<NICE, capital of the Alpes-Maritimes department, on the Mediterranean coast of France.

[Jewish community - edict of 1430 with ghetto obligation on Giudaria Street - influx of Jews from Rhodes in 1499 - professions]

The Statutes of Nice, enacted in 1342 while the town belonged to Provence, compelled the Jews to wear the distinguishing *badge; this is the first specific mention of the presence of Jews in Nice.

By 1406, when Nice belonged to Savoy, the community had a bailiff. In 1408 it owned a cemetery, and at least from 1428, a synagogue. An edict issued by the duke of Savoy in 1430 (also intended for the Jews of Turin), while protecting the Jews from forced baptism, enumerated a series of prohibitions (on money lending, on interest, etc.) and irksome obligations (confining Jewish residence to a separate quarter, the Giudaria [[the ghetto on Giudaria Street]] etc.).

However, in 1449, a Jews was authorized to settle there and charge a rate of 20% interest. In 1499, Jews expelled from the island of Rhodes (col. 1135)

were permitted to settle in Nice.

From 1551, the Jews were placed under the jurisdiction of a Conservator (except in cases of crimes and offenses committed against the Catholic religion) and were authorized to engage freely in money lending. Jews in Nice then also engaged in commerce. They could practice medicine freely.

[Influx of Portuguese Jews from Italy and Holland since 1648 - influx of Algerian Jews since 1669 - ghetto obligation also for the newcomers since 1732 - local dialect]

From 1648 many newcomers of "Portuguese" origin (Marranos) from Italy and Holland joined the "old Nissards", attracted by the free port edict, which expressly favoured the Jews with advantageous privileges.

From 1669, many Jews arrived from Oran (Algeria) and were even able to bring their slaves. The newcomers, who settled outside the ghetto, were accorded full rights in the existing community institutions without having to participate in the expenses. The Jewish community of Nice, which had been affiliated to that of Turin, became separated from it from the beginning of the 17th century. The internal fusion of the diverse groups of Jews was achieved slowly; at the same time, the authorities allowed the legal differences which governed them to become obsolete. Thus, in particular from 1732, all of them were compelled to reenter the compulsory Jewish quarter, the Rue Giudaria (the present Rue Benoît Brunice).

The community, known as Università [[University]], was led by massari-parnassim, deputies, councilors, and a treasurer. The Jews of Nice conversed in Judeo-Niçois, a mixture of the local dialect and Hebrew  terms.

[Napoleon brings emancipation and liberation from the ghetto in 1792 - restoration brings the ghetto back in 1828 - emancipation since 1848]

The temporary reunion of Nice with France from 1792 to 1814 brought emancipation to the Jews, but they lost it with the restoration of Sardinian administration. Thus, in 1828, the Jews were ordered to return to the ghetto, and it was only in 1848 that real emancipation was granted. The annexation of Nice by France in 1860 did not result in further changes in the social and economic situation of the Jews. The number of Jews there was approximately 300 in 1808 and 500 in 1909 (out of a total population of 95,000) and did not substantially change up to World War II.

[B.BL.]

[[In 1871 the French Emperor system was abolished. The time from 1900 until 1940 is missing in the article, with decisive happenings like the international stock exchange crash of 1929 with heavy unemployment, and anti-Semitism by unemployment, and probably there was also a right radical and a royal movement]].

Holocaust Period.

[Italian occupation - Nice turns into a Jewish center - German Nazi occupation with raids and deportations - resistance, hiding, and flight]

During World War II Nice came under Italian occupation which was far less severe than the German [[with their collaborators]]. Therefore thousands of Jews took refuge there. For a while the city became an important center for various Jewish organizations, especially after the landing of the Allie in North Africa (November 1942). However, when the Italians signed the armistice with the Allies, German troops invaded the former Italian zone (Sept. 8, 1943) and initiated brutal raids. Brunner, the SS official for Jewish affairs, was placed at the head of units formed to search out Jews. Within five months, 5,000 Jews were caught and deported. A great number of others were martyred in Nice itself. (col. 1136)

[[or]]:

In Nice alone about 6,000 Jews (out of 25,000 [[in the 1943 occupied zone of South of France]]) were deported.
(see: *France: Holocaust Period, vol. 7, col. 35)

The courage displayed by the resistance and Jewish youth movements, however, along with the sympathy of the vast majority of the population and clergy, helped save thousands who were either hidden or helped to escape.

[Post-war times]

After the liberation several hundred Jews, including original inhabitants of Nice and refugees, reestablished the community. With the influx of Jews from North Africa in the 1960s, the Jewish population in Nice and the vicinity increased from 2,000 to 20,000 by 1969.

[G.LE.]

Bibliography

-- Gross, Gal Jud, 393-394
-- H. Meiss: A travers le ghetto... Nice [[Going through the ghetto... Nice]] (1923)
-- Gallois-Montbrun, in: Annales de la Société de Lettres... des Alpes-Maritimes [[Annales of the Literture Society.. of (the province of) Alpes-Maritimes]], 3 (1875), 242 ff.
-- Giordan, ibid., 46 (1955), 103 ff.
-- Scialtiel, in: REJ, 67 (1914), 118 ff.
-- Bauer, ibid., 63 (1912), 269 ff.
-- V. Emmanuel: Les Juifs à Nice [[The Jews in Nice]] (1902)
-- J. Decourcelle: La Condition des Juifs de Nice... [[The conditions of the Jews of Nice]] (1923), includes bibliography
-- L. Poliakov: The Jews under the Italian Occupation (1955), passim
-- Z. Szajkowski: Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer 1939-1945 [[Analytical French-Jewish Journal 1939-1945]] (1966), 156.> (col. 1136)