82 Famous Jewish Concerns Get ‘temporary Managers’ in Occupied France

The ruin of Jewish trade and industry in occupied France is shown by the lengthy lists of Jewish enterprises, published in the Official Journal, for which “temporary managers” are being appointed because of “the impossibility for the heads of the enterprises to carry on their activity in the occupied zone.”

The three lists so far published include 82 Jewish enterprises, of which many are world famous, such as the Lazard Bank, the Louis Dreyfus Corn Dealers, the Seligmann Bank, the Galeries Lafayette (department store) and the Penhoet Shipbuilding Company, which constructed and launched the liner Normandie.

Appointment of “temporary managers” by the French authorities is not to be confused with appointment of “Aryanization”commissars. The latter are named by the occupation authorities under the German ordinance for “Aryanization,” while the primary aim of the “temporary managers” is to preserve and carry on establishments deprived by the Germans of their legitimate owners and managers. Nevertheless, the “temporary managers” of Jewish enterprises are vested with the right to liquidate businesses, a power which they will be compelled to exercise since all Jewish firms in the occupied zone must be “Aryanized” under the German ordinance.