Je me souviens | |
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Directed by | Eric R. Scott |
Written by | Eric R. Scott Esther Delisle (book) |
Produced by | Eric R. Scott |
Distributed by | Les productions des quatre jeudis inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 47 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | French |
Je me souviens is a 2002 documentary film about antisemitism and pro-Nazi sympathies in Quebec during the 1930s through post World War II made by Montreal filmmaker Eric Richard Scott. The title of the film is French for I remember, and is the official motto of Quebec. The film was inspired by The Traitor and the Jew (1992-1993), a history of Quebec from 1929-1939, showing the links among antisemitism, nationalism, and fascism among Quebec Catholic intellectuals.
Eric Scott's documentary film was inspired by the 1993 book The Traitor and the Jew: Anti-Semitism and the Delirium of Extremist Right-Wing Nationalism in French Canada from 1929-1939, by Dr. Esther Delisle, a history that revealed the prevalence of antisemitic and extreme right-wing ideology within mainstream French Canadian nationalist thought during the 1930s and 1940s. The book was published in French in 1992.
Scott's documentary notes that antisemitism existed in other parts of Canada, but it was particularly intense in Quebec. It was promoted by the Roman Catholic Church, in which almost every French Canadian had been reared since the colonial era, and which controlled the Quebec education system. Publications such as Jules-Paul Tardivel's La Vérité (journal) , L'Action sociale , and La Semaine religieuse disseminated anti-Jewish views throughout the province. In the 1920s, the essays against Jews of the influential priest and intellectual Lionel Groulx influenced other clerics and teachers.
Such was the influence of Lionel Groulx that French-Canadian politicians such as Henri Bourassa urged Canada to stop Jewish immigration. Delisle examined the prevalence of anti-semitic articles in the mainstream media, such as the French language newspaper Le Devoir . Arriving mostly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Jewish population was a very small minority, representing 1% of the population. Many settled in Montreal. [1] Native Yiddish speakers, they adopted English, which was then the official language. This was another element that put them at odds with the Francophone Québécois.
At the time, approved reading material for Quebec students included books by the French author Maurice Barrès, considered an antisemite, and the racist L'homme, cet inconnu (Man, This Unknown) by Alexis Carrel, which were widely read. In their 2006 book Young Trudeau: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada, 1919-1944, based on the private diaries and papers of the late Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau, the scholars Max and Monique Nemi described what was being taught in the 1930s and 1940s at the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and the Université de Montréal:
Je me souviens recounts the support given to the Nazi regime in Germany by Montreal's Le Devoir newspaper and by some French-Canadian intellectuals, as well as their support for the Nazi puppet regime of Vichy France. The film also documents the collusion between members of the Roman Catholic clergy and Nazi collaborators.
The convicted French war criminals Jacques de Bernonville, Georges-Benoit Montel, and Jacques Duge were aided in immigrating to Quebec after World War II by such prominent Quebec nationalists as Robert Rumilly, Lionel Groulx, and the Montreal mayor Camillien Houde. (Additional confirmation by McGill University Professor Harold M. Waller and antisemitism expert in a 1996 article in the American Jewish Committee Archives). [2]
Eric Scott began the project in 1995, receiving grants from Telefilm Canada and Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec. He completed the film in 1998 but could not get the production aired for four more years. As a result of the effort of Bill Merrill, Vice-President of programming and production with CFCF-TV in Montreal, Je me souviens was broadcast on April 28, 2002 in Quebec on Canal D.
The film's United States premiere was in January 2003 in New York City at the annual New York Jewish Film Festival. The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center helped get the viewing. [3]
Appearances:
Mordecai Richler was a Canadian writer. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Barney's Version (1997). His 1970 novel St. Urbain's Horseman and 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here were nominated for the Booker Prize. He is also well known for the Jacob Two-Two fantasy series for children. In addition to his fiction, Richler wrote numerous essays about the Jewish community in Canada, and about Canadian and Quebec nationalism. Richler's Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! (1992), a collection of essays about nationalism and anti-Semitism, generated considerable controversy.
Lionel Groulx was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, historian, professor, public intellectual and Quebec nationalist.
Le Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910.
New antisemitism is the concept that a new form of antisemitism developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, typically manifesting itself as anti-Zionism. The concept is included in some definitions of antisemitism, such as the working definition of antisemitism and the 3D test of antisemitism. The concept dates to the early 1970s.
Esther Delisle is a Canadian historian and author.
The history of the Jews in Canada goes back to the 1700s. Canadian Jews, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion, form the fourth largest Jewish community in the world, exceeded only by those in Israel, the United States and France. In the 2021 census, 335,295 people reported their religion as Jewish, accounting for 0.9% of the Canadian population. Some estimates have placed the enlarged number of Jews, such as those who may be culturally or ethnically Jewish, though not necessarily religiously, at around 400,000 people. This total would account for approximately 1.4% of the Canadian population.
Je me souviens is the official motto of Quebec, and translated literally into English means: "I remember." The exact meaning of this short sentence is subject to several interpretations, though all relate to the history of the Quebec people. The motto can be found on all Quebec licence plates, among other things.
L'Action nationale is a French-language monthly published in Quebec, Canada.
Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! Requiem for a Divided Country is a book by Canadian novelist Mordecai Richler. Published in 1992, it parodied the evolution of language policy in Quebec, and spoofed the Canadian province of Quebec's language laws that restrict the use of the English language. The book, a best-seller, grew out of a long article published in a September 1991 issue of The New Yorker.
None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933–1948 is a 1983 book co-authored by the Canadian historians Irving Abella and Harold Troper. It is about Canada's restrictive immigration policy towards Jewish refugees during the Holocaust years. It helped popularize the phrase "none is too many" in Canada.
The Traitor and the Jew, a history by Esther Delisle, was published in French in 1992. She documented the history of antisemitism and support of fascism among Quebec nationalists and intellectuals during the 1930s and '40s.
Robert Solomon Wistrich was a scholar of antisemitism, considered one of the world's foremost authorities on antisemitism.
Anti-Quebec sentiment is a form of prejudice which is expressed toward the government, culture, and/or the francophone people of Quebec. This prejudice must be distinguished from legitimate criticism of Quebec society or the Government of Quebec, though the question of what qualifies as legitimate criticism and mere prejudice is itself controversial. Some critics argue that allegations of Quebec bashing are sometimes used to deflect legitimate criticism of Quebec society, government, or public policies.
Young Trudeau: 1919-1944: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada is the intellectual biography of Pierre Trudeau, the former Prime Minister of Canada, that deals with his parents, childhood, and education in the province of Quebec from his birth in 1919 until November 1944 when he left to study at Harvard University.
The French term pure laine, refers to Québécois people of full French Canadian ancestry, meaning those descended from the original settlers of New France who arrived during the 17th and 18th centuries. Terms with a similar meaning include de souche and old stock as in "Old Stock Canadians".
Joseph-Edmond-André Laurendeau was a journalist, politician, co-chair of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, and playwright in Quebec, Canada. He is usually referred to as André Laurendeau. He was active in Québécois life, in various spheres and capacities, for three decades. Laurendeau's career also "spanned the most turbulent periods in the history of Canada".
The Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany began on April 1, 1933, and was claimed to be a defensive reaction to the anti-Nazi boycott, which had been initiated in March 1933. It was largely unsuccessful, as the German population continued to use Jewish businesses, but revealed the intent of the Nazis to undermine the viability of Jews in Germany.
Antisemitism in Canada is the manifestation of hatred, hostility, harm, prejudice or discrimination against the Canadian Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group.
The Delisle–Richler controversy is the name given by academics to an historical controversy in Canadian history surrounding allegations of antisemitism made by Mordecai Richler and Esther Delisle on several pre-World War II Quebec personalities, notably against the priest-historian Lionel Groulx.
Anti-Jewish boycotts are organized boycotts directed against Jewish people to exclude them economical, political or cultural life. Antisemitic boycotts are often regarded as a manifestation of popular antisemitism.