Jewish people in the French capital live in the shadow of hatred
Antisemitic comments allegedly made by the designer John Galliano come as no surprise in the Marais quarter of Paris.
Like most Paris schools, the Ecole des Hospitalières-Saint-Gervais bears a sombre plaque. It reads: “165 Jewish children from this school, deported to Germany during the second world war, were exterminated in the Nazi camps. Do not forget.”
In this district, known as the Marais, the heart of Paris’s oldest Jewish quarter, gay bars rub shoulders with falafel cafés, kosher restaurants, synagogues and prayer rooms. Its labyrinthine streets have been home to Jews on and off since the 13th century. Ten days ago, however, it also played host to John Galliano.
The alleged infamous outburst of the Dior designer, who has now been sacked, in which he is said to have abused a Jewish woman and her Asian boyfriend, was offensive on many levels – not only because of what he allegedly said, but because of where he said it. It was in a bar just a few paces from the Hospitalières-Saint-Gervais that the couturier, who is British but has lived in the French capital for two decades, was arrested. And it was also where, last year, he was filmed telling two women he believed to be Jewish that he loved Hitler.