Revisiting the Marais District in Paris and the Shoah Memorial

With the approaching Jewish New Year on Sept. 18, I recalled that the Shoah Memorial in Paris’s Marais District’s historic quarter was opened in September of 2005, making Paris the home of Europe’s largest information and research center dedicated to the history of the Holocaust. As a matter of fact, the Jewish presence in France can be dated back to pre-Christian times. I learned that for 500 years (1273-1790) Jews were offered protection and residence by the French papacy in the cities of Avignon, Carpentras, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorque and Cavallion in Provence, all in the beautiful southeast region of France.

On a past trip to Paris, I literally stumbled onto the Marais District. This was after leaving the Louvre Museum, strolling along the Rue de Rivoli and crossing the Seine River at the Pont Neuf Bridge to the Left Bank. I passed the Hotel De Ville “City Hall” and found myself at the site of the old Bastille, the prison featured prominently in the French Revolution where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before she lost her head to the guillotine. She was the queen who was infamous for her quote to the French starving masses, “Let them eat cake, if they do not have bread.”

The Marais District was also the home of the Jewish Quarter in the 4th arrondissement with many synagogues. They are at the following addresses: 8 Rue de l’Hotel-de-Ville, 10 Rue de Pavee, 44 rue Vieille-de-Temple, and 21 rue des Tournelles. Fortunately, on that Sunday afternoon, when my late husband Martin, my daughter Jill and I reached the Orthodox Sephardic synagogue at 17 Rue des Rosiers, we found a Tunisian wedding in progress. We were ushered to the appropriate separate sections for men and women and were made to feel welcome at this joyous occasion. We were also gifted with the almond sweets as souvenirs as we left to turn the corner to find the kosher Joe Goldenberg’s Restaurant.