Sacred Treason
Race, Religion, and The Holocaust in France
What happens when trusted institutions fail in moments of moral crisis? Sacred Treason tells the untold story of how Catholic and Jewish leaders in France responded to the Holocaust—not just through public action or silence, but through the quiet negotiations, hidden doubts, and private assurances that shaped the fate of tens of thousands.
Drawing on years of archival research across four countries and three languages, Sacred Treason uncovers a gripping and often heartbreaking history of how religious and political leaders navigated the rise of Nazism and the collaborationist Vichy regime. At the heart of the book is a simple but urgent question: How do people make decisions when the world around them is falling apart?
Moving beyond traditional accounts that focus on top French and Nazi officials or heroic resisters, this book opens the doors of churches, synagogues, and government offices to reveal the messy, behind-the-scenes reality of institutional life during genocide. Catholic bishops sent mixed signals—offering private sympathy while staying publicly silent. Vichy officials made quiet promises they never intended to keep. And Jewish leaders, desperately trying to protect their communities, often placed hope in relationships that proved tragically misleading.
But Sacred Treason also challenges the idea that Jews were simply victims without agency. Instead, it shows how French Jewish leaders actively resisted Vichy and the Nazis’ racial agenda—not by opposing the consequences of antisemitic persecution, but by rejecting the very premise that they constituted a separate race. Many insisted they were French citizens who happened to be Jewish, not racial outsiders—a stance rooted in French Catholic and republican ideals and supported by centuries of civic integration.
Through this lens, Sacred Treason sheds new light on how genocide unfolds—not only through violence, but through trust, misjudgment, and the quiet erosion of moral certainty. It shows how institutions can blur the line between safety and danger, loyalty and betrayal. And it raises pressing questions about how societies respond to rising hatred today.
This is not just a book of historical sociology. It’s a story about power, belief, and the devastating consequences of misplaced faith in the institutions we count on to protect us.

Left to Right: Chief of the French State Marshal Petain, Paris cardinal Emmanuel Suhard, Lyon cardinal Pierre Gerlier, Head of Government Pierre Laval. At the hotel of the Park, seat of the French government, in Vichy. November 1942. (Photo by Roger Viollet via Getty Images)
Archives, France
Archives diocésaines de Cambrai (Nord-Pas-de-Calais)
Archives diocésaines d’Annecy (Annecy)
Archives historiques du diocèse de Lille (Lille)
Archives diocésaines de Lyon (Lyon)
Archives historiques du diocèse de Marseille (Marseille)
Archives diocésaines de Montauban (Toulouse)
Archives historiques du diocèse de Nice (Nice)
Archives historiques du diocèse de Paris (Paris)
Archives diocésaines de Toulouse (Toulouse)
Archives Diplomatiques (Paris)
Archives de l’Alliance Israélite Universelle (Paris)
Archives Nationales (Paris)
Centre National des Archives de l’Eglise de France (Paris)
Mémorial de la Shoah, Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (Paris)
Site-Mémorial du Camp des Milles (Aix-en-Provence)
Archives, USA
Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants
Commissariat Général aux Questions Juives
Vatican Secret Archives
International Tracing Service Records
(All the above from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Archives, Israel
Yad Vashem, World Center for Holocaust Research
Archives, Italy
Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, Papa Pio XII e la Seconda Guerra Mondiale