews were stripped of their French citizenship and were from then on considered “indigenous Israelites”.Michaël Marrus and Robert Paxton, ”Vichy France and the Jews”, Stanford University, 1995 As such, Jews were excluded them from major public office, the military, and professions in the press, cinema, radio, and theater.

The abolition of the [[Paul Marchandeau|Marchandeau]] Decree on August 16, 1940, allowed the ultra-right [[French Popular Party]] led by [[Jacques Doriot]] to maintain anti-Semitic unrest in Algiers. The windows of Jewish-owned stores were smashed during the night of 11 September 1940. On 7 October 1940, the Vichy regime rescinded the [[Crémieux Decree]] of 1870, a law that gave French citizenship to [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Algerian Jews]]. 120,000 Algerian Jews were stripped of their French citizenship and were from then on considered “indigenous Israelites”.Michaël Marrus and Robert Paxton, ”Vichy France and the Jews”, Stanford University, 1995 As such, Jews were excluded them from major public office, the military, and professions in the press, cinema, radio, and theater.

[[LICRA|LICA]] members André Temime and Emile Atlan, together with Charles Bouchara and Paul Sebaoun, formed a pro-Allied resistance group. The group gathered in a gym on Government Square (now Martyrs Square) in Algiers. There they trained with Géo Gras[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b69260661 Géo Gras], a former French military [[boxing]] champion, and practiced a range of fighting techniques such as boxing, [[fencing]], and [[judo]]. Gras was unaware of his students’ resistance activities. Unbeknownst to him, weapons were hidden under the ring and beneath the floorboards of the room. Michael M. Laskier, ”North African Jewry in the twentieth century, the Jews of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria”, New York University Press, 1994, {{p.|82}}

[[LICRA|LICA]] members André Temime and Emile Atlan, together with Charles Bouchara and Paul Sebaoun, formed a pro-Allied resistance group. The group gathered in a gym on Government Square (now Martyrs Square) in Algiers. There they trained with Géo Gras[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b69260661 Géo Gras] a former French military [[boxing]] champion, and practiced a range of fighting techniques such as boxing, [[fencing]], and [[judo]]. Gras was unaware of his students’ resistance activities. Unbeknownst to him, weapons were hidden under the ring and beneath the floorboards of the room.Michael M. Laskier, ”North African Jewry in the twentieth century, the Jews of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria”, New York University Press, 1994, {{p.|82}}

The organization was structured on a French military model, consisting of half-companies of sixty members divided into thirty member platoons and five member fire teams. Among its leaders were Fernand Aïch, Roger Albou, Émile Atlan, Charles Bouchara, Jean Gamzon, Jean Gozlan, André Levy, Germain Libine (future special guard of General De Gaulle), George Loufrani, Roger Morali, André Temime, and general counsel Raphaël Aboulker, cousin of [[José Aboulker]].Filippo Petrucci, ”Gli ebrei in Algeria e in Tunisia 1940-1943”, Giuntina, 2011, {{p.|132}}

The organization was structured on a French military model, consisting of half-companies of sixty members divided into thirty member platoons and five member fire teams. Among its leaders were Fernand Aïch, Roger Albou, Émile Atlan, Charles Bouchara, Jean Gamzon, Jean Gozlan, André Levy, Germain Libine (future special guard of General De Gaulle), George Loufrani, Roger Morali, André Temime, and general counsel Raphaël Aboulker, cousin of [[José Aboulker]].Filippo Petrucci, ”Gli ebrei in Algeria e in Tunisia 1940-1943”, Giuntina, 2011, {{p.|132}}

Reserve officers Lieutenant Jean Dreyfus, Lieutenant Fernand Fredj, Lieutenant Roger Jais, officer aspirant Jacques Zermati, and [[Roger Carcassonne]] (an industrialist from Oran) joined the organization. The first actions were focused on anti-Vichy propaganda, recruitment, and the purchase of smuggled weapons. An initial stock of weapons came from the store of Emile Atlan, who had been a gunsmith until the enactment of anti-Semitic laws.

Reserve officers Lieutenant Jean Dreyfus, Lieutenant Fernand Fredj, Lieutenant Roger Jais, officer aspirant Jacques Zermati, and…