Description

March 1941 – Exchanges of letters between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, the Prefecture of Police in Paris and the Resident General in Rabat, concerning the cases of individuals who have requested to receive or retain French nationality.

– The case of Mme Azoulay Simy, Mestre’s first wife, is again examined (cf. Dec. 1940-Jan. 1941). Her request to acquire the nationality of her first husband is pointless : she is considered French because of her marriage to Mr. Mestre.

– Only the minor children of a person decorated with the Croix de Guerre (case of Mr. Benhamo David) keep their father’s French nationality in application of articles 4 and 5 of the law of October 7, 1940 which abrogate the Cremieux decree.

– The case of Mr. Joseph Brabeck, ex-Austrian officer naturalized French in 1939, is again examined (cf. Oct.-Nov. 1940). The Minister of Justice asks « to kindly specify the reasons for which the loyalty of the person concerned is so suspected that the withdrawal of French nationality appears justified ».

– The complex case of Mrs. Dziewiecki (born Buenos Louna in Cairo) and asking for an identity card of « French protected » because of the Moroccan nationality of her father is examined. Her two brothers already have the document and she « seems to have possessed Moroccan nationality at birth ». She does not seem to have automatically acquired Polish nationality by marriage and her husband was also already married, « the annulment of this marriage for bigamy has not been approved by a judgment ». According to Moroccan law, she would have retained her nationality of birth and the Prefecture of Gironde asks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if a « French protected » card can be issued to her, specifying that this person « has obtained from the Occupying Authorities a period of one month […] to prove that she is Moroccan protected, and if failing to prove it she will be sent to a internment center for Polish people ». The Resident General had carried out an investigation in Rabat, the city where his father was born, and « no information could be gathered on the members of this family who are unknown, particularly in Jewish circles ». On March 18, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to the Prefect of Gironde that Ms. Dziewiecki had retained her Moroccan nationality and could receive a « French protected » identity card.

– Requests from individuals to acquire French nationality are examined, in most cases the authorities ask them to prove their nationality of origin and to have it verified whether they have not acquired another nationality by marriage. We also ask « to inform the Justice on the degree of assimilation of the person in question », or « to specify if the person concerned whose loyalty seems certain is sufficiently assimilated to our customs and our institutions to gain French nationality ». Marriage to a French does not automatically acquire nationality, a specific request must be made.

– The Resident General, concerning Mr Léon Corcos, an Algerian Jew born in Mogador and living in Agadir (cf. Feb. 1941), « considers that the services rendered by the person concerned to the French cause in Morocco since 1906 and during the period of establishment of the Protectorate, appear likely to allow him to benefit from article 5 of the law [of October 7, 1940] ».

– Ms Dadoun Habiba, Yacoth Poni, Amar Hassiba and Attias Simone, each one signed a declaration the previous year to acquire the French nationality of their husband. By decree of March 15, 1941 « French nationality was refused to this foreigner ».