The Jews in this European city are still persecuted

The Jewish community in Lyon, one of the oldest and most influential Jewish communities in France, finds itself in 2026 at a crossroads. A city of deep-rooted histories, survival, courage and fears, the fourth largest city in France carries over two thousand years of Jewish history on its shoulders. Today, alongside the rich heritage, the city is also at the center of a reality of growing fear and discomfort. The sense of fear in the ancient Jewish community has been intensifying ever since the war in Israel.

Lyon, a city that is also the capital of the French resistance to the Nazi occupation in World War II, is currently under the threat of growing anti-Semitism. After decades of successful Jewish integration into French society, and especially after the community experienced a wave of immigration from North Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, the feeling on the streets of the city is different today. Many of the Jews in the city no longer feel safe on their land, especially in light of the wave of threats that has accompanied the city in recent years.

The beginning of the war in Israel was another breaking point for the Jewish community in France as a whole, and especially for the Jews of Lyon. The difficult events of that Sabbath that began with the Hamas attack on Israel shocked the world, but the attack not only hurt Israel, but also sparked a wave of anti-Semitism all over Europe, and in France in particular.

In 2025, more than 1,300 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded throughout the country, when they included physical and verbal attacks, humiliation and violence. And the Jews of Lyon, like the rest of the Jews of France, experienced firsthand the strengthening of anti-Semitism. The community, which for generations enjoyed a relatively comfortable integration into French society, now finds itself under scrutiny, living in constant tension. “We have spent a whole life here, and suddenly you start to think twice before going out into the street with a cap on your head,” says one of the members of the local community. This feeling of insecurity is not limited to a single case, it is an essential part of the new routine.

The community also experiences direct harm on the city streets, such as verbal attacks, profanity and physical violence. In light of the events that took place in Lyon, such as a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the Jewish Agency’s “Aliya” event in August 2025, it is clear that even if the city is not in the spotlight like Paris, anti-Semitism here does not disappear. These events stain the city and bring the feeling of alienation to the doorstep of many families.

One of the serious cases occurred on February 21, 2026, when a Jewish rabbi was attacked on the city street by a man who performed a Nazi salute while shouting Free Palestine. For a religious person, and especially when it comes to children marching with him, it is not only a humiliation but an event that shakes the basic sense of security. It is important to note that on that day, there were also other incidents of anti-Semitism in the streets of the city, and the discourse of hostility and violence was more palpable than ever.

Two years after October 7, many in the community describe a reduction of public space. In Villerban, a town adjacent to Lyon with a large Jewish community sometimes referred to as “Little Jerusalem”, residents speak anonymously about fear: “We feel safe only among ourselves,” says one of the residents. Some members of the community avoid wearing visible Jewish symbols, and at the same time the feeling of belonging to France remains deep, even if complex.

In light of the strengthening of anti-Semitism and the fear of the future, one cannot avoid the thought that the members of the community will be forced to ask themselves what will happen next. It is very possible that precisely now, the tension and the feeling of uncertainty lead to many cases of immigrating to Israel. “Our feelings change all the time,” says one of the community members, “there are those who feel that precisely now, after so many years of presence here, it is not certain that the way is to continue living in Lyon. There are others who feel that they must stay, because this was the city where our Jewish path in France began.”

The Jewish community in Lyon, as in many cities in the world, currently lives under a “veil” of heightened security: all synagogues, as well as Jewish educational institutions, are secured by police forces. The sense of security is not only practical but also emotional: all members of the community, even if they have raised their children here for decades, no longer feel the same public “warmth” they felt in the past.

The Jewish community in Lyon cannot avoid thinking about the difficult history that left its mark. From Roman times to the Middle Ages, anti-Semitism was no stranger to this city. Jews were exiled, persecuted and humiliated by local rulers, especially under Catholic rule. It is no coincidence that, when talking about the city today, many members of the community mention the memory of the Holocaust, when the Jewish community in Lyon, like other cities in France, was persecuted under the rule of the Nazis.

As in the various cities in France, Lyon was also a place of merciless struggle by the Gestapo, under the leadership of Klaus Barbie, the “slaughterer” of the city’s Jews, who sent many of them to the extermination camps. Among the most difficult events in the city, the murder of the children in the orphanage in the town of Ezio stands out, a memory that cannot be avoided even today.

In March 1943, Sabina and Miron Zlatin established a shelter in an isolated country house in the village of Izieu in France for dozens of Jewish children whose parents were deported by the Nazis, with the aim of giving them a sliver of childhood and security in the heart of the war. However, on the morning of April 6, 1944, Gestapo forces under the command of Klaus Barbie raided the place and brutally changed this fate: 44 children and 7 staff members were arrested and sent to the Drancy transit camp, from where almost all of them were deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp. Of all the children taken that day, none survived, and the detailed documentation of the raid later became one of the decisive pieces of evidence that led to Barbie’s conviction for crimes against humanity, while the house itself is now used as a national memorial site that perpetuates the names and faces of the children who perished.

It seems that the feelings of remembering the past, along with the feeling of perpetual foreignness in the city where they were born and raised, are resurfacing in many of the Jewish community of Lyon. “You live here, but all the time you feel as if you are not really at home,” says Miriam, a longtime resident of the city. This feeling cannot be hidden, the Jews in Lyon have a sense of existence that is beginning to be shaken, and questions of “Do we belong here?” are starting to be asked more and more.

The connection to Israel has strengthened in recent years, and thousands of millions of Jews immigrated to Israel in the last decade. Almost every family today has relatives in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Ashdod. However, the story is not just about leaving, and many choose to stay, invest and deepen community life in the city. Community leaders emphasize the need for a national fight against anti-Semitism, and call for increased enforcement and deterrence. Meanwhile, the Great Synagogue continues to stand on the banks of the Son, and its gates are open every Shabbat. The children continue to go to prayer, even if accompanied by security. Jewish life in Lyon continues with a deep awareness of the past and with a keen eye for the future.