In the Shadow of Vichy

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, a judicial case involving the custody of two Jewish orphans mushroomed into a major crisis of Jewish-Christian relations in France. A <I>New York Times</I> journalist called this affair «the worst religious storm of post-war France». The Finaly Affair (1945-1953), which is best understood in the context of post-Vichy anti-Semitism, came about when Catholic fundamentalist beliefs came into conflict with France’s republican principles. This affair polarized the French nation and was transformed into a national crisis by the explosive power of the French press. It had lasting consequences for interfaith relations in France and for the French Jewish community. <I>In the Shadow of Vichy</I> captures this astonishing story of how the Church’s kidnapping of two Jewish children just after World War II helped to hasten the revolutionary changes of Vatican II.