LE CALENDRIER pour l'annee de la Victoire et du Retour 1945-46 - "Calendar for the Year of Victory and Return 1945-46 with a statement by Chief Rabbi Isaiah Schwartz of France", edited by N. Grunewald, Limoges 1945. A rare calendar issued immediately after the war commemorating the suffering of the Jewish people in the Shoah and providing extensive information to renew Jewish life in France with the end of World War II. The front cover features a Magen David and the colors of the French flag. Rare.
The calendar opens with a "statement by Chief Rabbi Isaiah Schwartz of France" on the bitter fate of European Jewry: "The past year revealed to the whole world the magnitude of the tragedy that befell the Jewish people. Millions of our people were systematically murdered in Hitler's death camps. We must not forget this unspeakable crime, unprecedented in our history...Israel suffered the most terrible martyrdom in its history...May the coming year bring healing to our wounds and comfort to our pains...".
The second part of the calendar, after the dates for 1945-1946 including Parashot HaShavua and holidays, contains extensive information on the role of the French Consistory in saving Jews during the war, when the Gestapo entered Lyon on June 13 to carry out mass arrests, the seizure of the Consistory offices on June 15, the arrest of Rabbi Hirschler and other rabbis by armed men and their deportation to camps, and the Consistory's activities to rescue who they could at that time. It also describes the legal situation in France after the German withdrawal and the Consistory's resumption of assistance to Jews after the war. Also described is h ow the Chief Rabbi worked in the government to repeal all anti-Jewish laws enacted by the Vichy government, the calendar provides information on aid to She'erit HaPletah, assisting Jews to emigrate to Switzerland and resume life, and more.
Among other things, it provides a detailed list of prominent religious organizations active in France - the Association of Jewish Religious organizations of France and Algeria ("concerned with the general interests of Dat Israel"), Committee of Jewish Organizations in France (representing Jewish interests with other countries), French Rabbinical School, Jewish Committee for Social Action and Rehabilitation, Federation of Jewish Associations of France, and more. It also provides a detailed list of religious bodies in various French cities, ads for Jewish periodicals, Jewish publications, ads for Jewish businesses, and more. At the end of the calendar are the "Kaddish" prayer in Hebrew and other languages, a "Yizkor" table for names of the deceased, Hebrew Sefirat HaOmer Seder, Tefilat HaDerech, and more.
62 [2] p. Very good condition.
