Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

294 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:293
de-siècle Vienna had been described as a hotbed of popular antisemitism, as
was Algeria, with anti-Jewish, murderous riots in Oran in May 1897 and in
Algiers in May 1898, but not Paris. Reading Birnbaum’s first chapter, “Is
Paris Burning?,” however, one is convinced that Jews were endangered
there as well. Riots, attacks in the streets—all this occurred in the French
capital; they are described as a new enterprise in the national press, when
the official organ of organized Judaism, L’Univers Israélite, was vehemently
condemning them. The grand boulevards, the Latin Quarter, and the
main avenues near the Seine were scenes of violent demonstrations
throughout 1898. But the tension did not remain high at all time: when an
apex seemed attained, the calm was coming again, often thanks to strong
policing.
In the deepest provinces, riots were not that common. In Orléans, for
example, where republicanism was deeply entrenched, no antisemitic demonstrations
took place. But the battle developed in the local press and in the
local elections: the Dreyfusard candidate was ousted by the voters and the
local newspapers campaigned against Dreyfus. In the small city of Blois, an
antisemitic demonstration took place but was less violent than its Paris
counterparts. Using mostly police reports found in the departmental
archives and the local press, Birnbaum leads us from one French city to the
other. Demonstrations occurred in the solidly republican Clermont-Ferrand,
and in smaller cities as well. Beyond the national movement constituted by
the new form of antisemitism cemented by the Dreyfus affair, local tensions
were reflected in the demonstrations, even when some shops under attack
were not Jewish-owned. Some very small towns had also their riots; a second
circle of cities experienced more violent demonstrations. In the French