A Reluctant Welcome for Jewish People: Voices in Le Devoir’s Editorials, 1910-1947

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A Reluctant Welcome for Jewish People: Voices in Le Devoir’s Editorials, 1910-1947: Abstract

Noted historian Pierre Anctil takes a deep dive into editorials devoted to Jews and Judaism in Quebec’s daily Le Devoir in the first half of the twentieth century. Long one of the most discussed historiographical issues in Canadian Jewish history, these editorials are of great significance as they are representative of the reaction of the nationalist Francophone elite to the Jewish presence in Montreal, to German Nazi State anti-Semitism and to the Shoah.

Pierre Anctil proposes a new reading of the editorials published in the pages of Le Devoir from 1910 to 1947—from the founding of the newspaper by Henri Bourassa until the death of its second director, Georges Pelletier. During that time, some two hundred editorials were devoted to Jews and Judaism, of which Anctil has selected sixty for inclusion in this volume. Although many of the editorials conveyed the clearly anti-Semitic views of Le Devoir’s editorialists and of Quebec society at large, a number of the editorials did express positive views of Jewish activities and accomplishments in Quebec society. Readers will find this to be an in-depth analysis and nuanced treatment of an important aspect of Canadian Jewish history.