Peak event report : CY Students

Hello !

We are students of Cergy Paris University in the same second year of Master’s of Human Rights Law and Fundamental Liberties.
Our university had the pleasure to host the EUtopia Event in February and to welcome the students and Professors from European universities, who participated in the project.

• Why did you join ?

Our Professor, Mrs. Argyriadis-Kervegan, gave us a course about the History of Minorities Status and offered us to prepare a research project on the Persecution of Jews in France during the Second World War and the German Occupation period.
This was on a voluntary basis and we agreed to take part because of how interesting the topics were, along with the source material. Meeting with other students from different countries to hear the results of their own projects also seemed like a very good opportunity to widen our horizons.

• What are you working on ? (various short testimonials can come in here)

We splitted into different groups and each one worked on a specific theme : 

- The anti-semitic movement in the 1930’s in France 

This theme was about the movements created by anti-Semitic people, targeted toward Jews, during a period that saw a resurgence of antisemitism. The goal of this project was to show how in times of crisis (here economical), the search for a scapegoat can lead to the dehumanization of a whole group of innocent people.
Here, Jews, who were already the victims of many injustices.

- The Collaboration agreements between the French and German police

This topic covered the different events and agreements between the French and German police during the Second World War. This allowed Nazi Germany to pursue its anti-jew policies in France and througout Europe.

- The fate of deported Jewish children and the role of the church in the deportation

The policies put in place by the Vichy Regime to meet demands of the Occupier caused the French government to organise the deportation of foreign and then French Jewish. The Catholic Church also played a role in French politics during German Occupation by justifying the persecution of Jews. However, the Catholic Church’s approval of this anti-semitic legislation contrasted with “Christian” and secular conceptions of humain rights.

- The arrests of Jewish people by the French authorities and police

This project tends to underline that French Authorities were not only following German orders to arrest Jews. They started to implement a large anti-semitic legislation ordering the identification and official census of Jews, before organizing the arrests with a certain autonomy. 

The main goal of the french administration was to maintain its self determination, and its organization rather than being submitted to the german authority. 

Then, a “well done job” was to be efficient regarding  the number of arrests and the rapidity of action, this element is one of the reasons that led the French police to the collaboration. Therefore, some officers went beyond their mandate, for example forcing doors when people did not answer the calls, others did not respect the age limitation etc.  French Police benefited also from the participation of civilians to identify Jews such as members of hospitals and orphanages. Nevertheless, a lot of civilians, or sometimes even officials helped Jews to survive, by hiding them for years, helping them to create false papers for example.

Picture of French police-officers proceeding to arrests (National Archives) 

• How have you been working until now ? What is meant by connected campus-learning ?

The center of our work was to use documents coming from the National Archives that our Professor provided us, and to transcribe the context in which these documents were placed. Thanks to them we were able to have access to intern orders, reports and communications between the highest leaders of the Vichy Government. 
Then, we completed our researches with books, articles and interviews of historians and specialists of these topics. 

This is a picture of the National Archives building, located in Pierrefitte sur Seine, where our Professor Mrs. Argyriadis-Kervegan found the documents that we used on our project.

• What is the added value of meeting at the peak event ?

The opportunity to exchange with students from various universities and learn about their history and cultures. Furthermore, the topics covered were particularly interesting and allowed us to widen our general knowledge and our perspectives.
We were also honored that Cergy was the welcoming university for this project and hope that everyone who came felt at home.

• What did you learn from the others ?

First of all, we learned many things about topics that we weren't necessarily familiar with. We appreciated how diverse the topics were, they covered various geographic regions and periods of time. Secondly, we were also able to see the way other universities and students coming from different countries were working, which sources they used, and how they presented the final results. 

• How was the interaction with lecturers/experts ?

The interaction was intellectually enriching. We were inspired by each and every speaker at the event which allowed us to be immersed in every topic covered. We appreciated theirs comments on our work and their advices on our future projects.
As the host university, we would like to thank them for their time and their comments on our work. Their questions allowed us to deepen our knowledge and go beyond our research. 

• Is this different from what you would do in the standard curriculum ?

It is extremely different. We do not get to exchange points of views and knowledge in such a wide spectrum and with students that haven’t necessarily followed the same academic path. This type of event is much more intellectually fulfilling than a standard university lecture. We hope that the EUtopia Alliance and community continues to develop and organise different events because it brings an important added value to our schooling.

• Do you see multilingualism as a benefit ? If so, how would that play out in this specific case ?

Yes, we see multilingualism as a benefit. In an event where students do not necessarily speak the same language, multilingualism facilitates communication and the exchange of ideas and experiences. This experience has been very gainful, we were able to improve our oral skills in a foreign language, and to learn from others. 

Thank you !