In the immediate aftermath of World War II a judicial case involving the custody of two Jewish
orphans mushroomed into a major crisis of Jewish-Christian relations in France. A New York
Times journalist called this affair «the worst religious storm of post-war France». The Finaly
Affair (1945-1953) which is best understood in the context of post-Vichy anti-Semitism came
about when Catholic fundamentalist beliefs came into conflict with France's republican
principles. This affair polarized the French nation and was transformed into a national crisis
by the explosive power of the French press. It had lasting consequences for interfaith
relations in France and for the French Jewish community. In the Shadow of Vichy captures this
astonishing story of how the Church's kidnapping of two Jewish children just after World War II
helped to hasten the revolutionary changes of Vatican II.
