Lecture: “Paris, Monaco, Auschwitz – The Tragic Fate of René Blum (1878–1942), Director of the Monte-Carlo Theatre and Ballets and Brother of Léon Blum”

Lecture: “Paris, Monaco, Auschwitz – The Tragic Fate of René Blum (1878–1942), Director of the Monte-Carlo Theatre and Ballets and Brother of Léon Blum”, by Pascal Ory, of the Académie Française will be held on November 3, 2026 at 6.30 in Caroline Media Library.

In his lecture titled “Paris, Monaco, Auschwitz: The Tragic Destiny of René Blum,” Pascal Ory examines a significant figure from the intellectual and artistic world of the early twentieth century.

He is presenting this lecture at the Médiathèque Caroline as part of the centenary celebrations for the Alliance Française de Monaco, organized by the association.

René Blum (1878–1942, Auschwitz)—a journalist, art critic, and artistic director—was the brother of the statesman Léon Blum. Having become a theater and opera director, he co-founded the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo at the Monte-Carlo Opera, alongside Colonel de Basil.

On December 12, 1941, he was arrested at his home in Paris during the “roundup of notables” (“rafle des notables”), which targeted 743 French Jews. The following day, he was sent to the Royallieu-Compiègne camp, subsequently interned at the Pithiviers camp, and later moved to Drancy—from where he was deported to Auschwitz on September 23, 1942.

Pascal Ory is a French historian (affiliated with Panthéon-Sorbonne, EHESS, and Sciences Po Paris) and a specialist in cultural history; he was elected to the Académie française in 2021.

He is the author of numerous works on cultural history, the interwar period, the Second World War, and antisemitism.