French President Jacques Chirac warned about anti-Semitism in France as he paid homage to a new wall bearing the names of some 76,000 Jews deported from France to Nazi concentration camps

Christian Century, Feb 22, 2005

French President Jacques Chirac warned about anti-Semitism in France as he paid homage to a new wall bearing the names of some 76,000 Jews deported from France to Nazi concentration camps. "I want to solemnly repeat that anti-Semitism has no place in France," said Chirac, as he inaugurated a newly renovated Holocaust memorial in Paris.

It was one of many tributes in late January to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Polish death camp of Auschwitz. A special session at the United Nations appealed for vigilance against all forms of anti-Semitism and racial hatred. And world leaders joined some 2,000 survivors at the Polish extermination camp to commemorate the Auschwitz anniversary. Holocaust remembrances in Europe came amid concerns that anti-Semitism is on the rise. In France, home to the largest Jewish population in Western Europe, remarks last month by far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen that Nazi occupation of France was not "particularly inhumane" stirred outrage.