Irène Némirovsky and the Anti-Semitic Movement

The writings of Irène Némirovsky have received vast amounts of criticism containing accusations of anti-Semitism. Since Némirovsky was in fact Jewish and converted to Catholicism while living in France it is difficult to establish whether Némirovsky herself was an anti-Semite or whether she merely produced anti-Semitic works, such as David Golder. Némirovsky’s background and the way she portrays the Jewish characters in the novel can give more insight as to whether she really was anti-Semitic or not.

Irène Némirovsky was born in 1903 in what was then the Russian Empire. After her parents had fled the Russian Empire during the Russian Revolution in 1918 they finally settled in France. While she never was known for embracing her Jewish identity, she also didn’t try to conceal it at the time. In 1926 she married Michel Epstein who also was a Jewish exile and the controversial David Golder was published only three years later in 1929. Even though she was of both Russian and Jewish origins, she converted to Catholicism in 1939, which would ultimately not be of benefit to her as she had hoped and she would be sent to Auschwitz in 1942 where she would die of typhus.

What led much of the accusations of Némirovsky promoting anti-Semitism was that she wrote in newspapers that were known for being anti-Semitic such as the Candide and received praise from others in the anti-Semitic movement for her works. It later became clear to her that the writings and portrayals of Jewish characters in her works such as David Golder were being used to fuel the anti-Semitic movement in France. Némirovsky said “If there had been Hitler [in 1929] I would have greatly toned down David Golder and I wouldn’t have written it in the same fashion” (Sorin). S...

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... She clearly states in her regretful testimonials how she wished she had written David Golder differently so it would not have encouraged the anti-Semitic movement the way that it did. Némirovsky was known for her works during the anti-Semitic movement and she was also well known for the depiction of her characters that came across to some that she hated Jews by the way she described them and portrayed their lives. These are statements and evidence that could sway opinions either way as to if she believed in anti-Semitism or not. Whether Irène Némirovsky was an anti-Semite or whether she just produced anti-Sematic works such as Shakespeare when he wrote The Merchant of Venice will forever remain unknown.

Works Cited

Sorin, Gerald. "Societies of Misfits." Haaretz. N.p., 10 Feb 2008. Web. 19 Feb 2014. .