Richard Prasquier (born 7 July 1945) is a French cardiologist and Jewish leader. He served as president of the
Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) from 2007 to 2013.
Biography
Prasquier was born as Ryszard Praszkier in Gdańsk, Poland, on 7 July 1945 to
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
survivors who wanted to emigrate to the United States after the 1946
Kielce pogrom
The Kielce pogrom was an outbreak of violence toward the Jewish community centre's gathering of refugees in the city of Kielce, Poland on 4 July 1946 by Polish soldiers, police officers, and civilians[Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...]
, but decided to settle in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. After his schooling at the
Lycée Charlemagne
The Lycée Charlemagne is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France.
Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Jesuit ...
in Paris and studies in medicine which he completed with a Ph.D, Richard Prasquier became a cardiologist and later the director of the
Hôpital Beaujon in
Clichy. In 1989, he was a founding member of the ''Association des médecins d’origine polonaise de France'', a grouping of French doctors of Polish origin.
In 1994, Prasquier began his activities with the
Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France
Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France (CRIF) ( en, Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions) is an umbrella organization of other groups representing the interests of French Jews.
Overview
It is the official Frenc ...
(CRIF), the umbrella body of Jewish communities and organizations in France. He became head of the CRIF liaison group with the Catholic Bishop's Conference of France as well as the CRIF International Relations Committee. He also served on the board of the ''Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah'' headed by
Simone Veil
Simone Veil (; ; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. A ...
, and in 1997 he became chairman of the French Committee for
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
.
In 2001, he was decorated with the French
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
.
In 2006, Prasquier was among those who welcomed
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
at the former Nazi death camp
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
.
On 13 May 2007, Prasquier was elected as president of the CRIF, beating two other candidates by a clear margin. He succeeded
Roger Cukierman. Upon his election Prasquier said that for him, the CRIF was “the communal home of Judaism”, the place “where it is possible to express hopes, concerns and projects”, a place “to fight for
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
”. He was re-elected in 2010 for a second mandate of three years, beating his rival
Meyer Habib. In May 2013, being barred to stand for a third consecutive term, Prasquier was succeeded as CRIF president by his predecessor Roger Cukierman.
Prasquier is married and has five children.
Political statements and actions
In September 2008, Prasquier led a CRIF delegation which met with
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
in Paris during the Catholic pontiff's visit to France. "It was very important to us that that given his busy schedule he took the time out to meet with us on this special day, the Sabbath," Prasquier was quoted as saying after the meeting. He also praised the pope for condemning anti-Semitism. However, a few months later, Prasquier criticized the Vatican for lifting the excommunication of
Richard Williamson, who in an interview with Swedish television had question the extent of the Holocaust. “The denial of the Shoah is not an opinion, but a crime,” Prasquier was quoted as saying.
![Herman Van Rompuy and Richard Prasquier in December 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Herman_Van_Rompuy_and_Richard_Prasquier_in_December_2010.jpg)
Prasquier is also engaged in talks with Muslim leaders, but in an interview with the French daily
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...
in October 2012 warned against complacency vis-à-vis a radical version of Islam that was on the rise. France had not fully taken stock of the threat it faces from radical Islamism, Prasquier told the newspaper, adding: “Radical Islam compares its enemies to animals.
..In the same way, the Nazis compared Jews to bacteria, to rats, to animals.” According to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' Prasquier told French radio
France Info
France Info (stylised as franceinfo:) is a French public broadcasting service produced in collaboration with France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel.
The service includes a radio ...
: "We must take the measure of this type of ideology. I say that radical Islamism is Nazi ideology.”
At repeated occasions, Prasquier has taken a strong stand in defense of Israel. In January 2009, during Israel's
Operation Cast Lead
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
in the
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...
, he led a solidarity rally with Israel outside the Israeli embassy building in Paris. He said in his speech: “My position is not against the Palestinians, although I want to express my strong solidarity with Israel. It is against Hamas that I stand up, which is an obstacle to peace and with which no negotiation is possible.”
Sous l’égide du CRIF, grande manifestation de soutien à Israël - Desinfos.com, 6 January 2009
/ref>
External links
Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF) (in French)
Address by Dr. Richard Prasquier at the Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders, Brussels 6 December 2010
- World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as ...
website (English translation)
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prasquier, Richard
1945 births
Living people
People from Gdańsk
20th-century French Jews
Jews and Judaism in France
French Zionists
French cardiologists
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
20th-century Polish Jews