From the 13th century, the Marais was home to a Jewish community which remained there until its expulsion in the 14th century. Fleeing poverty and persecution, Jews from Eastern countries and those from Alsace settled there in the 19th century. Around Rue des Rosiers and Place Saint-Paul, renamed Pletz (“small place” in Yiddish), the newcomers built synagogues and opened food businesses.
During the Second World War, the Marais was decimated. But in the 1960s and 70s, Jews from North Africa came to repopulate the neighborhood. Today, Israeli street food rubs shoulders with Delicatessen and fashion brands.
Built in 1863, this hammam was then called “Roman baths”. In 1928, a new facade was created by the architects Boucheron and Jouhaud. We can read the inscription Hammam Saint-Paul painted in yellow.
Housing a swimming pool and a hammam, the establishment was popular with the Jewish community living in the marsh from the beginning of the 1960th century to the XNUMXs. At the end of the XNUMXth century, this place was converted into a store.
Agoudas Hakehilos Synagogue, ©Le Marais Mood
We also say "synagogue of rue Pavée" for this building created in 1913 by the architect Hector Guimard, the Parisian master of Art Nouveau who created his only religious building there.
The Agoudas Hekehilos association comes from nine Orthodox Israelite societies mainly of Russian origin. This synagogue is still in operation.
Tournelles Synagogue, Paris, ©Chabe01
Its construction, in Roman-Byzantine style, decided under Napoleon III, was completed after his reign. There is a stained glass rose window. Since 1876, it has been dedicated to the Ashkenazic rite.
During the Second World War, it was destroyed and emptied of its faithful, most of whom were deported.
Built in 1963, it is located in the Hôtel de Ribault, on the 1st floor. Charles Liché, – Charles Lichenstein-, survivor of Auschwitz, was the supervisor of the Tournelles synagogue.
When the consistory decided to move from the Ashkenazic rite to the Sephardic rite, Lichenstein began to officiate here. Formerly the Place des Vosges synagogue, it was renamed in homage to “Liché” in 2006.
One of the oldest synagogues in Paris, attached to the consistory. Designed by the architect Sandrié de Jouy, inaugurated in 1822, it has galleries for women.
Following anomalies, it was rebuilt by the architect Alexandre Thierry and reopened its doors in 1852. This synagogue has an organ, an extraordinary fact for the time. The actress Rachel, model of Sarah Bernardt, was a faithful visitor of the place.
Roger Fleischman Foundation Oratory
This place created in the Pletz (small square in Yiddish) in 1931, symbolizes the multiplication of oratories or circles of prayer and study in the 1930s. Very popular with the Ashkenazi population, it was decommissioned in the post-war period. to experience a revival in the sixties with the arrival of the Sephardim.
The oratory is currently being restored.
Accused of having desecrated a host, Jonathan, a Jewish pawnbroker, was burned at Place de Grève and his house transformed into an expiatory chapel. The label then given “the house where God boiled” is aptly named.
To this building was added in the 1980th century the current Billettes cloister. Since the French Revolution, it has been a Protestant Lutheran parish. In the XNUMXs, the sculptor Philippe Kaeppelin created the altar and the lectern.
Opened in 1852, this vocational school became a subsidiary of the ORT in 1957 (a Jewish philanthropic society with an educational vocation founded in Russia in 1880. Its staff and students were rounded up between 1943 and 44.
Bookstore of Temple Chir Hadach
Created in the 1970s, this small independent bookstore offers books on literature and learning the Hebrew language, objects of worship (candlesticks, mezuzas, candles) and Jewish art (beautiful books, paintings, sculptures). You will definitely find what you are looking for there.
Opened in 1847, the first Jewish school in Paris provided both religious and secular education. It became public in 1880. Some 260 children from the school were arrested and deported in 1942.
Commemorative plaques maintain their memory. Secular, it is however closed on Saturdays due to the massive attendance of Jewish students.
Shoah Memorial, ©Le Marais Mood
Archive center and museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions, this place allows you to better understand Jewish history during the Second World War.
Since 2005-2006, it has highlighted other genocides of the XNUMXth century, that of the Armenians and that of the Tutsi of Rwanda.
Museum of art and history of Judaism, it is located in the Saint-Aignan hotel. This space houses a unique collection in the world about the Jewish presence in France since the Middle Ages.
Objects of worship, manuscripts, textiles and documents on the Dreyfus affair. We admire the paintings of Chagall, Soutine but also the contemporary works of Sophie Calle.
Built in the 1644th century, the Hôtel Davaux, a large aristocratic-style mansion, has become the Hôtel Saint-Aignan, one of the most beautiful historical monuments in the Marais. Built between 1650 and 1792 by the architect Pierre le Mute, it was confiscated by the French state in XNUMX following the Revolution.
Then bought by the city of Paris in 1962 and classified as a historic monument in 1963. Today, it is the headquarters of the MAHJ.
Joseph-Migneret Rose Garden
Rose Garden – Joseph-Migneret, ©Chabe 01
Located between rue des Francs-Bourgeois and rue des Rosiers, with a surface area of 2135 square meters, this green space brings together the private gardens of the surrounding mansions. Joseph Migneret, director of the Hospitalières school, protected Jewish children during the Second World War.
Created in 2007, it was completed in 2014. Fig and chestnut trees line the promenade as well as shared gardens and espalier sculptures.
In 2007, the inauguration of this garden inspired by Le Nôtre, resulted in the planting of a shoot from Anne Frank's chestnut tree (she talks about it in her diary).
This corner of greenery extends over four thousand square meters, in the former gardens of the Saint-Aignan hotel. It is the only municipal green space in the Sainte-Avoye district.
Text: Valérie Rodrigue
02.05.24
