Jean-Marie Lustiger (M / France, 1926-2007), Holocaust survivor
Jean-Marie Lustiger (M / France, 1926-2007), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Hidden Children, France> <Jewish Converts>
- MEMOIRS : The Jewish Cardinal (film, 2013)
Biography
Aaron Lustiger was born in Paris to a Jewish family. His parents, Charles and Gisèle Lustiger, were Ashkenazi Jews from Będzin, Poland, who had left Poland around World War I. Lustiger's father ran a hosiery shop. Aaron Lustiger studied at the Lycée Montaigne in Paris, where he first encountered anti-Semitism.
On the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the family moved to Orléans. Aaron lived in hiding. In October 1940 he was baptized to Roman Catholicism. In September 1942, his mother was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp where she was murdered the following year. The surviving family returned to Paris at the end of the war.
On 17 April 1954 Aaron (now Jean-Marie) was ordained to the priesthood. He was Archbishop of Paris from 1981 until his resignation in 2005. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983 by Pope John Paul II. His life is depicted in the 2013 film Le métis de Dieu (The Jewish Cardinal).
Film : The Jewish Cardinal (2013)
- Le métis de Dieu (The Jewish Cardinal) (France, 2013)
"The Jewish Cardinal tells the amazing true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, who maintained his cultural identity as a Jew even after converting to Catholicism at a young age, and later joining the priesthood. Quickly rising within the ranks of the Church, Lustiger was appointed Archbishop of Paris by Pope Jean Paul II - and found a new platform to celebrate his dual identity as a Catholic Jew, earning him both friends and enemies from both groups. When Carmelite nuns settle down to build a convent within the cursed walls of Auschwitz, Lustiger finds himself a mediator between the two communities - and may be forced at last to choose his side."--Publisher description.