Exclusions: Practicing Prejudice in French Law and Medicine, 1920-1945

by Julie Fette

Overview

In the 1930s, the French Third Republic banned naturalized citizens from careers in law and medicine for up to ten years after they had obtained French nationality. In 1940, the Vichy regime permanently expelled all lawyers and doctors born of foreign fathers and imposed a 2 percent quota on Jews in both professions. On the basis of extensive archival research, Julie Fette shows in Exclusions that doctors and lawyers themselves, despite their claims to embody republican virtues, persuaded the French state to enact this exclusionary legislation. At the crossroads of knowledge and power, lawyers and doctors had long been dominant forces in French society: they ran hospitals and courts, doubled as university professors, held posts in parliament and government, and administered justice and public health for the nation. Their social and political influence was crucial in spreading xenophobic attitudes and rendering them more socially acceptable in France.

Fette traces the origins of this professional protectionism to the late nineteenth century, when the democratization of higher education sparked efforts by doctors and lawyers to close ranks against women and the lower classes in addition to foreigners. The legislatively imposed delays on the right to practice law and medicine remained in force until the 1970s, and only in 1997 did French lawyers and doctors formally recognize their complicity in the anti-Semitic policies of the Vichy regime. Fette's book is a powerful contribution to the argument that French public opinion favored exclusionary measures in the last years of the Third Republic and during the Holocaust.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801464461
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	649 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Julie Fette is Associate Professor of French Studies at Rice University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Exclusion in the Professions
2. Defense of the Corps: The Medical Mobilization against Foreigners and Naturalized Citizens
3. The Art of Medicine: Access and Status
4. The Barrier of the Law Bar
5. Citizens into Lawyers: Extra Assimilation Required
6. Lawyers during the Vichy Regime: Exclusion in the Law
7. L'Ordre des Médecins: Corporatist Debut and Anti-Semitic Climax
Conclusion: Postwar Continuities and the Rupture of Public ApologyNotes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Steven Zdatny

Exclusions plunges one more knife into the heart of the notion that Vichy represented some sort of aberration in French history and a sharp break with republican practice. In admirable detail, Julie Fette lays out the spread of 'anti-immigrant' agitation that captured the political agenda of medical and legal organizations. In a lucid and heroically documented fashion, Fette tracks the progress and dimensions of the medical and legal professions' attempts to protect themselves from competition from foreigners—which easily enough spilled over into protection from naturalized French citizens and, inevitably, Jews. In other words, it is not a pretty picture that the book draws of the politics of the liberal professions in modern France. There can be no arguing with this book's conclusions, given Fette's vast research effort and the truly remarkable amount of evidence she brings to bear. Add to that a precise and elegant writing style, a strong thesis, and a clear presentation, and you have in my view a book that will attract admiring attention among both American and French students of history.

Alice L. ConklinThe

Julie Fette's comparative research into the French legal and medical professions' anti-Semitism and xenophobia from the late nineteenth century through the post–World War II period is truly groundbreaking. In this masterfully argued book, she shows how the majority of middle-class lawyers, doctors, and students pressured the weakening republican state to enact a hierarchy of legal exclusions based on a distinction between French nationals and 'others' that prepared the way for Vichy's more virulent policies. Her bottom-up approach allows us to hear in chilling detail the voices of the major actors themselves, as they demanded restrictions against foreigners (especially Jews), recently naturalized citizens, women, and the aged. Fette's argument for the continuity of exclusive practices across political regimes is nevertheless measured: before the Depression and after World War II, more progressive republican values tempered—without eliminating—traditional forms of prejudice. Exclusions is a must-read for understanding contemporary struggles in France over national identity.

Robert O. Paxton

Exclusions shows how French lawyers and doctors responded to the Great Depression by excluding foreigners, especially Jews, and women from their professions. Julie Fette found the smoking gun among the words of the lawyers and doctors themselves. We see already in the 1930s the roots of Vichy's exclusionary measures. This is a fascinating and essential book.

Clifford Rosenberg

In Exclusions, Julie Fette breaks new ground by examining xenophobia among powerful professional lobbies. While most scholars of nativism have concentrated on intellectuals, mass movements, or the lower middle classes, Fette places her focus on doctors and lawyers, groups with their hands firmly on the levers of power. Looking at their professional organizations, she is able to weigh the relative importance of economic self-interest, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. This is conceptually sharp, empirically grounded history of the highest order.

Richard Vinen

Exclusions is a wide-ranging and important book. Medicine and law were often seen to be intertwined with the democratic and meritocratic values of the Third Republic. Julie Fette shows that both lawyers and doctors worked to limit the opportunities available to foreign-born practitioners, as well as to women and people from the lower classes. She places the exclusionary practices of Vichy in a long-term context and also looks beyond 1945 to the persistence and legacies of prewar policies. This is a carefully researched and thorough piece of work that will be of interest to all historians of modern France and indeed to historians of all kinds who are interested in xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

Alice L. Conklin

Julie Fette's comparative research into the French legal and medical professions' anti-Semitism and xenophobia from the late nineteenth century through the post–World War II period is truly groundbreaking. In this masterfully argued book, she shows how the majority of middle-class lawyers, doctors, and students pressured the weakening republican state to enact a hierarchy of legal exclusions based on a distinction between French nationals and 'others' that prepared the way for Vichy's more virulent policies. Her bottom-up approach allows us to hear in chilling detail the voices of the major actors themselves, as they demanded restrictions against foreigners (especially Jews), recently naturalized citizens, women, and the aged. Fette's argument for the continuity of exclusive practices across political regimes is nevertheless measured: before the Depression and after World War II, more progressive republican values tempered—without eliminating—traditional forms of prejudice. Exclusions is a must-read for understanding contemporary struggles in France over national identity.

Editorial Reviews

This book contains the first comparative analysis of the laws initiated from the professions themselves. This was necessary to understand that what happened during the Vichy regime was a mere continuation of this process, giving much satisfaction to the professions that had so firmly advocated for what could be seen as anticipatory policies. Even the anti-Semitic legislation, that did not exist as such before the occupation, was rendered acceptable by the fact that xenophobia was long tainted by prejudice against Jews, notably from Eastern Europe... If lawyers and doctors applied those exclusion laws, in the wake of a more general policy in favor of their corporatist organizations, Fette's careful attention to the details of this implementation stresses the limits to their independence that those groups accepted in applying exclusion laws, particularly when it came to the control of their membership, causing the ruin, despair, and, indirectly, the death of colleagues. It is all the more striking that this legislation—and the myth of overcrowding justifying it—had not been totally erased by the new era opened by the liberation of the country.

Law and History Review - Liora Israël

Although other scholars have considered aspects of her subject, this book stands out by systematically comparing the development of exclusion in two French professions, and it provides new information on how the process worked in practice. Fette analyzes the role of students, professionals, and governments and the motives behind exclusion, including not just the prejudices invoked in the book's subtitle, but also economic protectionism and 'professional identity formation'....All in all, Fette’s sobering account makes a valuable contribution to the history of the professions.

Journal of the History of Medicine - Matthew Ramsey

Her study is extremely detailed, often technical, and has the advantage of underlining the differences from one region to another.... In sum this is an excellent essay in social history that expands our knowledge of the years of the occupation as well as of those that preceded it.

Contemporary French Civilization - Renée Poznanski

Julie Fette argues in this definitive work that medical and legal professionals helped prepare the ground for the Holocaust through generations of systematic efforts to limit professional competition by progressively narrowing the definition of eligibility to practice. Efforts to protect professional monopolies are as old as the professions themselves, but a confluence of time and circumstance made them deadly in Europe in the years leading up to World War II.

Journal of Modern History - Robert Nye

"Her study is extremely detailedoften technicaland has the advantage of underlining the differences from one region to another.... In sumthis is an excellent essay in social history that expands our knowledge of the years of the occupation as well as of those that preceded it." —Renée PoznanskiBen Gurion

Contemporary French Civilization

"This book contains the first comparative analysis of the laws initiated fromthe professions themselves. This was necessary to understand that what happened during the Vichy regime was a mere continuation of this processgiving much satisfaction to the professions that had so firmly advocated for what could be seen as anticipatory policies. Even the anti-Semitic legislation, that did not exist as such before the occupation, was rendered acceptable by the fact that xenophobia was long tainted by prejudice against Jews, notably from Eastern Europe... if lawyers and doctors applied those exclusion laws, in the wake of a more general policy in favor of their corporatist organizations, Fette's careful attention to the details of this implementation stresses the limits to their independence that those groups accepted in applying exclusion laws, particularly when it came to the control of their membership, causing the ruin, despair, and, indirectly, the death of colleagues. It is all the more striking that this legislation—and the myth of overcrowding justifying it—had not been totally erased by the new era opened by the liberation of the country."

Law and History Review - Liora Israël

"Julie Fette's comparative research into the French legal and medical professions’ anti-Semitism and xenophobia from the late nineteenth century through the post–World War II period is truly groundbreaking. In this masterfully argued book, she shows how the majority of middle-class lawyers, doctors, and students pressured the weakening republican state to enact a hierarchy of legal exclusions based on a distinction between French nationals and 'others’ that prepared the way for Vichy’s more virulent policies. Her bottom-up approach allows us to hear in chilling detail the voices of the major actors themselves, as they demanded restrictions against foreigners (especially Jews), recently naturalized citizens, women, and the aged. Fette’s argument for the continuity of exclusive practices across political regimes is nevertheless measured: before the Depression and after World War II, more progressive republican values tempered—without eliminating—traditional forms of prejudice. Exclusions is a must-read for understanding contemporary struggles in France over national identity."

Alice L. ConklinThe

"In Exclusions, Julie Fette breaks new ground by examining xenophobia among powerful professional lobbies. While most scholars of nativism have concentrated on intellectuals, mass movements, or the lower middle classes, Fette places her focus on doctors and lawyers, groups with their hands firmly on the levers of power. Looking at their professional organizations, she is able to weigh the relative importance of economic self-interest, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. This is conceptually sharp, empirically grounded history of the highest order."

Clifford Rosenberg

"Exclusions shows how French lawyers and doctors responded to the Great Depression by excluding foreigners, especially Jews, and women from their professions. Julie Fette found the smoking gun among the words of the lawyers and doctors themselves. We see already in the 1930s the roots of Vichy's exclusionary measures. This is a fascinating and essential book."

Robert O. Paxton

"Exclusions plunges one more knife into the heart of the notion that Vichy represented some sort of aberration in French history and a sharp break with republican practice. In admirable detail, Julie Fette lays out the spread of 'anti-immigrant' agitation that captured the political agenda of medical and legal organizations. In a lucid and heroically documented fashion, Fette tracks the progress and dimensions of the medical and legal professions' attempts to protect themselves from competition from foreigners—which easily enough spilled over into protection from naturalized French citizens and, inevitably, Jews. In other words, it is not a pretty picture that the book draws of the politics of the liberal professions in modern France. There can be no arguing with this book's conclusions, given Fette’s vast research effort and the truly remarkable amount of evidence she brings to bear. Add to that a precise and elegant writing style, a strong thesis, and a clear presentation, and you have in my view a book that will attract admiring attention among both American and French students of history."

Steven Zdatny

"Exclusions is a wide-ranging and important book. Medicine and law were often seen to be intertwined with the democratic and meritocratic values of the Third Republic. Julie Fette shows that both lawyers and doctors worked to limit the opportunities available to foreign-born practitioners, as well as to women and people from the lower classes. She places the exclusionary practices of Vichy in a long-term context and also looks beyond 1945 to the persistence and legacies of prewar policies. This is a carefully researched and thorough piece of work that will be of interest to all historians of modern France and indeed to historians of all kinds who are interested in xenophobia and anti-Semitism."

Richard Vinen

"Her study is extremely detailed, often technical, and has the advantage of underlining the differences from one region to another. . . . In sum, this is an excellent essay in social history that expands our knowledge of the years of the occupation as well as of those that preceded it."
—Renée Poznanski, Ben Gurion, Contemporary French Civilization

"Julie Fette argues in this definitive work that medical and legal professionals helped prepare the ground for the Holocaust through generations of systematic efforts to limit professional competition by progressively narrowing the definition of eligibility to practice. Efforts to protect professional monopolies are as old as the professions themselves, but a confluence of time and circumstance made then deadly in Europe in the years leading up to World War II."—Robert Nye,Journal of Modern History(March 2014)

"Although other scholars have considered aspects of her subject, this book stands out by systematically comparing the development of exclusion in two French professions, and it provides new information on how the process worked in practice. Fette analyzes the role of students, professionals, and governments and the motives behind exclusion, including not just the prejudices invoked in the book's subtitle, but also economic protectionism and 'professional identity formation'. . . .All in all, Fette’s sobering account makes a valuable contribution to the history of the professions."—Matthew Ramsey,Journal of the History of Medicine(2013)

"In Exclusions, Julie Fette breaks new ground by examining xenophobia among powerful professional lobbies. While most scholars of nativism have concentrated on intellectuals, mass movements, or the lower middle classes, Fette places her focus on doctors and lawyers, groups with their hands firmly on the levers of power. Looking at their professional organizations, she is able to weigh the relative importance of economic self-interest, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. This is conceptually sharp, empirically grounded history of the highest order."—Clifford Rosenberg, City College of New York and the Graduate Center, CUNY, author of Policing Paris: The Origins of Modern Immigration Control between the Wars

"Julie Fette's comparative research into the French legal and medical professions’ anti-Semitism and xenophobia from the late nineteenth century through the post–World War II period is truly groundbreaking. In this masterfully argued book, she shows how the majority of middle-class lawyers, doctors, and students pressured the weakening republican state to enact a hierarchy of legal exclusions based on a distinction between French nationals and 'others’ that prepared the way for Vichy’s more virulent policies. Her bottom-up approach allows us to hear in chilling detail the voices of the major actors themselves, as they demanded restrictions against foreigners (especially Jews), recently naturalized citizens, women, and the aged. Fette’s argument for the continuity of exclusive practices across political regimes is nevertheless measured: before the Depression and after World War II, more progressive republican values tempered—without eliminating—traditional forms of prejudice. Exclusions is a must-read for understanding contemporary struggles in France over national identity."—Alice L. Conklin, The Ohio State University, author of A Mission to Civilize: the Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895–1930

"Exclusions shows how French lawyers and doctors responded to the Great Depression by excluding foreigners, especially Jews, and women from their professions. Julie Fette found the smoking gun among the words of the lawyers and doctors themselves. We see already in the 1930s the roots of Vichy's exclusionary measures. This is a fascinating and essential book."—Robert O. Paxton, Columbia University

"Exclusions is a wide-ranging and important book. Medicine and law were often seen to be intertwined with the democratic and meritocratic values of the Third Republic. Julie Fette shows that both lawyers and doctors worked to limit the opportunities available to foreign-born practitioners, as well as to women and people from the lower classes. She places the exclusionary practices of Vichy in a long-term context and also looks beyond 1945 to the persistence and legacies of prewar policies. This is a carefully researched and thorough piece of work that will be of interest to all historians of modern France and indeed to historians of all kinds who are interested in xenophobia and anti-Semitism."—Richard Vinen, King's College London

"Exclusions plunges one more knife into the heart of the notion that Vichy represented some sort of aberration in French history and a sharp break with republican practice. In admirable detail, Julie Fette lays out the spread of 'anti-immigrant' agitation that captured the political agenda of medical and legal organizations. In a lucid and heroically documented fashion, Fette tracks the progress and dimensions of the medical and legal professions' attempts to protect themselves from competition from foreigners—which easily enough spilled over into protection from naturalized French citizens and, inevitably, Jews. In other words, it is not a pretty picture that the book draws of the politics of the liberal professions in modern France. There can be no arguing with this book's conclusions, given Fette’s vast research effort and the truly remarkable amount of evidence she brings to bear. Add to that a precise and elegant writing style, a strong thesis, and a clear presentation, and you have in my view a book that will attract admiring attention among both American and French students of history."—Steven Zdatny, University of Vermont, author of Fashion, Work, and Politics in Modern France

"This bookcontains thefirst comparative analysis of the laws initiated fromthe professions themselves. This was necessary to understand that what happened during the Vichy regime was a mere continuation of this process, giving much satisfaction to the professions that had so firmly advocated for what could be seen as anticipatory policies.Even the anti-Semitic legislation, that did not exist as such before the occupation, was rendered acceptable by the fact that xenophobia was long tainted by prejudice against Jews, notably from Eastern Europe . . . if lawyers and doctors applied those exclusion laws, in thewake of a more general policy in favor of their corporatist organizations,Fette's careful attention to the details of this implementation stresses the limitsto their independence that those groups accepted in applying exclusion laws,particularly when it came to the control of their membership, causing theruin, despair, and, indirectly, the death of colleagues. It is all the more strikingthat this legislation—and the myth of overcrowding justifying it—had notbeen totally erased by the new era opened by the liberation of the country."—Liora Israël,École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales,Law and History Review(February 2014)

From the Publisher