Prime Minister of France
Few can claim having lived a rollercoaster life like that of Andre Léon Blum (1872-1950). In his youth, he was inspired to join France’s socialist community while studying at the Sarbonne and living through the infamous Dreyfus affair. Writing for a popular journal and rising through the ranks, he became a well-known champion for the little guy. It eventually won him the role of prime minister of France – no less than three times! This, in an era of open Jew-hatred. In fact, before becoming PM he was dragged out of his car and nearly beaten to death by a royalist anti-Semite band known as the Camelots du Roi. When Blum was elected, an opposition leader had this to say: “Your coming to power is undoubtedly a historic event. For the first time this old Gallo-Roman country will be governed by a Jew. I dare say out loud what the country is thinking, deep inside: it is preferable for this country to be led by a man whose origins belong to his soil… than by a cunning Talmudist.” With the start of World War II, Blum chose bravely not to flee and stayed in his country. He was arrested and imprisoned, first in Vichy, then in Germany. At his trial in 1942, he argued so eloquently that it embarrassed the entire Nazi regime and the Germans called off the trial! Unfortunately it did not save him from the concentration camps. Blum suffered first in Buchenwald, then in Dachau. He only survived thanks to local authorities who disobeyed orders to kill him. Incredibly, after surviving all of these ordeals, he became prime minister of France yet again after the war. A wonderful writer, Blum penned many gems about life: “When a woman is twenty, a child deforms her; when she is thirty, he preserves her; and when forty, he makes her young again.”
Words of the Week
Light attracts. Where a lantern is placed, those who seek light gather around.
– Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch (1880-1950)