9:34 a.m., Dec. 9, 2009----Meredith Scott, a University of Delaware graduate student in history, is doing primary research on Jewish activism in France between World War I and World War II thanks to International Research Fellowships from UD's Office of Graduate and Professional Education.

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“The fellowships have made a huge difference in my research, making it possible to access local, regional and national sources in France,” Scott said. “As a single mom, I could not have afforded to go to France without the financial support of the Office of Graduate Studies -- it was a wonderful opportunity.”

Scott is focusing on three French cities in her dissertation -- Paris, Strasbourg and Nice.

She first went to Paris, then to Strasbourg this summer and plans on doing research in Nice this winter.

“I am interested in how Jews worked within the system to combat anti-Semitism and oppression through rallies, political activism, Jewish organizations and businesses by studying records firsthand,” she said.

Strasbourg is an especially interesting city because it has switched back and forth from being part of Germany to being part of France, Scott said. Its Jewish community is one of the oldest in France and has been mostly loyal to France.

Scott also is looking at the interaction of Jewish refugees with the established Jewish community. After World War I, Jews fled from Russia to France; a flood of Jewish refugees left Germany in 1933 for France, and many were placed in internment camps. Nice has had an influx of Jews from Spain.

During her research, Scott became interested in a French Jew, Salomon Grumbach, who was from Alsace and epitomized the kind of activism she was studying.

“I was fortunate,” Scott said, “that Grumbach's papers had just been returned to Paris by the Russians at the request of Grumbach's family. The papers were still being catalogued but I was able to look at them.”

Grumbach was a fiery journalist, politician and socialist, who fought for human rights and was outspoken against Nazi Germany, Scott said. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1940, was released and joined the French resistance, surviving the war and becoming a member of the French Socialist Party.

“Scholars and archivists in Europe were very helpful with my research,” Scott said. “It was like having one-on-one seminars.”

Scott currently has an internship at Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Del. She is a graduate of Millersville (Pa.) University, and her adviser is Owen White, associate professor of history.

Article by Sue Moncure
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson