Richard Prasquier

Richard Prasquier in March 2016

Richard Prasquier (born July 7, 1945 in Danzig , Poland) is a French doctor and was President of the Central Council of Jewish Institutions in France from 2007 to 2013 ( Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France ).

Professional background

Prasquier was born Ryszard Praszkier as the son of Polish Holocaust survivors . After the Jewish pogrom in Kielce in 1946, his parents made the decision to emigrate to the USA, but then settled in France.

After graduating from the Lycée Charlemagne in Paris, Prasquier studied medicine and graduated with a doctorate. He became one of the most famous cardiologists in France and became director of the Paris Beaujon hospital. In 1989 he and others founded the Association des Médecins d'Origine Polonaise de France , an association of French doctors of Polish origin.

Engagement in Jewish associations

In 1994 Prasquier began to work in the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF), the umbrella organization for Jewish communities and organizations in France. Initially he took over the leadership of the CRIF Liaison Group for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of France and the CRIF Committee on International Relations. He was also a board member of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah run by the French politician and Auschwitz survivor Simone Veil . In 1997 Prasquier was also elected chairman of the French section of the Friends of Yad Vashem .

In 2000, Prasquier bought a house built in 1955 on the site of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau from the owner for the sum of US $ 100,000, after experts found out that one of the camp's gas chambers was located exactly at this point. the so-called Red House . A team from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum has since removed the newly constructed buildings and converted the site into a memorial.

In 2001 Prasquier was made a member of the French Legion of Honor for his voluntary work .

In 2006 Prasquier was one of the Jewish leaders that Pope Benedict XVI. during his visit to the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau .

Herman Van Rompuy , President of the European Council , with Richard Prasquier after meeting with European Jewish and Muslim leaders, Brussels, 6 December 2010

On May 13, 2007, Prasquier was elected President of the Central Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF). He prevailed clearly against his two opponents and succeeded Roger Cukierman. In 2010 he was re-elected for a further three-year term. In 2013 he handed over the office to Roger Cukierman .

After his election, Prasquier said that for him the CRIF was the "headquarters of Judaism" in France. There it is "possible to express your hopes, worries and future plans" and "to fight for Judaism."

Prasquier is married and has five children.

Political commitment

In September 2008 Prasquier led a CRIF delegation, which on the occasion of his visit to France with Pope Benedict XVI. met. "It was very important for us that, despite his busy schedule, he found time to meet with us on this special day," said Prasquier afterwards of the Pope. He also praised him for his clear condemnation of anti-Semitism .

A few months later, however, Prasquier criticized the Vatican for lifting the excommunication of Richard Williamson and other bishops of the Pius Brotherhood . Williamson had denied the Holocaust in an interview conducted in Germany with Swedish television and questioned the existence of gas chambers. "Denial of the Shoah is not an opinion, but a crime," Prasquier was quoted as saying.

Richard Prasquier is also involved in Jewish-Muslim dialogue, but says the influence of Muslim leaders on their community is very limited in France. In an interview with the Le Figaro newspaper in October 2012, he warned against indulgence in dealing with Muslim extremists. France must understand the dangers of radical Islamism, said Prasquier. “Radical Islamism equates its enemies with animals […] - just as the Nazis used to equate Jews with bacteria, rats, animals,” said Prasquier. According to the New York Times , the CRIF president said on French radio France Info : “We must realize the danger posed by this ideology. I say that radical Islamism is the same as Nazi ideology. "

Prasquier repeatedly sided with Israel. During the Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008/09, he said at a solidarity rally in Paris: “My position is not directed against the Palestinians, although I want to show my solidarity with Israel here. Rather, it is directed against Hamas, which is an obstacle to the peace process and with which no negotiations are possible. "

Richard Prasquier also often took a stand against the right-wing extremist Front National party , formerly headed by Jean-Marie Le Pen and, since 2011, by his daughter Marine Le Pen . The CRIF President criticized u. a. Marine Le Pen's proposal to ban religious headgear such as the Jewish kippah in France, and said this shows that there are “not only religious but also secular fanatics” in the country.

In October 2012, Prasquier warned in an interview with the German weekly Jüdische Allgemeine that anti-Semitism was growing in France. Immediately after the murder of Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse in March 2012, a particularly large number of anti-Jewish incidents were recorded, said Prasquier. “That means: a terrible attack in which children were murdered served as a model. It's disturbing because it shows that some see the killer as a hero to emulate, ”he said.

Web links

• Grand entretien avec Richard Prasquier: “ne pas mettre dans le même sac islamophobie et antisémitisme” , JSS News, July 8, 2012 (French)
• Address by Dr. Richard Prasquier at the Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders, Brussels 6 December 2010 , World Jewish Congress website (English translation)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ AMOPF - Médecins d'origine Polonaise de France
2. ↑ Décret du 13 juillet 2001 portant promotion et nomination
3. ^ Richard Prasquier: le dialogue à coeur - Par Henri Tincq - Le Monde
4. ↑ Richard Prasquier reelected at the head of CRIF, France's Jewish umbrella representative body ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , European Jewish Press, June 13, 2010 
5. ↑ Richard Prasquier Elected New President of CRIF ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the European Jewish Congress, May 14, 2007 
6. ^ French Jewish leader praises pope for fighting anti-Semitism , Associated Press, September 13, 2008
7. ^ Jews tell Vatican: Holocaust denial is a crime - National Post (Canada) , February 10, 2009
8. ↑ "That is disturbing" - Richard Prasquier on anti-Semitism and increasing brutality in France , Jüdische Allgemeine, October 17, 2012
9. ↑ Prasquier: “Un islam de guerre se développe” , Le Figaro, October 7, 2012
10. ^ France faces Islamist threat, warns Jewish group , Irish Times, October 9, 2012
11. ^ Radicalism Prompts Warnings in France , New York Times, October 8, 2012
12. ↑ Sous l'Égide du CRIF, grande manifestation de soutien à Israël , Desinfos.com, January 6, 2009
13. ↑ French Nationalist Politician Calls for Ban on Jewish Kippah as Well as Muslim Headscarf ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Agence France Presse, 23 September 2012 
14. ↑ "That is disturbing" - Richard Prasquier on anti-Semitism and increasing brutality in France , Jüdische Allgemeine, October 17, 2012