France: New Jewish history museum opens in Bayonne

A new museum on the history of Jews in and around Bayonne, in the Basque country of southwest France near the border with Spain, has opened in the complex of the city’s synagogue.

Called the Suzanne and Marcel Suares  Museum of the History of Bayonne Judaism, the museum was inaugurated on  November 2, in a ceremony attended by Bayonne’s mayor, France’s Chief Rabbi, and other VIPS.

“The museum retraces the history and traditions of Bayonne Judaism and evokes the place of this community in the city,” the City of Bayonne said in a tweet.

Spearheading the creation of the museum was local civic and Jewish leader Déborah Loupien-Suares, who is a Bayonne deputy mayor as well as President of the Jewish Consistory of Bayonne/Biarritz and Secretary General of the Consistory of France. She heads the cultural association set up to establish the museum.

In an interview with the French Jewish publication L’Arche ahead of the museum’s opening, Loupien-Suares said the museum was created by the Foundation of French Judaism (FJF) and 14 of the foundations under the FJF’s auspices.  Local media France Bleu said the cost of the museum amounted to €200,000, in part financed by the city and in part by Jewish donors.

“Everything happened really fast,” Loupien-Suares said in the interview, explaining that the idea for the museum only developed in 2021.

[…] This museum will be very open, with a double vocation: to make this Bayonne Judaism known, but also to be turned towards the city, by offering a museum route in the city in connection with the other existing museums.

This Jewish museum is not a museum made by Jews for a Jewish audience. I insist on this notion of openness, which is essential.

Loupien-Suares said the museum was named after her grandparents, who were also prominent in local civic and Jewish society. 

Initially, she said, the idea for ​​the museum was more general, to tell the story of Bayonne Jews, whose roots lie in refugees who fled across the border after the expulsions from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s. Bayonne was one of the first Sephardic communities in France, and the incoming Jews among other things brought the knowhow that created a chocolate industry in the town, which made Bayonne France’s “chocolate capital.”

But, she said,

as the project progressed, the members of the Consistory told me that we should take the opportunity to pay tribute to my grandparents, who were outstanding personalities in our [Jewish] community and who knew how to participate in its life as well as in that of the city – my grandfather remained a municipal councilor for nearly fifty years. […] So their journey brings together many aspects that we want to highlight, and corresponds to the essence of our Judaism: a Judaism very open to others.

Some of their possessions are on display. including the parachute used by her grandfather, who was a fighter in the World War II resistance and one of only 1038 people to have been awarded the Order of Liberation for his heroism, as well as letters written to him by French leader Gen. Charles De Gaulle. Other objects displayed were donated by local Jewish families, she said.

The museum occupies two floors of a section of the synagogue complex that adjoins the sanctuary. 

Listed as a historic monument, the simple but imposing neoclassical synagogue, designed by an architect named Capdeville, was built in stone in 1836-37.  It is set back from the street in a courtyard. Its interior features massive women’s galleries and an ark from an 18th century synagogue.

Bayonne’s Jewish cemetery was established in the 17th century and is one of the oldest existing Jewish cemeteries in France. 

Loupien-Suares said in the interview  that museum  exhibits include an interactive map to trace the routes of Jews in the region, as well as spaces dedicated to the role of Jews in public life, World War II resistance, and also the Masonic movement, in which Jews, including her grandparents, were active. On the upper floor, there is a small installation of a sanctuary, with an ark and other furnishings.

Watch a video of her explaining the museum (in French):

Read the interview with Loupien-Suares in L’Arche

Read an article about Jews and chocolate in Bayonne