The transnational politics of French and American Jews, 1860--1920

This dissertation explores the cooperation between French and American Jews from 1860 to the end of World War 1. The patterns of cooperation revealed the impact of national and global structural trends on ethnic life and organization. They also illustrated the effects of two close but diverging conceptions of citizenship and national identity on transnational relations.; In 1860 a group of French Jews founded the Alliance Israelite Universelle as a transnational forum within which all Jews could work together beyond national borders for the political emancipation and economic relief of their co-religionists who needed it. The organization's action involved both diplomatic intervention and philanthropic aid. While American Jews embraced these goals, they were reluctant to let the Alliance represent all Jews regardless of nationality.; American and French Jews thus had to negotiate both the parameters of their cooperation, and their strategies and demands. At the center of their concerns was the question how to preserve a transnational bond while remaining firmly integrated citizens in their respective nations. Jews in America and France had to respond to situations such as the wave of immigration from Eastern Europe, the rise of Zionism, anti-semitism at home, or their respective governments' diplomatic priorities. As the dissertation makes clear, their cooperation patterns were strongly affected by these shifting elements and by the rise of nationalism in the late 19th-century and during World War I. Each group retreated into their national identities, which ultimately led to the breakdown of cooperation. When the opportunity to win civil and political rights for Jews in Central and Eastern Europe and the Levant arose at the Paris Peace Conference, American and French Jews found it impossible to unify their demands. Their disharmonious positions reflected each group's responses to political contingencies, but also their different understandings of citizenship and of ethnic participation in national life.; By bridging the comparative and transnational approaches, this dissertation brings new light on the way ethnic groups construct national identity and the way this plays out in international relations.