Doris Bensimon (also known as, Doris Bensimon-Donath; 1924 – 8 December 2009) was an Austrian-born French sociologist and academic whose research focused on the study of contemporary

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. She taught at the

University of Caen The University of Caen Normandy (French: ''Université de Caen Normandie''), also known as Unicaen, is a public university in Caen, France. History The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector ...

and

Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...

(INALCO).

Early life and education

Doris Donath was born in 1924 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria. Her father was Robert Donath (born 12 June 1883, Vienna). After the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'', the Donath family left Austria and removed to

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, before coming to

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, France, where it was protected by the Préfet du Nord. On 11 September 1942 Robert was deported by Convoy No. 31 to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, 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 consisted of Auschw ...

via

Drancy internment camp Drancy internment camp () was an assembly and detention camp for confining Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps during the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, German occupation of France duri ...

, where he was killed, at age 59.Klarsfeld, Serge. Le Mémorial de la déportation des Juifs de France. Beate et Serge Klarsfeld: Paris, 1978. Nouvelle édition, mise à jour, avec une liste alphabétique des noms.FFDJF (Fils et filles de déportés juifs de France), 2012. (in French) With her mother, Bensimon took refuge in Lyon. Bensimon received a

State doctorate State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Career

Bensimon became a researcher at the

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

(CNRS) where she was responsible for the team working on the sociology of

, within the ''Groupe de Sociologie des Religions'' ("Sociology Group of Religions"). She also became a professor at the University of Caen and at INALCO in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Personal life

Bensimon died on 8 December 2009 in the

9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is located on the right bank of th ...

. She is buried next to her husband, in the

Cimetière parisien de Pantin The Cimetière parisien de Pantin (sometimes known as cimetière parisien de Pantin-Bobigny) is one of the three Parisien cemeteries ''extra muros'', located in the commune of Pantin which is in Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France. History The ce ...

Selected works

* ''L'évolution de la femme israelite à Fès'', 1962 * ''Évolution du judaïsme marocain sous le protectorat français, 1912-1956'', 1968 * ''Immigrants d'Afrique du Nord en Israël : évolution et adaptation'', 1970 * ''Follow-up des anciens élèves des écoles juives à plein temps : rapport d'enquête'', 1971 * ''L'intégration des juifs nord-africains en France'', 1971 * ''Social integration of North African Jews in Israel'', 1973 * ''Les mariages mixtes.'', 1975 * ''Judaïcité parisienne et migrations à la fin du XIXe et au début du XXe siècle.'', 1975 * ''Education en Israel.'', 1976 * ''Un mariage : deux traditions'', 1977 * ''Israel et ses populations'', 1977 * ''Communautés juives (1880-1978) : sources et méthodes de recherches'', 1978 * ''Socio-démographie des juifs de France et d'Algérie, 1867-1907'', 1976 * ''L'Irruption de l'Occident : les Juifs du Maroc.'', 1982 * ''Mondeville : Changement social et vie quotidienne dans une banlieue ouvrière'', 1983 * ''La population juive de France : socio-démographie et identité'', 1984 (with Sergio Della Pergola) * ''Les Grandes rafles : juifs en France, 1940-1944'', 1987 * ''The teaching of Jewish civilization at European universities : report with maps and an inventory of institutions'', 1988 * ''Identité et acculturation'', 1988 * ''Israéliens : des juifs et des arabes'', 1989 * ''Judaïsme, sciences et techniques : actes du colloque'', 1989 * ''Les Juifs d’Algérie. Mémoires et identités plurielles'', 1989 (with Joëlle Allouche-Benayoun) * ''Les Juifs de France et leurs relations avec Israël (1945-1988)'', 1989 * ''Science et technologie en Israël'', 1990 * ''Religion et état en Israel'', 1992 * ''Les juifs dans le monde au tournant du XXIe siècle'', 1994 * ''Israéliens et Palestiniens : la longue marche vers la paix'', 1995 * ''Juifs d'Europe centrale et orientale, 1945-1996'', 1997 * ''Israele e la diaspora : gli ebrei nel mondo'', 1999 * ''Adolph Donath : 1876-1937 : parcours d'un intellectuel juif germanophone : Vienne, Berlin, Prague'', 2000 * ''Migrations juives en Diaspora après 1945'', 2001 * ''Juifs en Allemagne aujourd'hui'', 2004 * ''Quotidien du vingtième siècle : histoire d'une vie mouvementée'', 2007

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bensimon, Doris 1924 births 2009 deaths Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss French sociologists Jewish sociologists Austrian Jews Academic staff of the University of Caen Normandy Sociologists of religion French women sociologists French National Centre for Scientific Research Austrian emigrants to France 20th-century French women writers 21st-century French women writers