World of the Jews: Population, Deportation, Survival

The Census of Jews in the Somme, 1940

The fiches in the exhibit “Who is a Jew?” suggest that as of June, 1942, there were approximately forty Jewish adults and fewer than ten Jewish children known to authorities to be living in the Department of the Somme.  Two years before, however, in September/October 1940, the number of Jews registered with the authorities was on the order of ninety-three: sixty-eight in the arrondissement of Amiens, eighteen in the arrondissement of Abbeville, four in that of Montdidier and three in that of Peronne.  The “Registre des Déclarations Israélites,” of 1940, reproduced here, was used as a base list for the arrondissement of Amiens;  its ordering and numbering were observed in subsequent lists as authorities endeavored to keep track of changes in individuals’ residence or circumstances. The original register was signed in person by the heads of households. The last page of the register reflects a small number of additional persons entered after 1940. For some additional comment on the register, especially the category regarding “Confession,” see the text of “Who is a Jew?”

Arrondissement of Amiens, September/October 1940

Source: National Archives, AJ 38 5076 micro, images 568 to 573.

The German military authorities on several occasions expressed puzzlement that the number of Jews within the Somme had declined so steeply between 1940 and 1942, and pressed French officials to explain the discrepancy.  The updates were probably partly in response to such scrutiny. 

Arrondissement of Abbeville, September/October 1940

Sub-Prefecture of Montdidier

The original registers for the Sub-Prefecture of Montdidier, including the arrondissements of Montdidier and Peronne, are available in subseries AJ 38 as typed copies but lack the signatures of the heads of households found in the documents above. Note the handwritten translation of certain terms into German for the benefit of the German military authorities in the region.