Gruzian Jews in Occupied France in Yad Vashem Studies, Volume VI

How the Jews of Gruziya in Occupied France were Saved

My late uncle Eli had been a member of the government of independent Georgia. When the Red Army occupied the country in 1921, he together with other politically prominent persons fled to Paris where they set up a Social Democrat government-in-exile. About forty Georgian Jewish families in Paris were ordered by the Germans to register. The Georgians encouraged the Jews not to register and led by Kedia and Korkia convinced the Germans to rescind the order and to treat Gruzinian (Georgian) Jews as if they were non-Jews. Many Jews from other countries changed their names to Gruzinian names and about 1,000 Jews were thus saved. In 1944, when it became obvious that the Germans would not reach Gruziya, their attitude to Gruzinians changed and the Jews went into hiding until the end of the war.